<em>As the KPBS crew interviewed the </em>Reader<em>'s editors this Tuesday on the switch to digital-only, the sound man asked founder and longtime editor Jim Holman a final question: "So do you have a favorite story …
February 21, 2025
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Stories by Tam Hoang
Linda Vista's servile colonial subject eager to impress
San Diego sidewalk sitters keep from shivering
How Do You Keep Warm at Night? If you think of the homeless at all — aside from how to avoid them or that daily mini-moral crisis as to whether to give them spare change …
December 16, 2023
San Diego book clubs – only for girls?
San Diego book clubs – what's the point?Perhaps it’s the idea of the book club book that we find unbearable. It brings to mind that women’s marketing motto, “Pink it and shrink it.” Pink it: …
November 26, 2023
Deathly bike routes: Friars, Nimitz, Pershing
Dangerous bike spotsFriars Road, Nimitz Blvd, University Ave., Pershing Dr., Genesee, Pacific Hwy at Barnett Ave.Safer routes: SD River Trail, West Point Loma, Robinson, GovernorBy Dryw Keltz, Sept. 23, 2015The curvy road from Fallbrook to …
November 11, 2023
People drive past Linda Vista on their way to somewhere
Linda Vista in conflict with itself Linda Vista is San Diego’s cucuy room. People drive past it on the way to somewhere. Sometimes they go there for a specific place like Skate World but don’t …
May 22, 2023
I celebrated American Christmas with gratitude while Vietnamese Christmas played a soundtrack underneath
I adored American Christmas I fell in love with America for the first time on a sweaty night in a Bangkok refugee center in March 1991. “In America people have meat with every meal,” my …
April 2, 2023
Not your average street person, not your average refugee, a bicyclist dies, cross-border kidnapping
Street neighbor in the East Village Kazakhstan national can’t get her daughter back Yes, I was on the street, but I was home-schooling my daughter. By John Brizzolara, July 26, 2013 | Read full article …
October 3, 2020
Local teacher defends his profession
The past six months have been a bewildering time for education. Many teachers I know have been filled with anxiety about how best to instruct our students and how to support them emotionally online, all …
September 16, 2020
Cross-border kidnapping, German cyclist killed at Camp Pendleton
Street neighbor in the East Village Yes, I was on the street, but I was home-schooling my daughter. By John Brizzolara, July 26, 2013 When Vietnamese people say American they always mean white I grew …
June 6, 2020
Best Reader stories from 2019
Hillcrest: gayborhood or ghetto? “I was only in West Hollywood for four years and I came from the East Coast by way of Las Vegas,” he says. “To me, Hillcrest is just normal. At least …
April 4, 2020
Best Reader stories from 2015
Cartel tunnels to Otay Mesa are infrastructural marvels The amount of warehouse space in Otay Mesa has nearly quadrupled since the mid-’90s, and the expansion has been almost as frenetic in Garita de Otay. Forklifts, …
March 21, 2020
Best Reader Christmas stories
Sister Santa’s once-a-year smile I fell in love with America for the first time on a sweaty night in a Bangkok refugee center in March 1991. “In America people have meat with every meal,” my …
December 24, 2019
Don't let Linda Vista fool you
Butt out, Clairemont, says Linda Vista "I have a lot of respect for the Clairemont planning group and the other planning groups — they're citizens like us who are investing in their community," said Howard …
October 14, 2019
San Diego book clubs – what's the point?
In the Seinfeld episode “The Couch,” George joined a book club through his girlfriend.“So, she got you to join a book club?” Jerry asked.“I got a feeling I’m gonna be much smarter than you soon,” …
October 2, 2019
Tam Hoang and the Reader
Tam Hoang, and English teacher at Coronado High School, has written for the Reader since 2015. That feeling of being the servile colonial subject eager to impress If you grew up speaking Vietnamese, like I …
August 25, 2019
They said no to box checking
The month of May for high school seniors can be a disorienting time. They are feted through Senior Breakfasts, Grad Nights, Senior Nights, sporting events. They begin to wear the colors of their universities-to-be: the …
June 20, 2018
San Diego Reader writers dig deep into Christmases past
Personal feelings about the big dayEvery Power Rangers toy known to manThe exact moment the sleigh bells stopped jingling — by Chad DealSister Santa’s once-a-year smileI adored American Christmas — by Tam HoangWe were ruthless …
December 20, 2017
Sister Santa’s once-a-year smile
I fell in love with America for the first time on a sweaty night in a Bangkok refugee center in March 1991. “In America people have meat with every meal,” my dad told me as …
December 20, 2017
UCSD literature majors — why they exist
As a sophomore at UC San Diego, I went home for the summer to get a cavity filled in at the dentist’s. I lay there, saliva ejector hanging out the side of my mouth like …
May 3, 2017
Linda Vista in conflict with itself
Comedian George Lopez jokes that every Mexican family has a haunted room somewhere on the premises — “the cucuy room.” It’s the one you sprint past on your way to the commode in the middle …
July 13, 2016
Vietnamese refugee teaches war to Coronado High School English students
We are the generation of freedom fries.
November 11, 2015
Tam Hoang, Coronado teacher, recounts his voyage to English
Good-bellied people with novel-like life stories.
March 11, 2015