Joseph Babcock is a writer based in California. He is currently at work on a nonfiction book about contemporary Vietnam. Follow him @josephdbabcock or @josephbabcock_.
As corpses rot and the search for family members’ remains becomes more urgent, there is a special Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons—but it helps find Americans.
The Vietnamese have a term for moving to a small town here to find work where there’s less competition: Lam mong xuyen bang—‘Doing nails across states.’
