College Admissions Essay: My Private Vietnam :: Free College Admissions Essays

My private Vietnam is a never-ending identity conflict. Part of me is American, part of me is Vietnamese. I have Asian features, but Im tall and broad-shouldered. I dont feel accepted in either culture. Vietnam is bittersweet for me. Without the war, I wouldnt have been born. Without the American soldiers there, I wouldnt be Amerasian and living in the United States. The bitter part is that I will never find out who my father is. I dont have his name or Social protection number. I wish I had a real family to come home to during the holidays. Veterans look at me like Im a ghost. They associate me with the sons they might have fathered and desert in Vietnam. Every summer I attend a writers conference in Boston that includes some men who were in Vietnam. I look into their eye and they look into mine. For me, its looking into the eyes of potential fathers or father figures.