H'Rina
DeTroy
Writer + Instructor
Community Arts Activist

Welcome!
H'Rina
DeTroy
Writer + Instructor
Community Arts Activist

Welcome!
In case you need an introduction, here's a little something I wrote that might summarize who I am and what I do:
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Writing is my coping device in grappling with an identity that feels like laundry list of exceptions: Asian American but not Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or South Asian; technically of Vietnamese heritage but not ethnically; Spanish-speaking but not Hispanic; model minority with an Asian mother who never cared about report cards; lovechild of a Vietnam war bride but with a non-veteran father, etc. I'm a memoirist in the throes of articulating my mother's story — the greatest enigma in my life. I write because I looked for mirrors in books and found endless windows — frames framing frames for looking out or in.
The brilliant Toni Morrison said, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." Here I am attempting to do just that.
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Truthfully, I could fanatically quote Ms. Morrison, my fellow Aquarian, all day, every day, but her words here resonate specially and specifically:
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"If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."
This is the ethos behind my work as a writer, instructor, and community arts organizer.​ If you're interested in reaching out or getting involved, drop me a message in the contact form below. ​
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