Blog: [dis]_enTpowered

About: Chenda Duong

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”

–James Baldwin, LIFE Magazine (1963)

Dengue Fever + The Fugees + Jenny Lewis = Me!

Short Biography

I have strong opinions💛.

Long Biography

I am a mother, writer, and teacher living in Elgin, TX.

I am also a Khmer American buddhist refugee BIPOC, born in Battambang and raised in East Oakland.

I lived with my family at the Khao-I-Dang refugee camp in Thailand until we immigrated to the U.S. in 1988, when I was 4 years old. My father was a tenant rice farmer who fought in the Cambodian Civil War (1967-1975) for the Lon Nol Army. He was captured and tortured by the Khmer Rouge for his involvement in the conflict. Both he and my mother survived the Cambodian Genocide (1975-1979).

Because both of my parents struggled with severe PSTD and intense social-cultural-emotional issues as a result of their diaspora and experiences during the Cambodian Genocide, and because of the other complex social-cultural-political issues surrounding me as a child growing up in the projects of East Oakland in the 1990’s, navigating my childhood and journey into adulthood has been extremely difficult, and healing myself mentally and emotionally has required an intense level of internal processing and personal resilience that has taken me a life-time to acquire.

(My father’s survivor story is documented and archived as part of the Khmer Legacies Video Histories of the Cambodian Genocide Program and the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. I met GSP Visiting Fellow, Socheata Poeuv, when I was interning at the Asian American Justice Center in Washington D.C., through the UCDC Program.)

Because of my family’s legal status as refugees, we were able to access and utilize many government benefits (including Welfare, Food Stamps, and Medicaid) that greatly helped us. For example, from the ages of six to 16 years old, I lived with my family in governmental housing at the 69th San Antonio Villas housing project, infamously known as “69 Vill”. My family later relocated to a house in a neighborhood bordering Fruitvale BART Station, through the Section 8 housing voucher program.

As a kid, I attended Lockwood Elementary School and Havenscourt Middle School of the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in Oakland, CA. Because Khmer is my first language and I did not speak any English when my family first arrived in Oakland, I began school as an ESL student in kindergarten but was exited out of the Bilingual program in the 1st grade.

(I remember how much I loved my outfit on the day of my 5th grade graduation because my mom had sewed my shirt for me from a pattern I liked and my skirt and shoes were new from Ross. This was a huge deal for me because most of my clothes when I was a kid came from the weekend flea market at Laney Community College, near Oakland’s Chinatown, where my parents rented space and sold used clothing for $5 or less. My parents also used to collect cans and cardboard and did many other odd “under-the-table” type jobs to help supplement the income for our family of eight.)

Although neither of my parents had access to a formal education, my love of reading began as a child when my parents used our local, neighborhood MLK Branch Library as a free childcare service. I spent my most formative years reading Frederick Douglass, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Beverly Cleary, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ann M. Martin, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Roald Dahl, Louis Sachar, Scott O’Dell, Gary Paulsen, Jean Craighead George, Robert C. O’Brien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, and Louisa May Alcott. Later, I fell in love with James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, bell hooks, and many, many others.

The first book that changed my life was Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself, which I found and read in the library when I was 8 years old.

“I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out…I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me.

There was no getting rid of it…The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm. I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free.”

–Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself (Chapter VII, Page 40-41).

Although I struggled with the vocabulary, this book was the first book that I felt emotionally connected with. Even at that age, I related to Douglass’ story and plight because, as the oldest girl in my family, I had a lot of domestic pressure, duties, and restrictions that were placed upon me culturally by my mom (not to mention the other issues of severe trauma we were dealing with within our family). Although my situation wasn’t as dire or dehumanizing as Douglass’, I still felt a deep sense of empathy and compassion for him as a young child trapped by what seemed like impossible circumstances and a mental-emotional-physical prison from which he could not escape.

(The fact that Douglass did eventually escape slavery and found a path to freedom for himself, and then went on to become a powerful abolitionist and critical figure in history planted a seed in my mind that I am only now, three decades later, finally coming to realize and understand about myself.)

