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: George Harrison

  • Positively positive

    Same set of situation, variety of readings. Rashomon effect. In Vietnam, if you ran into a funeral, it’s luck. Wow! Positively positive. The deaths live on in the family, albeit high up on the altar. Part of one another forever. Unlike in the US, health care for all is health care for none (shut down). Negatively…

  • 2012 Bookmarking

    I used to rely on researchers like the Tofflers (Future Shock) to “see” into the future. For instance, the pro-sumer trend, the mismatching speeds among various sectors ( IT, Financial, Educational, Governmental…in that order). Lately, all I came across in Futurism was 2012 prophecy . Like it or not, this year will have come down as a…

  • Music was saved

    When Steve Jobs came up with his 99-cent song idea, he saved musicians from the curse of piracy. It’s all in the ether. But musicians get paid, however long the tail. Better than nothing at all. More people get to hear those beautifully written pieces. I walked by a coffee shop yesterday. On its walls…

  • First, learn respect!

    After transitioning from a French elementary school to a Vietnamese middle-school, on my first day of school,  I saw “First learn respect, then learn literature”. My brother’s generation at the same school had been from the same mold (his classmates are still staying in touch). No wonder they showed up at my Mom’s funeral in a…

  • My 70’s

    Needless to say, my hair was long, my pants were bell-bottom and my shirt shiny. I spent half of that decade in Vietnam, the other half in America. But the youth culture helped bridge the cultural gap: we had already listened to James Talor, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Elton John before I jumped on to…

  • Random meet

    In Vietnam, don’t be surprised when you are placed  next to a complete stranger, who knows someone who knows your host. It happened to me at Christmas party this year. Next to me was a Vietnamese-American returning from multiple tours in Iraq. He was here to fly his wife out. She had flown in as…

  • Simon’s Sound of Silence

    “In restless dream I walked alone” this time, w/ out Garfunkel. Two moments of silence descended upon two reflecting pools. It was so eerie that ten years ago, of all things, Matt Lauer was interviewing a Howard Hughes biographer when the TODAY show got interrupted. I don’t think viewers ever follow up on the bio after…

  • Growing old in post 9/11 era

    Younger generations are growing up digital. I grow old in post 9/11. We were bumping along, thinking the dot.com burst was the story of the Century. Then, the unthinkable happened. Brave were the men on United Flight 93. Our lives have never been the same since (collective survivor’s guilt).  An act of outright violence needed to…

  • My list of Influencers

    Despite their flaws (who doesn’t have one please cast the first stone), these are the people I look up to: – President Carter with his commitment to build housing for the poor – President Clinton out of that place called Hope – Jim Elliot, the late great missionary who died for his cause – Danny…