K. Nguyễn
K. Nguyễn is a father, husband, pharmacist, and leader in the New Orleans Vietnamese Community.
1976
K Nguyễn relocated to New Orleans. His family was sponsored by another living out of Bird Island, Minnesota.
1991
K Nguyễn opened his pharmacy store. It is still in the original location
2020
K Nguyễn did not shut down during the pandemic because the community relied on him to provide
K. Nguyễn Timeline
1991
K Nguyễn graduated with a degree in Pharmaceuticals from Xavier University
1992 - 1998
K Nguyễn had his three children. All of which are boys
2023
K Nguyễn’s youngest son graduated from Xavier University in New Orleans
1991
K Nguyễn would marry his now wife
2005
K Nguyễn completes the reconstruction and renovation of the pharmacy. He completed most of the renovations and fixes himself and even completed it before his house
2024
Present day, K Nguyễn continues to help his community and be involved.
Interview 1 with K. Nguyễn
K. Nguyen is a long-time pharmacist and resident of the New Orleans East Vietnamese community.
Bethany Milner: What drove you to be a pharmacist and why are you interested in the field?
K. Nguyen: I always liked something in the medical field. I tried out different things and I also like to own my own business at the same time. I pretty much worked myself through college by doing a lot of jobs but especially doing photography and videography- pretty much working for myself.
Bethany, Caleb, Blake: Oh wow!
Bethany: When we were learning about the different people we were going to be interviewing, one of the things that was very interesting about you was how you give back to your community. The next question is: why do you think it's necessary and an important part of your life to give back to the community in different ways?
K.: The community has given me a lot. And not to be religious but God has given me things that I could never imagine. I do not ask for much but God has given me more than I could imagine. I like to give back to the community. I am very active at my church–being in a choir–two weeks ago I volunteered at the church festival, the Tet Festival for the Asian community, and I made waffles…. I like to see the community having a good time and being happy.
Bethany: What have been your favorite parts about living in New Orleans and being with this community?
K.: I mean because I have my business around more or less 30 years so I know a lot of people. So when I walk out anywhere in this area people know each other and seem to be very close and just being around people that you know I mean everywhere you go and of course the food and the festivals- all that too.
Bethany: What is your favorite festival?
K.: I mean for now it's the Tet Festival which I help in and, at a time, Mardi Gras is what we looked forward to but all of my kids are growing up and we tend to go more for them.
Bethany: More on a personal note, how do you think you have changed since coming to New Orleans- relationships with people in the community, with yourself, just living in a different area?
K.: Well when I greet people that I just met 10-20 years back they say I am the same…I am known to be more of a quiet person in my community but I do speak when I need to. But the more I know the community I mean I get to know better– close– I do at times when people request I bring the medicine home to them and have a little chat with them, especially the older ones that are lonely– a lot of widows. For example, a few days ago I brought medicine to this lady who apparently doesn’t have transportation and her friend who used to take her here or to run errands was injured and she couldn’t make it so I brought it to her. But this time I asked her if she wanted to listen to music that my son, something that she would enjoy, so I brought him along and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Just sitting on the front porch listening to music and just having a little chat. So that’s that’s how I feel closer to them.
Bethany: What are some things that you wish people outside the community knew about the New Orleans East Vietnamese community?
K.: There are always good and bad but you look beyond that and the community is very diverse and we have the Asian community of course, the Hispanics, and mix with the Americans and we see a lot of, now, I see more and more American and Spanish participating in the festival, that’s how I gage… of course then also the popularity of certain food and pastries here– that has brought a lot of people into the area.
Bethany: So, you have briefly touched on this, but what do you say are some prevalent issues in the community?
K.: Crime is one thing too but police response or police presence is a main issue. Of course there will be crime, but that is something we cannot voice too much about, but we can always voice about how quick and the quality of police response we get in this area. And the environmental issue. Of course… the things that surround this area for example, we used to have marsh fires and all of that and the community itself and all of the trash and dumping around the area.
Bethany: While adding on top of that, is there anything outsiders can do to help and assist with these problems?
K.: No one has ever asked me that, I have never thought of something like that. Outsiders… I guess more businesses and shopping centers or restaurants and things of that nature would open up in the community would [help] or festival[s] or events that would bring people into the community to be here and see how it is and see how the community actually is. They may have a different perspective of not only the negative things but the positive things we have to offer.
Bethany: So what are your opinions on the journalistic coverage being done in the community?
K.: For most… I guess people like to hear bad news and then we provide more of our share of bad news here so that’s what you hear more of every time you hear of New Orleans East or East of New Orleans it's kind of shootings or mostly shootings or crimes... But we like to have more coverage … on new developments and things to improve the likelihood of the people and different projects and projects that may be upcoming with the beach for instance or the Six Flags redevelopment. We would like to see some good news.
Bethany: How do you feel the relationship with other New Orleans communities are?
K.: We do have a few non-profit organizations that are working in this area. I mean indirect with the Vietnamese community and they provide service to or from. And then at one time we had a councilwoman, Cindy, that…pretty much the voice of our community… Right next door we have [Khai from Song CDC] that introduced you guys to me. I think that they are the people that spearhead…the different path…to interconnect us with our community.
