Merle Ratner: Beloved by the Vietnamese Community
Vu Xuan Hong, former President of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations A “miniature Vietnam” in East Village (New York) Vu Xuan Hong received Merle Ratner at the headquarters of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations on January 21, 2008. (Photo: Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations) Merle Ratner and her husband’s charming modest apartment in East Village (New York) is filled with Vietnamese-themed decorations. The photographs in their house include the One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi Old Quarter, the Long Bien Bridge, tranquil countrysides, and a woman carrying her child to the fields. She carefully kept whatever her Vietnamese friends gave her. Merle feels they are more than just decorations as they convey feelings and memories. She enthusiastically introduces her Vietnamese “fortune” to everyone. Many Vietnamese friends see her and her husband’s apartment as a small museum of Vietnam in New York. For decades, this apartment has served as a gathering pl...