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: Chicago

  • Slippery Saigon

    I went out for my morning jog in slippery Saigon.  I was hoping for cooler weather. Now that my wish was granted, I begin to have second thought: if it’s cool here, it means somewhere up North, people are freezing, or boats and houses destroyed. We live in a connected world and leave behind carbon footprints.…

  • How do they know?

    Have you ever wondered how some songs deliver just the right emotion? How do they know what’s relevant and resonating? Chicago‘s If You Leave Me Now, for instance. On these blogs, we often mentioned the eccentric, the peculiar and oddities. Rarely do we put much effort articulating those feelings and God forbid, meltdown or breakdown (Newtown,…

  • Enduring trends

    Technologists are enthusiasts. Their progress are documented in hockey-stick trends. Meanwhile  we as ordinary human are still reacting out of fear as if we were still living in caves. The reptilian brain vs rapid rise of chip speed, guns vs germs, technology vs anthropology! As early as 1950’s, graduates would hear something like: “boy, you get…

  • Parting

    Chicago‘s If you Leave Me Now is easy to listen to,but  hard to sing. “You take away a part of me”. Changes are necessary. Progress and modernity. More convenience, more amenities. Full service. One-stop shop. Once we have upgraded to some fancy levels, our memory muscles kick in full gear. Gotta get back on top.…

  • Mom’s Ao Dai

    Mom’s Ao Dai

    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…

  • Man who reads

    Joan Didion‘s latest book about the death of her child has landed in the top ten of TIME magazine. Her earlier book, “the Year of Magical Thinking” recalls the death of her husband. By penning these experiences, she invited us, readers into her private chamber of grief  (saving his shoes, wishing he would come back).…

  • Chicago’s former self

    I finished the epilogue to “the Devil in the White City” longing for more. That’s how good the read was. The architects and builders reached out to the sky, and in Ferris’ case, taking the people up with him for an amusement ride in 1893. The Fair (DreamLand) later inspired DisneyLand. But not all was…

  • Art expressions in most unlikely places

    You would have never thought of running into people ballroom-dancing in the park. But here in GoVap new park, where the young trees are still being nursed, and the lights barely lit up, people came out and did just that. Young and old, male and female, they came out when the heat started to ease.…

  • Anchor kids

    Although “Last Men Out” tells a story about the last Marines on the last day of Vietnam, readers still learn a great deal about the Vietnamese “group culture”. Many workers of the former US  embassy were on the list to be “chopper” out (Operation Frequent Wind). It just so happened that the gardener of the embassy came…

  • Mathmatically Vietnam

    Berkeley is popular with Asian students. Last weekend, I heard that an acquaintance got accepted and would be travelling to Houston to start college. But many young Vietnamese study abroad chose University of Chicago. It is no surprise  that Ngo Bao Chau, the math wiz, pitched his tent there. Windy city. Cold. Home of Oprah…