We want something from you. What do you want from diaCRITICS?

[before we begin: have you heard about our subscriber drive? win an iPod and other prizes!]

diaCRITICS wants some good writers. And commenters. And wants to know what the readers want.

We’re always looking for new writers. Seriously. We ask our friends and contacts for articles and contributions all the time, but our social network is limited. We have found people who volunteered after reading this site (Bao Nguyen, one of our managing editors) and we have found people by reading comments and tracking them down to get them to give us something longer (Julie Nguyen, who wrote Generation Trauma). So step forward and contact us if you want to contribute in some way: editing, designing, writing, or TRANSLATING.

That last one is a barrier we haven’t broken yet. We are committed to writing about the diaspora wherever it takes place and in any language, but so far, no luck in getting writers writing anything besides English, or in finding people with the time to translate existing articles into other languages. So if you don’t feel like writing anything original, but feel like you can spread knowledge through translating, then let us know. You can pick the article you want to translate.

Then there’s the issue of comments. Not too many of them here in diaCRITICS. We’d like to see more and have more of a discussion. Do we need to be doing something different to promote more comments and discussion?

And is there anything you’d like to see done differently or done new in diaCRITICS? Give us a comment and share your thoughts. (And if it’s about the design, we’re working on redesigning the website to make it more accessible and eye-catching. Give us suggestions here, too!)

You can always contact us privately via the “contact us” page above if you’d like to write for us or have ideas.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Can we bring up one well-focused issue and ask the diacritics, as well as this blog’s readers, to help tackle? I understand arts, whose representation includes movies, music, novels, etc, have their own effects. However, it would be nice if we continue to write and set aside time for working on a tangible idea.

    • Hi Giao! I have to ask, what’s a specific example of your mentioned ‘issue’? I like this idea of discussion. We could always start a dialogue in the comments section, maybe introduce a ‘what’s on your mind’ feature every week or month, or ‘let’s tackle hard Vietnamese issues’ discussions. I’m totally good for those.

      • Hi Julie. I think discussions should be a good start.

        There are lots of issues to consider, such as plastic pollution, the aftermath of wars (when I joined a group of American students in their Semester at Sea program, I was simply dead when they told me the only image popping up in their head when they’d heard “Vietnam” was “war”), etc.

        FYI, the top four problems in Vietnam, at the national scale, include bad infrastructure, bad governance/public administration, widened gaps between the rich and the poor, and unskilled workforce.

        If you have any idea to help directly (directly) tackle those issues, please raise your voice. I mean writing, talking and ideas are many, but solutions are few, very few.

        There are three communities in Saigon that I’m familiar with, i.e. business, NGO, and art (thought ‘art’ may mean… whatever). I’ve realized the business community is, much to my old-time prejudice, contributing the most to tackling social ills in Vietnam.

        As I said, it’s important to have a writing/reading community as deep as diaCRITICS. However, we should set aside time to take action on one issue. The writers and readers of this blog have lots of skills, and, understanding. I hope we can use them for a good and practical purpose. Arts for the sake of arts – this idea doesn’t exist now, or perhaps not in Vietnam.

  2. hi julie and all readers: send us mail via the “contact us” page above. articles–anything we’ve already published that you’d be interested in translating. — viet

  3. DiaCritics could always stir up controversy. LoL.
    Another thing I’m interested in reading but have no idea where to go to learn more about are the Vietnamese bloggers/journalists in Viet Nam who are being prosecuted for writing anti-gov’t sentiments…

    I guess this is where translation work would be useful. My mom does translation work, she’s been doing it for years. What kind of articles are you talking about? Who should I be talking to?

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