Day 17

Name: Minh Do

Profession: Student, New England Law

Location: Pearl Art Supplies

Question: Why are you here?

Answer: It’s time for the next chapter

Today was a sad day for Cambridge, Massachusetts, as one of the city’s few art suppliers closed its doors for good. Before that happened, however, a line of patrons with 75% off what remained of the merchandise wrapped around the store, eager to collect cheap materials from a shop that had as much character as the city itself.

Behind me in line stood Minh Do, a law student and wife who has already travelled the world.

Born and raised in Utah, Do first found herself in Burkina Faso as a Peace Corps business volunteer, where she taught women how to build loans.

“If everyone puts in their own money, one woman in the group can borrow the money, and she would pay it back because they don’t really have banks there. So, they call it (KO-ti-zay), it’s like trying to put money in to save,” she explained. “I loved it. It was a good experience; different. It made me appreciate America a lot more.”

The location, she said, was ironic because it was the last on her list.

“I actually never wanted to go to Africa, but because I spoke French, I had to go,” she said.

In fact, she wanted to go “anywhere but Africa,” she said, “because you don’t know much about it and everybody talks about it, talks so badly about it. I didn’t want to go. I ended up having a great time. And it’s not as scary as everybody thinks it is.”

After returning from her work there, Do travelled to South Korea, where she taught English and met her would-be future husband through a few mutual friends at a bar. It was March 2008, and they were married in the summer of 2009. The couple had weddings in both India, where her husband is from, and America, where Do’s own family could attend.

Do hopes to get out of Boston and travel where her spouse’s work takes them. There, she’d like to practice tax law.

“I know it’s really lame and dorky, but I really like taxes,” she said. “It’s like the Madonna of concerts for me. I love it.”