The other book that changed my life was Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey, which I first read at the end of elementary school after my 5th grade teacher, Mr. K, recommended it to me. (Mr. K was also the teacher that encouraged me to perform at the MLK Oratorical Festival in Oakland, CA. I read a Maya Angelou poem.)

Reading this book was my first true lightbulb moment in my journey to finding self-love and empowerment because it helped me to better understand myself and the larger historical-social-political context for my family and our lives in America, something I have been grappling with trying to understand my entire life.

As a young girl, I was also highly affected by the movie The Killing Fields, which I watched on my own after reading Ngor’s autobiography. Learning that Ngor was the the first Asian American to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for his role in the film fascinated me. What fascinated me more was learning that Ngor had been a medical doctor in Cambodia before the genocide. I was devastated to find out that he had been murdered in a robbery outside his home in Los Angeles in 1996. I cried over the news and was deeply shaken by the injustice and nonsensical nature of his death.

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For high school, I attended The Athenian School in Danville, CA, through the College Preparatory Schools Program of the A Better Chance Program. (I was nominated in the 8th grade by my Upward Bound Director, Romeo Garcia, who founded the ARISE High School in Oakland, CA, and was previously the Director for the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School in Laupahoehoe, HI.)

I graduated from Athenian with my high school diploma in 2002. As part of my graduation requirements, I spent 26-days backpacking through the Sierra Nevada Yosemite Valley National Park as part of my Athenian Wilderness Experience (AWE).

My Athenian Wilderness Experience (AWE) trip was one of the hardest, most physically challenging things that I have ever done and instilled in me a love of nature, hiking, and back-packing that has endured until present day. Phoebe and Jason, our AWE hiking guides (for reasons that took me 10 years to fully understand) appointed me as one of the two student navigators for our group. The two of us then proceeded to get our group lost during the last stretch of the trip, when we had to navigate the last leg of the hike on our own while being followed by our hiking guides, who were a few hours behind. We eventually made our way back to base camp, off-trail and many hours late, to the immense relief of all the adults involved😅.

I also participated in Upward Bound, a federally funded college preparatory TRIO program, at Mills College in Oakland, CA, where I spent all of my Saturdays and every summer during high school.

Being given the opportunity to participate in Upward Bound has been the most significant and transformative experiences in my life because it gave me a family and sense of community, and instilled in me a love and respect for learning and teaching that has shaped my entire life.

My UB Director, Romeo Garcia, and my UB teachers, Tigress Osborn and Susana Hernandez, are the reasons I became an educator. They not only saved me and changed my life, they changed the lives of my entire family. I will never forget how much they cared for us and how unbelievably hard they worked, all the field trips and field days they organized, and the many ways that they inspired us and taught us to believe in ourselves and to see within ourselves a limitless potential. They made me feel that, despite my internal struggles and inner turmoil, I was worthy of their immense efforts. I have spent my entire teaching career trying to give to my own students just a small piece of what they gave to me.

(UB also gave me my first ever paid job the summer after my freshman year when I was 14 years old. I worked as a peer tutor in English and Math for other UB students. I also worked as a teacher’s assistant the summer after my junior and a teacher the summer after my senior year. These were the jobs that helped me to start and build my resume, and gave me the work experience I needed to get my foot in the door and acquire every leadership position I held in college.)

One of my other teacher mentors is Lisa Lomba, currently the Interim Principal for Bishop O’Dowed High School in Oakland, CA. Lisa was one of my Humanities teachers and the person that first introduced me to the writings of James Baldwin in high school. (She also took me and a bunch of other Athenian students on an urban hiking trip through San Francisco where we slept in a youth hostel, traversed “gnarly” SF hills on foot, and “survived” on bagels and cream cheese😄.)

The first essay I ever read by Baldwin was “Strangers in the Village” and I still get chills when I think about the gut-wrenching heart-ache and unbelievable awe I felt (and that was forever seared into my soul and being) in that moment at the power and insight contained within his writing. To this day, Baldwin’s eloquence of prose, depth of philosophical, and critical thought; and stunningly accurate and perceptive analysis of the American experience has served as an important source of inspiration and a foundational guiding light for me as a writer and thinker.

