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Transcription: [00:00:00]
{SPEAKER name="Jasmine Fernandez"}
This is Jasmine Fernandez at the National Portrait Gallery with Tam Tran and
[00:00:05]
I am going to ask the first question which is to describe your philosophy on art.
[00:00:10]
{SPEAKER name="Tam Tran"}
Well, my phil-philosophy on art is just, you know, have fun.
[00:00:15]
Be creative, um, no matter how big or small the ideal-idea is, just go-just go with it
[00:00:21]
like even if you have an inkling of an idea that little idea can become something more if you just kind of work on it. If it doesn't work that's fine,
[00:00:28]
you know, just continue to be creative, always, and just continue to make art and that-that's kind of like my philosophy. I don't--
[00:00:36]
I don't, you know, I don't just stop and give up- if it fails it fails. That's kind of how I see things too.
[00:00:45]
{SPEAKER name="Jasmine Fernandez"}
That's nice. Um, could you tell me what does Asian-American mean to you?
[00:00:51]
{SPEAKER name="Tam Tran"}
Sometimes I would forget that I am Vietnamese, but that doesn't mean that I am more so American,
[00:00:57]
or less Vietnamese, and vice versa. It's just not something I often think about.
[00:01:02]
It-It's more of the outsiders kind of remind me of who I am sometimes;
[00:01:06]
like I just, be about and just be myself and they would stop me and be like, you know,
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say something in Chinese or something like that, you know? Like um, so I was like-
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{SPEAKER name="Tam Tran"}
for-for th-[that] for that second I realize okay I-I guess I am kind of different out-out, with my outward appearance, or whatever.
[00:01:21]
Um, but um, you know I-I don't like to put myself in just like, a little, I don't like to give myself a title of anything. Especially
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[[Cross talk]] Boxes [[/Cross talk]] Yeah no boxes to conform in. So I just like to live my life, kind of,
[00:01:36]
with m-my multi-lingual, and kind of multi-national. So that's -- that's how I see myself.
[00:01:42]
{SPEAKER name="Jasmine Fernandez"}
Um, so what are the classic stories, jokes, or songs in your family that you can share with us?
[00:01:49]
{SPEAKER name="Tam Tran"}
I can't really recall any songs; so, I don't have to sing thank goodness.
[00:01:54]
Stories, not so much but I do remember when I first came to America and, um,
[00:02:01]
and I was introduced to go, you know, into school
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and uh it's around th-the time, it was kind of cold and my mom sh-she bought-she purchased me this
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snow suit and I'm living in the South, you know, it's not that cold. So I'm stuffed in this snow suit,
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and she didn't know, that you know, of course you have to take it of when you go to school. So she just put me in underwear and that's it.
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And in that little snowsuit--send me to school, and I was embarrassed the whole time because you know like my teachers were like
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"it's really hot take it off, Tam." I was like, "I don't want to." I was like, just take it off-
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so they thought something was wrong with me, they sent me to the counselors, and, they're like, "please just take it off."
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I-I-I was crying I couldn't do it and then one of the ESL teachers, I mean I was speaking English at that time too,
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but you know um, they were like really coaxing me into-to just take it off, it's okay
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we're not going to judge you or do anything so I finally like-okay fine you can see-just see that I'm

Transcription Notes:
Try to add more timestamps and split up the big sections to make it easier to read along with the interview. It doesn't need to be one caption per person back and forth