Phou Manivong
You can't help but love being around Phou Manivong. His easy demeanor is soothing, but his humor is sometimes irreverent. "I do your nails for big discount today," he jokes in a contrived Asian dialect. This makes me uncomfortable. In spite of his Asian roots, Mr. Manivong is as Americanized as it gets. But his accent is dead on, and just as I want to laugh out loud, I think, "But wait. Isn't that racist?" It doesn't take long to understand that Phou, in his own satirical way, is poking fun at the misinformed among us: the people who would have you believe that Asians are bad drivers, manically wired, and socially inept nerds. Mr. Manivong is none of those things. In his second year as Central Catholic's assistant principal, he and Principal Jordan Engle make quite a team. Phou's calm and tranquil manner is the perfect foil for Jordan's boundless energy. They're good for each other and good for the school. More and more, Phou