Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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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.

Tag: Beaver Stadium

  • My McBite

    My first American solo supper was a big Whopper, at the time, sold by the leading Burger King. The next day, I sampled McDonald known for its fries. You may say, I got myself into a blind-fold test not unlike Coke vs Pepsi tasting. To this day, my number-one choice would be In-and-Out. But seeing…

  • Myopia

    It was just a few years ago when friends and I discussed the inevitable departure of Joe Paterno at Penn State. Retired? Replaced? Removed? Now, it turns out, it’s his statue that got removed. Who would have conjured up that scenario. Today, the Nittany Lions will get their verdict from the NCAA. I am hoping for…

  • Changing-transforming

    The first comes natural. The second,  involves an act of the will and intervention. Penn State will need to be transformed. Besides, it’s not the place. It’s the institutional mindset. We know this. We will do it, individually and collectively. It’s Sunday morning. I will use this day to reflect on my experience at Happy…

  • Ignore it!

    Willful ignorance, kicking the can further down the road. Hoping it lands on someone else’s front yard. Problems got ignored,  because if solved, it’s gonna cost. Penn State pedophile problem is one. One of us vs societal rule of law, subjectivity vs objectivity, warm feelings vs calm rationality. I read JoePa’s son’s op-ed in USA…

  • the right screen

    Smart phones got computer, TV and phone screens, all in once. The combined screen. I was sitting in front of a lap top and an attached large screen. For a moment, I looked at one screen while the action took place at the other. To catch on, I  need to follow the cursor to know where the…

  • mass innovation

    We got into this mess (housing bubble and derivative fallacy) en mass. Are we going to suffer in isolation? No way! With crowdsourcing, virtual forum, email, cloud etc.. we got enough in our arsenal to reverse the course. Technology (the way) and the will. That’s all we need. And a little bit of love (courtesy of…

  • My Happy Valley

    A photo of  Penn Stater, eyes glued to the Collegian, brought back strong memories of the HUB (Student Union Building) and my time in Happy Valley. State College was home to me for 4 years. Happy Days. The Wall. The Corner Room. Beaver Stadium. Best ice-cream at the Creamery. In the Spring, at outdoor concert…

  • Losing one’s self

    In a recent NYT op-ed, David Brooks summed up prevailing graduation themes: find yourself, live to the fullest, be passion-focused etc.. instead of losing yourself in solving others’ problem. Even my kid knows that time passes more quickly when you are absorbed in a task. When you lose yourself, you end up finding it. Before graduating, I…

  • the dot connector

    I am referring to Dr Rustum Roy of Penn State whom I met almost 4 decades ago. I knew then just as I know now that he was ahead of his time. He pushed for integrated studies in Science, Technology and Society. He showed up at a demo of  hologram which is now being worked…

  • 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…