This is just a quick post to let you all know that as of Friday, the Smithsonian's new Vietnamese American exhibit, "Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon," is now officially open for public viewing at the Ripley Center. Since I spent one of my recent summers interning for the Smithsonian and helping out with the origins of this project, I'm really happy and proud to see it finally come to fruition. On Thursday night I attended the "exclusive" reception to officially unveil the exhibit, and in addition to finally being able to see the final project -- an idea that first came to be over two years ago -- I was able to enjoy the company of CNN's Betty Nguyen who emceed the event, as well as recently-elected Senator Jim Webb of Virginia (his wife is a Vietnamese American), among many other family, friends, and local Vietnamese Americans.
But by far my favorite run-in was with none other than Project Runway winner Chloe Dao, who was just as cute and friendly as I imagined her to be. It was truly my reality-TV dream come true (yes I know I'm a huge dork for saying that).
The exhibit will be on display until March 31, at which point it will travel to different parts of the country. I encourage all of you in the area to check it out if you get a chance -- the Ripley Center is the small copper-domed building just to the right of the Castle building. For some background or additional info, check out the website.
Fun photos from the evening are to come. Check my Flickr for an update soon.
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