A Simple Twist of Fate (I)
Earlier this week, I received the news (on Instagram!) of the passing, in Montreal, of Anh Lai, the husband of my friend and teacher Phuong Nguyen, father to Duy, Alain and Philippe. Of all of these family members, none of whom I've seen in more than 20 years, I probably had fewest conversations with Anh Lai, since when I would see him he was generally much too busy to sit and talk. (I've learned over the years that some people thrive on constant activity, so that when I hear "I've been really busy recently" it's no longer clear to me whether to offer commiseration or congratulations; I believe that Lai was the latter type of person.) And yet the few words he ever addressed to me were career-changing, for without Lai's intervention I might never have spent the rest of my professional career studying Vietnamese, which pursuit has resulted in over 20 single-authored and co-authored publications (many with my former PhD student Trang Phan), and which has brou...