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After high school, I attended college at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), where I graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art Studio and a minor in Asian American Studies. (Go, Aggies!)

At UC Davis, I worked as the Cultural Programmer for the Asian Pacific American Theme House (APATH), the Academic Peer Adviser for the Program of Asian American Studies, and a Middle School Student Mentor for Southeast Asians Furthering Education (SAFE), through the Student Recruitment and Retention Center (SRRC).

In 2004, I received the Asian American Studies Emerging Leadership Award from the Program of Asian American Studies. And in 2005, I became a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award of Merit. I was nominated for both awards by my Asian American Studies Academic Advisor and mentor, Dr. Oiyan Poon, who is currently a Program Officer for the Spencer Foundation and an Associate Professor Affiliate in the School of Education at Colorado State University (CSU).

I was also mentored by my Asian American Studies Professor, Dr. Bill Ong Hing, who is currently the Director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic for The University of San Francisco School of Law (USF). As an undergraduate, Professor Hing asked me to participate in a symposium on “Immigration and Civil Rights After September 11: The Impact on California” at UC Davis’ School of Law. Specifically, I gave commentary related to his article “Detention to Deportation — Rethinking the Removal of Cambodian Refugees” (2004-2005).

In the summer of 2005, I studied abroad at The Château de La Napoule in La Napoule, France.

In fall 2005, I interned at Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) through the UC Washington Center Program (UCDC), where I worked in policy, advocacy, and recovery helping Hurricane Katrina evacuees apply for and access governmental aid and resources from The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

My UCDC research paper and presentation was titled “Inclusion and Exclusion: Irish and Chinese Immigration in 19th Century America” (2005) and focused on comparing and contrasting Irish and Chinese immigration and assimilation, or lack thereof, in the late 1800s and early 1900s; and the effects of Irish American policing and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 on the stereotypes and prejudices that have affected and continue to affect both communities to this day.

Although I loved the work I did at AAJC and enjoyed my experience at UCDC, when I got back to UC Davis, I started having severe panic attacks and suffered an emotional break-down which almost led me to drop out of college. Although I had always achieved academically, I had never and did not know how to process the immense internal pain and inner turmoil I felt as a result of my childhood trauma and that I had been suppressing my entire life. It was at this time that I first sought-out mental health support through UC Davis’s Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS).

At UC Davis, I also worked as the Academic Peer Adviser for the Department of Art History and Art Studio, a Student Gallery Director at The Basement Gallery, and an Undergraduate Assistant in Video and Media Arts to Professor Darrin Martin.

My time as an art student was life-changing for me because, despite being an artistic child and taking every art class I could in high school, it was the first time that I allowed myself to prioritize myself as a creative, and to envision a life for myself beyond basic security and survival. It was at this time that I began taking creative writing classes, with one of my professors, David Masiel, telling me that I was the best “C” student that he had ever had and that I had a point-of-view and perspective that was worth exploring, albeit I needed to work harder to improve my craft. It was at this time that I began to write poetry more purposefully for myself.

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After college, I worked full-time as the Committee Assistant for the California Communications Access Foundation (CCAF) of the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP), a public program mandated by the California State Legislature and administered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

The DDTP has two components: the California Relay Service (CRS), which includes Speech-to-Speech, and the California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) which provides assistive telecommunications equipment. The mission of the program is to provide access to basic telephone service for Californians who have difficulty using the telephone, especially in the case of a major state emergency.

I also taught Poetry on Saturdays for Upward Bound, TRIO Program, at Cal State East Bay, before moving to Austin, TX in 2010.

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In 2012, I began my teaching career in Texas working for Manor ISD, a Title 1 school district in Manor, TX, as an AVID Tutor and TAKS Interventionist, before becoming an ELA Teacher and SPED at Manor HS, where I taught for two years.

I also taught at Lago Vista ISD in Lago Vista, TX, for four years as an ELA Teacher and SPED Teacher. At Lago Vista HS, I was also the Academic Coach for UIL Journalism and the Teacher Sponsor for SAGA.

