Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

recent posts

about

With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Author: Thang Nguyen 555

  • Sitting on the bench

    The new Miss America said she wanted to become a Supreme Court Judge. Admirable! Ambitious! Adorable!  She certainly did her Nebraskan parents proud. During the talent contest, the producers collected and showed contestant’s childhood footage. Digital archive! To Miss America franchise’s credits, many past winners were present for a show of support. They appeared to…

  • Rosier shade of dream

    We got a glimpse of a religious revival last week in Tucson: “an America worthy of our children’s expectations”. I look at my 8-year-old and try to visualize her 21st century future. Will she be texting a few years from now? (I know she will in-mail and tweet). I have no idea at what age…

  • Use it

    Safeway doesn’t feel safe. Desert is now full of people ( from the media to law enforcement). Last weekend Arizona shooting reminds me of “Under The Banner of Heaven” which revealed the intersect of religious occult and gun culture in the region. It also highlights young people’s plight to make a name for themselves (in…

  • Moore’s Law for Tech Giants

    If Rip Van Winkle woke up today, he would be surprised to see Facebook. If he had waken up a decade ago, he would have read about Google.And the decade before that, Microsoft. Except this time, Mark Zuckerberg is much younger than the other founders, dominated the media landscape quicker . And he donated part…

  • Kindness from your lips

    My kid’s elementary school is collecting lip balms to send to our troops overseas. It struck me that we spend our entire life trying to do good, from small gestures to larger ones, only to see others take it away in an instant. I saw the beautiful picture of the 9/11 girl whose life ended…

  • 21st-cent Chinese expats

    The Economist has a timely expose on “the Tale of two expats”. http://www.economist.com/node/17797134 It is written from a British perspective. If it were for the US, an entire section would have to be added in (given the background of Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese Internment Camp, and 80’s Yellow Peril). It’s hard for America to…

  • Green Fields are gone

    The camera panned jerkily (watch You Tube) as the Four Brothers sang away their classic hit, Green Fields. The comments section was led by “I miss my papa, this was one of his favorites”. The Greatest Generation, and now the Boomer Generation, are slowly but surely fading away. Gone with them are the many lessons…

  • Being Here-Being There

    “Being There” was first released years ago. Peter Sellers portrayed an illiterate gardener who had been walled in all his adult life. His only window to the world was through the TV screen. Hence his speech and demeanor replicated sound bites and screen gestures (awaiting for a “cut” to commercials). Shirley McClain played a society…

  • Facebook prosumerism

    We have put in long hours, uploading, editing, “friending”, texting, in-mailing, posting, commenting, searching and even reading up on and seeing a movie about Facebook. A recession distraction? or tip of the iceberg in what is finally Personal Computing and Networking? At least, computer finally “think” out of its “computing” box. Now, it’s about lifestyle…

  • Calling on Leaders

    Mongolian Khan, upon his first day out of jail, jumped on the horse to lead his nation to new height. Lennon and Yoko still purchased full-page ad in the NYT to run the same poster as they did 40 years ago “WAR IS OVER, if you want it”. With the new digital order, thought-leaders emerged…