Bethany: How do you feel about the relationship between this community and the New Orleans government? Do you think it's more of a beneficial relationship, is it more, for lack of better words, detrimental? What is your opinion on that?
K.: Well, just look at our street and the condition of our street. Of course, there are projects going on around us but a lot of things have been abandoned– buildings and developments here that are pretty much ignored.
Bethany: So, moving more so to our involvement with you, what were your expectations of us coming to interview you?
K.: I did not know what the subject matter was gonna be. I have been interviewed differently in the past… on a different, slightly different angle, but I guess it's to be expected of the questions that you ask me.
Bethany: Did you have any reservations about letting us interview you? Or being involved with this journalism project?
K.: No, the only thing I said is that I’m camera shy, but I don’t mind helping out students. That’s part of giving back to the community in a way.
Bethany: What is one thing you wish you could tell the newer generation of New Orleans East community members?
K.: It’s sad to say the new generation is pretty much leaving the area for opportunities because, from what I am seeing and witnessing…there is not much else opportunity here for them or it's pretty much saturated, so they are moving out for that reason. Secondly, the crime, and even after they move, they want their parents to move and pretty much to me it is on a decline. There might be fewer people moving into the community, but more and more are leaving the community. Because this community is pretty much based– the livelihood is pretty much around the church itself and the older generation has their activities mostly around the Church and some other organizations.
Bethany: How similar is New Orleans to Vietnam? What are some similarities that you notice and what are some differences?
K.: Living so close to each other– it's pretty much walking to the house and different places you want to go… I haven’t been back there, I’ve only seen pictures and the way they describe it to me. For a lot of people that’s where the similarity is, the closeness in the community and services… but even stepping out… people in a close space feel different than what they are used to.
Blake: Have any of your family members been back?
K.: No, but my family… we have nine children and only three of us are in this area, the rest are in Houston. My parents… I believe have been living here for 20 years or so but once Katrina happened and they settled in.. because most of my family is there too, they decided to remain there for medical services and stuff.
Bethany: Have you ever thought about moving to Houston? Or do you think you’ll stay in this community?
K.: If you were to ask me the question, “If I had to do things over again, would I still be here?” I mean as a community I love it here, but as far as bringing up a family and financially wise it may be different.
Bethany: What support systems do you wish you and or the community should have? What is something you see you currently don’t have?
K.: Here, I witness a lot of young children growing up and especially people that are newer to the community–meaning there are times when people coming back from Vietnam to live here and start fresh and even the people that start here and school-aged children–they are going through a lot of things–peers and bullies and even now social media. That is affecting their mental state and I think that is to be addressed. It is something that is a big concern at least from my point. That’s what I see and parents talk about it and they don’t like to talk too much about it but I think that’s the big thing.
Caleb: Do you think that this effect is why more and more people are leaving?
K.: That is on the school part and the children part but people [are] leaving because … when they graduate from school and make a decision where they want to start their life, but there are times when some instances not too far in the past, they were victims of crime or robberies or house invasion or they were hurt at the same time and that pretty much traumatized them and they’re not going to look back once.
Interview 2 with K. Nguyễn
K. Nguyen is a long-time pharmacist and resident of the New Orleans East Vietnamese community.
Caleb: Where do you spend most of your time on a day-to-day basis?
K.: On working days, I’m here from 9-5. I’m the only pharmacist here so I have to be here at all times. If I’m not here, the pharmacy part has to be shut down and I do have a helper that would help me with things to do, mostly outside work, and helping me with things besides pharmacy. I go home and day-to-day I do typical house chores for us like cleaning and fixing stuff. I fix a lot of things. And whenever I can I go to bible studies with my son and my wife and we tend to do that quite often now. On the weekends grass cutting is something that takes like two to three hours so I like to have more time on a Saturday or Sunday to do that. I go to church services every weekend. On days that the are more of a hard day type of weekend than we do- I used to have both my parents and her parents here so I spent one evening having dinner with one and another evening with another. When my children were smaller we would go out on our own on one days like Friday or Saturday or Sunday. We make it a tradition to do that. Now that they are all grown up we have more time to ourselves as a couple to go out to eat. Going to events that are church-related or community-related. Last week we had a Gala the local sisters chapter had - building a retirement house for the elders and more room to accommodate other participants so we went and helped out with the Gala and supported them. Since we’re in New Orleans we like to eat, so it is a very important part of what we do so…
Caleb: Do you have a favorite restaurant that you go to?
K.: I have several different restaurants depending on what we would like to eat at a time. We mostly like seafood and my wife likes brothy things like hotpots and pho and stuff. For me, I am a little easier, I can eat anything.
Caleb: Do you find yourself making those same things at home when you don’t go out to eat?
K.: In fact, she and I were just talking about the things that I do make. I try to replicate the food that I eat but I do it my way and use ingredients that are supposed to be fresh or more, with fewer preservatives or less of that. It’s supposed to be healthy the way I cook it. I try to replicate Japanese food, Korean, Oysters and stuff like that. I made a killer Oyster.
