This article discusses her own life and the ways America and Vietnam have influenced it.  The most interesting thing to me was the fact that event though she lived in America her entire life and her husband is American, her family is making her have a Vietnamese traditional wedding.  This is interesting because it shows how the Vietnamese hold onto their culture regardless of where they live.  They came to the United States for a better life and the author has tried to be 100% American but her parents always told her that no matter how hard she tried to be American she will always be Vietnamese.  Her wedding proves this and this makes it clear how much the Vietnamese people treasure their culture and traditions.  I personally find it pretty cool they are so obsessed with keeping their culture even when in the United States.  I think the purpose of this article was to show that no matter how hard some immigrants try to blend in and be completely American, they will always be a foreigner in some ways (which is by no means a bad thing).  However, the one thing I didn’t really like or even understand about the article was about conflict.  The chapter is called “The Clash of Civilizations: Is Conflict Avoidable?” and from this article I see how civilizations clash and mix, but I don’t see how conflict is the result.  Conflict wasn’t a big deal in this article and the author’s parents warning her off being divorced and forcing her to a Vietnamese traditional wedding are the only areas where conflict could be considered.  It seems to me like her parents want a completely Vietnamese family just living in California instead of Vietnam.  I think the parents are being pretty unreasonable because they now live in America and came for a different life so obviously a different life is what they are getting with her daughter’s marriage.  This marriage exemplifies why many people call America the “melting pot.”  Not only are so many cultures living together inside the United States, but people are also marrying others from different countries and cultures which causes cultures to mix together and make the United States culture even more diverse.  In conclusion, the article does a solid job at showing the mixing of cultures and holding onto your traditions, but does a pretty poor effort at demonstrating the resulting conflicts.