Over The Edge

UNBC’s Official Student Newspaper

Issue 5 November 15, 1999

Volume 6 -

he Woman Behince

By Nicole Larson

History is written by
the winners, or so it is
often said. But the new
book “the Girl in the
Picture:

The Kim Phuc story,’
written by Denise
Chong is written about
one of the most famous
victims of the twentieth
century, and perhaps
the millennium. The
image of Kim Phuc run-
ning naked from the
smoking rubble left
behind by a naphalm
bomb exsists in the

mind of people who
remember the Vietnam
war and even people to

A Chat with Denise Chong

young to remember the
Vietnam war.

Even the creation of
“The Girl in the Picture”
was a harrowing task.
Because Denise Chong
felt she could not write
Kim’s biography without
going to Vietnam and
interviewing her family,
and neighbours, she
learned first hand the
effects of war, even
twenty years later.
“Twenty years after the
war you discover a cul-
ture of the victor and the
vanquished, people siill
knew who was on the
winning side and people
knew who was on the
losing side of the war,’

Under

the Covers

Chong explained, “I just
had to be very careful. |
don’t think | would have
written the book if | had
not been able to go to

Vietnam. | would; Ot
have done it. She was
just one part of the
story, just one part of it.
She was a child for one
thing, and just the
nature of the Vietnam
war her parents never
told her everything for
their own protection. |
was only ever going to
get one part of it from
her. | had to go to
Vietnam.”

Writing a biography
has its own problems,
let alone writing a biog-
raphy of a
woman who
grew upina
place where
e silence was

more than
Be golden it
mwas worth
your _silife.
Kim could
supply only
fragments
of her Tife, to
find the rest
Denise
Chong had
to travel to
Vietnam

that
could fill in
the holes in

Kim's life. “I had to find
the villagers, the family,
the other people there.’
Chong explained, “You
are irying to wrestle the
whole thing to the page.
You

have to have it all up
there to wrestle with
first. If | don’t have that
detail in me and feel it |
can’t claim to have the
authenticity. | learned
about how to use that
tool of memory. I
learned it is only every
fragmented, you had to
go in and start to fill in

that landscape yourself.”

For Denise Chong,
and the rest of the
world, the story of Kim
Phuc became more
than the story of one
person. It was the story
of her family, the story of
the peasant class in
South Vietnam and the
story of all victims of
war. “People knew the
picture almost regard-
less of their age.”
Chong explained, ‘I
think the power of it lies
in its ambiguity. You
don’t know who those
soldiers are affiliated
with. It could be almost
anywhere. It’s not even
clear, they could be chil-
dren anywhere. She’s
running from _ the
hounds of war.’

It may seem odd that
another book is being

written about war. Why

Page 13 -
Kornered On Kampus corners more of
UNBC!

Page 5,6 -
Student reponses to Women’s Centre

budget cuts!

this story, why the biog-
raphy of this girl?
Springs to mind, but
perhaps through this girl
the world will learn
about the effects of war
on the ordinary person
who lives in the physical
here and now.
Someone who exists
outside of a photograph,
or a journal entry, or
tally sheet. “There have
been thousands _ of
books on the Vietnam
war, and you_ think
another one?” Chong
said, “Most of those
other ones are pub-
lished by American Gls,
Generals, Politicians,
lots of journalists have
written memoirs, but

very few in terms of the

effect on the ordinary

civilian.

It just happens

this ordinary civilian is
also it’s more famous

victim.”

Kim’s story does not
centre completely in

Vietnam,
that surprised

something

even

Chong. Kim's story is

linked

to events all

around the world, espe-
cially after she is sent to
Cuba to go to high

school.

S f o
Contiuned
Page 2...

Page 3 -

Chinese refugees deserve better!

Page 9-

Another great contest from your

friends at Over The Edge!.

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on