California

At the end of November, I went to see my good friend from childhood who lives in California now. It was really nice to see him because being around him, it felt like I'm home again. Him and I, when we were kids, we were troublemakers! Hieu is like my brother, my twin. It was so refreshing to catch up with him after 6 years of not seeing him. Also, so weird that we are "adults" now!

Kenny

Palos Verdes

Sunken City

Venice Beach

Hollywood!

View from Griffith Park

My essay to Fashion Institute of Technology

From what I remember, my family was always migrating to different countries to have a better life. My father was a translator for Vietnamese factory workers in Russia. There, he met my mother who worked for a Russian company that made carpets. In the 1980s, times were difficult. People were not used to seeing people of other ethnicities. They would physically harass you when walking down the street or waiting for the bus. My father had encountered those kind of people and it was not pleasant. My parents in love and with me on the way, moved to Gomel in Belarus. However, it was dangerous living there as well. For that reason, when I was around two years old, my parents decided to move to Poland with a little bit of saved money, hoping for a better and much safer life. My mother would tell me the story of how hard it was to go through a big forest from Gomel to Warsaw. We were hiding in a big truck and I was not quiet. I cried my heart out even after being given a doubled dosage of calming medicine. Then finally, we got to our destination with no problems and no money.

In Poland, my parents would send me to a Polish nanny who was a drunk but did not charge us much. While I was there, my parents had some connections. They borrowed money from their friends to buy and sell products on the streets. My parents sold miscellaneous things, such as super glue, shirts, and other useless knick knacks that people would buy. Year after year of living in Poland, our lives were getting better. We struggled but there was always food on the table.

As a child, I never actually understood the meaning of the money. In late 90s, a colorful television appeared in our house. When my parents were at work, I would be home alone and watch MTV and other channels all day. The commercials were the most eyecatching. They advertised new toys with the depiction of a lot of kids with many friends. Sadly I did not have that many friends at school because I was different from them. All the kids at school had light eye colors, and blonde hair. I had brown, almond shaped eyes, and black hair. That was different for the kids and it was not so acceptable. From the commercials, I understood that if I had the most trendy toys, the kids at school will like me more and will play with me. I would beg my parents for the newest Barbie, and they would fulfill my wish. They blamed commercials and advertisements for being too good that the child asks for everything that was seen on the television.

Although, I always wanted to be something better, for myself and for my parents, I did not want them to work so hard and have tough times again. At age 17, I decided to move to the United States on my own. I moved to New Jersey and stayed at my mom's friend. She was my guardian and sent me to high school there. I always had a distinctive view of anything to present myself and things around me in the most creative way as possible. After high school, I went to community college and within 2 years, I graduated with an Associate degree in Fine Arts. With the technology of our times, it is easy to create anything from home, thanks to iMovie and Photoshop, I taught myself how to make short videos with suitable music, to show my life through multimedia, which was a sort of way to sell the image of myself. Even though I learned these things myself, I know that it is not good enough.

Having my world experience, being multicultural and diverse has a lot of advantages to excel in the industry. I would be able to help advertise towards certain demographics that I associate with, with ease. I am interested in the major I am going to because I saw how my parents worked and I want to follow their path but take it to another level. By studying Advertising and Marketing Communications, I have the opportunity to do what I love and be creative while still being able to give myself and my parents a better life than any of us could have ever imagined. The Fashion Institute of Technology would be the most essential portal in succeeding my dreams.

Kenny in Chinatown