Caleb: You mentioned kind of your routine from work on, do you have a sort of morning routine that you follow before you come into work at nine?
K.: I would like to but I will usually stick until the time. I’m not a morning person, I am a night person. I do more things at night. I would rather stay up late. Getting up in the morning is not my thing. I just need enough time to prepare and go. I don’t even eat in the morning. I don’t eat until the afternoon or evening. Talking about that, I’ve been doing fasting that I did not know I was doing. I was doing a 16-hour fast from the morning until lunchtime. I did not know I was doing that. I eat dinner and I don’t drink coffee or anything. Sometimes if I do miss it I won’t eat until dinner… I am so used to it. Once it passes you don’t feel hungry.
Caleb: If you said you are a night person, do you follow more of a nightly routine or is it more just you prefer to be up at night?
K.: Well if I were in bed not doing anything I would watch regular old air channels mostly science stuff and informative. I am sort of a Star Trek fan too. I do watch old Star Trek. In a way, it is very informative but it does have some underlying essence in there. But it is also scientific in a way. If not I just do things around the house. Getting rid of clutter and stuff and when I can I do Karaoke on my own.
Bethany: What is your go-to Karaoke song?
K.: I like a variety of songs, mostly our traditional songs of course. There are some popular songs that I like too and some oldies that I like. I try some of the newer songs but it’s not as good.
Caleb: So you said that you like to watch more informational stuff on TV whenever you go home, is there a specific place that you look to for news or do you not really?
K.: Mostly I … MSN. Online I think. Because I see they have several news sources like CNN. I try to look at different perspectives. I try to figure out for myself what to believe. It is not a matter of what to believe but what are people thinking and how they are thinking of different issues and different sides. I have a broader look at it not just from one side.
Bethany: Do you have any fond stories or memories of your childhood or just your life here in New Orleans?
K.: I always treasure the time I have with my kids and spending time with my kids. Like I said I don’t carry a cell phone and I didn’t use I don’t use any type of social media and stuff. I choose not to. I try to keep it real. I like reading. Even though I’m shy if I need to. If I want to discuss something important I would rather be face to face and have a reaction and would rather react to it face to face. I would rather this than texting or even telephone because you can’t gaze or tell the person responding. More person to person even though I am shy. Going back to memories, there are a lot of memories of course of vacation with family. That is one thing. That is something we treasure. My marriage life. My childhood memories. Even to this day after 30-plus years after college I still have nightmares. I guess it's just my personality of being prepared, it was about never being prepared for a test or what class to go to next. That is my nightmare. Anyway, all of the fun stuff with family and with friends and with the community.
Caleb: Do you specifically remember a standout vacation that you took?
K.: I have two vacations that I took. One was to Edinburgh and the next one was before Katrina we had a vacation to Hawaii. I like nature stuff and after we got a convertible. So we all fit in the back. We took the wrong route. We did both. We went through the mountains and stuff. A racing game was popular that went through the trails in Hawaii. Because they used the background for one of those racing games. Of course, we see a different culture and of course the weather. In the evening when we went to the beach, imagine you can see the mountains the sunset the beach, the moon, and a rainbow at the same time.
pause
Anyways going back… I don’t take too much vacation but when I can I make it worthwhile. We take a local vacation to Florida. The top vacation was a Europe trip. We took a trip to Germany, we had a distant family there and they happened to have a wedding at a Castle. It was amazing to see how they lived there. We stayed at a family house and they took us up for some time period. The way they make their house is so well, it was a newly built house, but actually 10-15 years old, but the material they use there is so well made. The material we use here is more on a commercial grade. It seemed very well built for the temperature. One time I walked out to the car and I saw a bucket, like a 5-gallon bucket, and they said “That's a week's worth of trash.” That's how conservative they are with waste. They are very careful which what they use and the ways. America consumes way more resources than the rest of the world. We use so much more and have so much waste, just from what we can see. Everything they do is very conscious of the environment and resources. Even the interstate was beautiful.
Europe was my dream trip in a way because I like to see different cultures, especially those of Asian descent. I also like architecture and history, I'm more of a history person. I tend to spend a lot of time just standing there and taking in all of the scenery, people, and architecture. Even the streets and museums. We went to France and did a funny thing. My son, he was still a teenagers, but when we were in France we were by the Efile Tower and we thought what could we do? So we ordered french fries. But in France, they don't have Ketchup, they have mayonnaise and the french fries were more yellow than they are here. But then we took photos, just had a little fun, and joked around with our kids. Then we went to Holland and all we saw were bicycles. Because the area is from state to state, we went from country to country to see as much as we could. They are very polite people. That’s my memories of vacations.
Caleb: You said that the Europe trip was for your 25th anniversary with your wife, do you have any other stand-out memories of your marriage? I am sure there are a lot of memories.
K.: Well… that's pretty much….the highlights of my marriage are my kids, my wife, and vacations. I mean, up to this point, there are those big vacations and times, but I do treasure the simple, quiet time. Just sitting down and having a meal. A big point of it is being at peace. Just spending time and quiet time together.