dao was born in saigon, vietnam and grew up in the sierra nevada foothills of northern california. she has lived in nyc, sf, iowa city, austin tx, juneau ak, & now calls portland, oregon home.

she is a writer of both books & songs. (read more...)

see dao's complete resume here


esoterica:

my given name is tiêu-dao....

i was born in Viet Nam, in the wake of a war.
i am the daughter of writers,
i am also the daughter of a political prisoner. but i followed my mother -
we crossed oceans & slept under tents & wore clothing given us
by strangers.
i grew up in a land i was led to believe had rescued us.
yrs later i begin to ask
what it was we were rescued from.

i am one of the children divided
between mother & father / mountains & sea / between
geographies.
i am part of the middle world; a hybrid; a troubadour.

these are my notes from the southern world.

...
my element is water, my year is the ox. altho i identify strongly with my moon sign (pisces) i also understand that my present life's lesson is something to do with independence (aries). *i believe* my soul's mission is reconciliation ((return)) & articulating the middle world. i have heard stories of some grandmothers who told their children: "you were born vietnamese for a reason." there is a reason for all of this - war, geography, self-locations...

...
tiêu-dao = is a term borrowed from the old chinese into the vietnamese language in the early centuries A.D. it denotes a state of being that is like the flow of a river or like "walking" or "traveling happily." one who embodies tiêu-dao may be like a wanderer in the world, but a carefree one.

i am still trying to find my way back.


~tiêu-dao, 5/12/2010