Linda and volunteers transcribing during our first Dragon Fruit Transcribing Work Day in December 2013.

LINDA NGUYỄN is a queer artist and cultural worker, currently living in Berkeley, CA. During the day, Linda works at a public opinion research firm in downtown Oakland. Linda is also looking for work as a librarian. In their spare time, Linda is part of MOONROOT, a collective of Asian Pacific Islander women, trans*, and gender-queer folks. MOONROOT has been around since 2011, has two zines out, and is currently working on a third. Linda is also one of the co-organizers of the Transformative Arts Practice Space, which is part of the 16th annual Allied Media Conference.

Linda’s passion for cultural production and oral histories led them to be a transcriber for API Equality – Northern California’s Dragon Fruit Project.

“I am super invested in oral histories. I went to library school, and I think that it’s important for us to create and preserve our own knowledges… We’re a marginalized community, we’re the only ones going to do this work.”

As a transcriber for the Dragon Fruit Project, Linda has gotten the opportunity to be in spaces with other folks that are committed to this work. Notably, Linda remembers attending a Dragon Fruit Transcribing Day in December, where they met an elder API women couple. According to Linda, it was beautiful to see how the couple could be so excited about their identities and their intersections.

Through the Dragon Fruit Project, Linda has hope for the liberation of LGBTQ APIs.

“I want API LGBTQ folks to feel good and beautiful and healthy and safe in our bodies and in our communities. I want us to be able to pursue, and to have enough, and to feel like the world is abundant… I think we can get there with the storytelling project.”

Fun Fact: Linda lived in Las Vegas during high school, and since all the hotels had bowling allies, they were on the bowling team!