Even though I'm not privileged in the money world, I'm privileged in other ways: I had greater access to education, I can travel, etc. It's the same with writing: the freedom to move in and out of different places, of different realms of existence, of different life forms.

I have some advantages of viewing from the two lenses, the two perspectives. I think that a lot of visual artists who come back here from the United States and are Cambodian also write from their American references - looking inside the old culture, and looking at themselves as an American looking into the country where they were born.

I liked museums but I wanted to be a dancer, I wanted to go into performing arts, or be a writer.

Often when people tell their story, they talk about their strengths and resiliency. It's really about their determination and their aspiration to survive and live.

There are multiple things entering in your mind.

I think there are things I can't write in English that I wish I could write in Khmer.

Sometimes the mere connection we make with each other can change people's lives. It doesn't have to be something big. The mere fact that you're interested in them makes them happy.