Tag: Community College

Life’s soundtrack

I have just received a photo showing a hot-air balloon over Seattle, with me and Geoffrey in the basket. We just need a soundtrack to add to it. The puffy hot air, the wind which carried us over the lush-green scenery with Bill Gates himself living on the ground. If given a choice, I choose “Theme from Woodstock”, since we were kidding ourselves that we were “stock East” and “stock West”.

The same lay of the land, without the housing bubble (Seattle and Washington D.C. exempted).

Home to MSC, Amazon and Starbucks.

My cousin used to live there until he died. A former Red Beret and a school teacher.

The last time we spoke was when he wished me a happy marriage. In hindsight, I wished I had made the journey to visit him up there instead of Nova Scotia. By the time I was in that company-sponsored hot-air balloon, my Seattle-based cousin had already died.

Given that context, I would lay down the music track “theme from the deer hunter” (Cavatina) instead for that hot-air balloon trip. Same visual, different feel to it when you lay a different soundtrack underneath.

The difference between the soup lines from the Recession of 1930 and this one, was in how we recorded history: one in Black-and-White grainy photos, and one in crisp digital copies.

Men who carry themselves with whatever dignity left inside of them (even when the fire went out).

President Obama is urging the nation to go back to Community College to get manufacturing certificate. He did not mention that we are living in a disposable society, where the manufacturing sector (which used to produce disposable goods like Campbell soup) is itself disposable, outsourced to lower-wage countries (and downward spiraled from there).

We are lucky now if we can view Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin and laugh.

If he were alive, he wouldn’t think it’s funny at all. He meant to be prophetic, not to produce a documentary about globalization of the manufacturing sector. He wanted to humanize the workers, just to see his audience now sidelined, watching the process repeat itself overseas (with Asian actors).

If I were to lay a soundtrack to these “silent” movies, I would put Theme from the Exodus

(during the Tet massacre of 1968, they laid this soundtrack to show mass graves in Hue).

As in any movie, I need to zoom out now. Back to my hot-air balloon trip with Geoffrey in Seattle.

We saw the lush green, other teams’ balloons, and finally landed safely to the gathering place where we congratulated ourselves for being Ovation winners. Let the bonding continue. Soundtrack “theme from Chariots of Fire“.

half-life happiness

The concept of half-life (radioactive) , if could be applied to soft sciences e.g. happiness, can go on to infinity.

In today’s term, it’s called austerity: scaled-down cars, DVD nights, and local trips.

During the Clinton years, we had a good run. The Japanese had theirs in the 80’s.

Now, it’s the Pacific Century.

Chinese students are enrolling in the States. As of this edit, President Obama and President Xi are having a summit.

(US News and World Reports should be of great resource to these folks who love to shop for brand-name degrees).

I am sure foreign students on American campuses will see all sorts of eye-popping scenes, such as at football games, or frat parties.

Had they been here during the late 60’s, they would have seen much more.

Then, comes senior-panic when recruiters are on campus to whisk away promising young stars (Google remains the number-one choice. For Chinese students who wish to return home after graduation, it’s Baidu).

In their tool bags, I hope these foreign students hone their debating skills, presentation skills and personal-branding skills.

I enjoy reading (in English) novels by mainland Chinese authors. But they are far and few in between.

And for now, I understood the Yale wisdom of long-term investing in foreign language departments, among them Vietnamese.

Who would have thought a major or minor in Chinese studies comes in very handy these days. (The mayor of Chicago saw this).

The MIT Sloan Chinese faculty was consulted on PBS News Hour, at panel discussion etc… In short, he is in demand

to navigate through the complexity of currency pecking, labor and political unrest, and income inequality which pervade today’s China.

And if the Chinese are to loosen their purses, Western style of advertising (Madison Avenue) will set up shop there to blast Pavlovian messages. Buy this, buy that, then you will  be happy.  Drink this, drink that, then you will be happy.

Consumerism just looks and finds new converts across the Pacific ocean, leaving behind its early “adopters” with half-life happiness (adjusted American Dream). American will shop less and save more. Chinese the opposite. Trade imbalance dealt with. Half-life happiness sure beats hopelessness . In crisis, opportunity (for the Chinese Dream to rise, then fall).