The Ngo Club [p.3]

Even though Ngo Club wants to “represent” for its people, we can’t put the varying needs of an entire culture on our shoulders. Instead, Ella, Bee, and I have chosen to just be ourselves and share our own personal ideas and experiences in our work. Through this individuality, hopefully society can view the entire Vietnamese community as a group of persons rather than a series of stereotypes. Ella is a not a submissive masseuse. Ella is a girl who can eat like a lumberjack. Bee is not a PC technician. He is a thin guy who is constantly trying to gain weight. I do not play badminton. Actually, I played a season of ultimate frisbee in college. We are Vietnamese Americans, but our ethnicity does not define who we are as people.

As Ella once told me, “Be proud of your heritage, but don’t make it the biggest issue because race ultimately doesn’t matter. You matter.”

Yes, if it weren’t for our last names, Ella, Bee, and I wouldn’t have united to become the cohesive media powerhouse that is Ngo Club. However, Ngo Club only exists today because of the camaraderie we have with one another. We’re all friends who share a love for creativity and we’re all trying to make careers out of this passion. We’re serious about our goals, but at the same time, we’re not serious about ourselves. Ella is striving to be a managing editor for a major media entity, and proudly displays her 5th grade spelling bee trophy at her desk to symbolize this goal. Bee wants to produce programming that changes the television landscape, but he is seemingly more determined to find a good bowl of pho in Los Angeles. Someday, I hope to make films that impact society like Scorsese, Spielberg, and Tarantino. For now, I’m just really trying to save up money to buy some new clothes to diversify my wardrobe.

We don’t take ourselves seriously because, after all, we work in entertainment. The Ngo Club is really all about sarcasm, self-deprecation, and style. In fact, when NHA asked me to provide photos for this article, I couldn’t just send them family album photos of Ella, Bee, and myself. Instead, Ngo Club commandeered a photographer and did a full-blown photo shoot at The Standard in Downtown Los Angeles (That place looks amazing!). If given the opportunity to be creative, the Ngo Club will run wild with it, and that we did.

Hopefully, Ngo Club will be around to see the last name Ngo mentioned alongside such celebrated Hollywood surnames as Baldwin, Coppola, Douglas, and Barrymore (and pronounced properly too). During the photo shoot, I asked Bee where he thought Ngo Club would be in 10 years. Bee replied, “I think we’re all going to be all right. We’re all going to get there. At least Ella will.”

Ella, Bee, and I do ultimately want to make our parents happy, and we believe the creative arts are our way to do so. Quite frankly, we’d all make pretty crappy doctors and lawyers, and no parent wants their child to have that type of reputation. With that in mind, Ngo Club will continue to do its thing in entertainment. However, we know that an entire young generation of Vietnamese American media artists is on the rise. If we can give some humble advice to any future Ngo, Tran, or even Huynh, it’s that you should pursue your passion in whatever field you choose. However, if you do choose a career as a media artist, just know that basically everyone will pronounce your last name incorrectly.

The Ngo Club spends its Monday nights at The Standard in Downtown Los Angeles to symbolize its attempt at setting the standard. Also, The Standard has good fries and a great view.

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David Ngo is trying to be a writer, director, television executive, model, actor, spoken word artist, and friend. He made his own website at HYPERLINK "http://www.doubleohthree.com" www.doubleohthree.com.