Draft Day

by Rattawut Lapcharoensap

Paperback

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

Rattawut Lapcharoensap was born in Chicago in 1979 and raised in Bangkok. He currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches high-school English. ‘Farangs’, his first published story, appeared in Granta 84. Since then, his work has been published in several literary magazines, as well as in Best New American Voices 2005 and Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005. His short-story collection Sightseeing was selected for the National Book Foundation’s ‘5 Under 35’ programme, won the Asian American Literary Award and was also shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.

Reviews

[C]

im devastated as hell for wichu bro they were bestfriends and maybe not anymore bc one was privileged enough to escape the draft and the other is doomed to suffer the consequences left behind by the adults

[Kristi]

Interesting topic for me because I studied at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok through a term abroad at St. Olaf College in 1967. It was an amazing time to be in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive was in the spring of 1968. At that time I was conflicted about the U.S. pressence - most of the big air bases were in Thailand. The Thai people were very concerned about the Pathet Lao and the Viet Cong and many wanted our soldiers and pilots in Thailand. Later as a knew that there was no way to "win" this war, I protested. I was ashamed of our exodus from the country - especially our abandonment of the local people and tribes who helped us during the war. I am now proud to say that the Twin Cities have the largest Hmong population in the country. Yeah IMMIGRANTS!! ICE GO AWAY! Sadly there was a military coup in 2014. The senate / government was disolved and a state of martial law was declared. In 2017 our Thailand study group had a 50 year reunion. One of the best events of our get together was meeting with Monthian Buntan (Thai: มณเฑียร บุญตัน; 2 May 1965 – 2 March 2024) who was a Thai blind social welfare administrator and politician. He was President of the Thailand Association of the Blind, and served in the Senate from 2008 to 2014 and again from 2019 to 2024. He was an amazing young man!!! Draft Day - young men trying to avoid military service. So so tale. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Janice Chung]

another short story i read for class but i enjoyed this. interesting to analyze the desires and fears.