Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Author: Thang Nguyen 555
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Orhan Pamuk must be born of “Other Colors” and in the “Snow” who later built his “Museum of Innocence“. He got the Nobel Prize for his unique perspective and perception on being in the middle of things: Istanbul. Pamuk invited us back to his childhood, to view changes through a child’s eyes “when we watched the…
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When I saw a Vietnamese woman on motor bike with helmet, mask, sunglasses, messenger pouch, gloves and Ao-Dai steering her scooter while holding a baby on their way to the sitter, it brought back memories of Mom’s dress. She was a schoolteacher, deeply committed to and consistent in her multiple roles: mother, teacher, wife, daughter-in-law…
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Actually this is about the redemptive aspect of literature. Set in 1843, Flaubert‘s character rode the psycho-somatic roller-coaster. The result: Madame Bovary set him apart from his Romantic contemporaries. He started the school of Realism even though he never admitted it. Bovary got married, Bovary got bored, Bovary had an affair and a brush with death but…
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Bob Seger‘s still the same. Shania Twain‘s still the one. And at C’est Moi tonight, the owner/singer (Vietnamese back from France) still carried the show with her energy and charisma, as if she owned the place. When you sing, you have to lift the audience out of the here and now. If they are on…
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I wasn’t the one who opened up this Pendora box. Stephen Hawking did. In a recent interview, he had mentioned that the biggest mystery in the universe was women. You and I could have said that. Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. Girls gone wild. Valley girls. In 2011, we got an election in Liberia which…
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Time heals all wounds. It also ushers in a generation, now in high school and college. Here in Vietnam, students have classes on Saturdays and even Sundays. Kids of all ages, in uniforms or out of, but always with a backpack, riding on wheels of all types: bikes, electric bikes, scooters, sedans, and buses. They…
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I saw a funeral pouring out onto the sidewalk one day, and on the same block, a wedding the day after. Meanwhile, the street sweeper just went about his business of sweeping, regardless. Even if they could use some industrial-grade sweepers, people prefer man to machine. This solves labor problems. Scavengers make their daily routes by offering…
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I invited a new classmate to join our volleyball team. Thought I kill two birds with one stone: we could use a tall guy, and I couldn’t bear seeing him unfriended during recess. Turned out he couldn’t play well, but we got to be friends for life. We pitched in to buy a professional ball.…
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When you were young and with others, you wanted to start a revolution. But if you were young, but alone, you might want New Year Resolution e.g. diet, “biggest loser”, learning Spanish, pick up a new skill set. Then when you have been around the block a few times, you still think of New Year…
Thang Nguyen 555 