In case you are wondering, my name is Catherine Hackman. I am the author collaborating with Hieu on his memoir. I first heard of Hieu when he was in junior high. I was teaching at the same school he was attending, and although I have him in class at that time, I knew of Hieu through other teachers talking about him. When the teachers said he came from Vietnam, I thought he flew to the States on an airplane with his family. Like most people who encountered Hieu at this time, I had no idea of what he had truly been through and no idea of what it cost him and his family in money, pain, and sheer determination to get him to the United States.
I had the privilege of teaching Hieu when he was a junior in high school. He was in my English III class. By that time, I couldn’t really tell that he was not a native English speaker. He had been in Havana for about 4 years, and I had forgotten that he came here from Vietnam.
About 3 years ago, Hieu and I ran into each other in town. He had seen on Facebook that I had self-published a book, and he talked to me about collaborating with him to write his memoir. We have worked on it a little here and there since then, but this summer is when I really started working on the project. The more I work on it, the more interesting it gets.
To learn more about me, check out this post on my website: http://www.catherinehackman.com/unsolicited-advice/dear-younger-me/
by clicking on the link or copying and pasting it into your web browser.
If you haven’t already, please take time to join Hieu’s Facebook group by clicking on the link in the margin and/or to subscribe to this website for updates on the progress of Hieu’s memoir, motivational quotes, and other interesting posts.
Thank you for reading!
Catherine