Read on Twitter
Recently my family became the faculty-in-residence at Pomona College. It's a big deal not just because of the opportunity to get to know students at a deeper level, but also because it marks the end of a significant phase of my life. We lived in our previous place for 5 years. /1
As a #firstgen Vietnamese family without wealth, we moved a lot - often due to rising rents. Other factors played a role, but some things are too painful to share as many #firstgens know. I moved to Claremont when I was 30. Before then, I had lived in 21 different places. /2
During that time, I upgraded from sleeping on a straw mat on the floor, to a bunk bed in the garage (with Black Widows!), to having my own bed in a regular room in high school. /3
Side note: although we often crammed 5 people in a single room home, my mom often let recent Vietnamese immigrants live with us rent-free, sometimes for over a year. Add monthly remittances to Vietnam for over 30 years (still going); her generosity is amazing. /4
I think it's hard for people of means to understand the implications of moving so often. I write these posts to help convey the #firstgen experience. You start from behind while others start ahead. /5
The lack of a home has many consequences. First, your credit rating is shattered. That impacts loans, credit card interest rates, and makes your life more expensive./6
Second, you are always burning through savings to pay security deposits and first and last month's rent. /7
Third, you never have a sanctuary to go home to for recovery and to save up. During undergrad and grad school, I was always envious of friends who would go "home" to save money, take up internships, relax, and just be with things they grew up with. /8
You throw away a lot of memories when you move a lot. I worked for two years after undergrad and helped pay rent - there was no opportunity to move back home to save money. It's really hard to focus on school and your career when you are always moving around. /9
Fourth, homeownership is probably the most effective way to accumulate wealth and pass it on to your kids. I will not be getting an inheritance. /10
When my wife and I moved from our apartments in Japan and Irvine, she did something I have come to greatly admire. We cleaned out the house, and she took a moment to verbally express thanks to our homes for protecting us and for providing us a place to live. /11
I was unfamiliar with the gesture not because it was Japanese, but because I never saw a house in that way. That is, I never had a "home." I am so grateful to our last home, where I started my job at Pomona (my wife at CMC) and where we introduced our son to the world. /12
We will make the most of the next 2-3 years and will do our best to make new memories in this new home with our students. Hopefully what follows is my first permanent home (assuming I don't get canned, haha). /13