In spring 2018, I received a Shining Star Award from LVHS for excellence in teaching. I was nominated for the award by Lindsay, a student who graduated in the Top 5 of her class and whom I had taught her sophomore year, as the teacher who made the most impact to her high school career.

In fall 2019, I became the Lead Reading Teacher for Elgin HS, where I built and managed the EHS Reading Program, a Tier 3 RTI reading intervention program for struggling students reading significantly below grade level.

That year, I organized a field-trip for my reading students to the 2019 Texas Book Festival at the Texas Capitol, where students met and spoke with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Seeing my students interacting authentically with Justice Sotomayor has been one of the most amazing honors of my teaching career. Justice Sotomayor graciously allowed us to take a group picture with her after Joy (pictured in the photo left of Justice Sotomayor), one of my most improved reading students and an early graduate of the program, was picked to ask the first question at the event. We had helped her to write in: “What did you used to get in trouble for when you were a child?” The question made Justice Sotomayor LOL and she responded that she was a mischievous and rambunctious child who often got into trouble for all kinds of reasons🤣.

For the 2021-2022 school-year, per their BOY/MOY/EOY Reading Inventory assessments, out of the 130 total students enrolled in the program, by the end-of-the year: 42 students qualified for graduation due to their Lexile score (32% of all students in the program), 70 students showed a significant gain of 100L+ in their Lexile score (54% of all students in the program), and 91 students showed a gain+ in their Lexile reading score (70% of all students in the program).

For the 2021-2022 school-year, I became a Mentor Teacher for EHS, as a part of the Mentor Program Allotment (MPA) through the Texas Education Agency (TEA). I also taught Summer Bridge for the Early College High School (ECHS) at EHS in summer 2021 and summer 2022.

In my over 10 years of teaching experience, I have taught almost every prep of high school English Language Arts, including: Poetry, Resource ELA, Inclusion ELA, ELA 1, ELA 2, ELA 2 Pre-AP, ELA 3, AP English Language and Composition, ELA 4, and Reading 1.

My areas of academic and pedagogical interest and specialty include: English Language Arts, reading and literacy, the “science of reading”, reading intervention, rhetorical analysis, literary analysis, rhetorical strategy and appeal, persuasion and argumentation, poetry, story-telling, universal design for learning, visual literacy, student-centered learning, sheltered instruction, differentiated instruction, project-based learning, cooperative learning, restorative practices, social-emotional learning, growth mindset, culturally relevant teaching, culturally responsive practices, culturally sustaining pedagogies, and equity and cultural proficiency within educational systems and structures.

I hold a Texas Teachers Alternative Certification in English Language Arts and Reading (7-12), Special Education (EC-12), and English as a Second Language Supplemental (EC-12).

For the 2021-2022 school-year, I was also asked by Elgin ISD Superintendent, Dr. Jodi Duron, to serve as the Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force for the district.

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For the 2022-2023 school-year, I completed an AmeriCorps service year with Literacy First as an English Early Literacy Tutor based at Austin Achieve Elementary School-Northeast (AANE), in order to gain hands-on experience in the “science of reading” and early childhood literacy.

I also facilitated a “Why DEI?” workshop at the 2023 Life After AmeriCorps conference for AmeriCorps Central Texas (ACT).

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In July 2023, I accepted a new position as the Families in Transition Liaison for Elgin ISD. For more information about the EISD Families in Transition program, please visit our updated webpage.

In this district position, I will be working with the the rest of our student services and support team to strengthen our family and community partnerships and district safety nets – in order to increase community awareness, promote equitable access, and improve the school experience and education outcomes of highly mobile and at-risk students within our school district.

💜💜💜 #MKV #FIT #ElginISD #OTOTOF

Beginning in 2021, I also currently serve as a committee member on the School Health Advisory Council for Elgin ISD. The goal of the Elgin ISD SHAC is to advise and to make recommendations to Elgin ISD decision-makers regarding students, staff, and community needs and assets related to health knowledge and skills, regarding policies and procedures that impact student health, and regarding the health of the school environment.

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I moved to Texas because I wanted to try something new. I stayed in Texas because I met a boy. We got married and had three wildly beautiful and autonomous children together. Life is crazy and wonderful that way!