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27 One year later, I return to Viet Nam to further explore how war affected the Vietnamese people and land, how they carry it, and how to help our vets. I travel through Tay Ninh Province, fiercely bombed and burned during the war. I revisit the mountain sacred to all Vietnamese, once the scene of myths and battles, now of prayer and frolic for both Vietnamese and travelers. Lady Black Mountain For endless years the afternoon clouds on the mountain’s summit were a virgin’s burial shroud. Now she wears a white garland and wind chimes ring. R In Ho Chi Minh City, I become friends with a 13-year old street girl.Tuyen, the sole support of her mother and baby sister, is one of the seemingly infinite number of street vendors —children, the elderly, the disabled—hawking postcards and books to tourists. She attends school during the day then must remain on the streets late into the night—for as long as it takes to earn one dollar. Tuyen Crying our wares in the midnight shadows — the painted woman and me selling postcards— the way I grow rice for my family don’t be offended by the whore’s anger— she too must eat ...

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