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: Jane Fonda

  • Caught in the thick of rain

    It’s not Les Parapluis de Cherbourg , or Catherine DeNeuve with her trench coat. Just anything over the head to stay, well, less wet. We got out of the pool, just to be wet all over again. Tropical summer. Impeding traffic and time planned. Here in Vietnam, it takes a lot just to stay cool…

  • Point A To B

    We make that trip all our lives. To and Fro. Back and Forth. Arriving and Leaving. The Goodbye Girl. The Run-Away Bride. The Mid-night Cowboy. All feels restless Gotta be somebody, going places. This time, point B happens to be Mars itself. Young people can muster up the courage to go to far-away wars, but dare…

  • Don’t jump the gun

    It started with interchangeable parts in a gun factory, then “re-engineering” in the auto-assembly plant to full automation (former Secretary of Labor Reich said that if workers lose their sense of optimism, then there is no replacement). In NY, the manufacturing sector employs 40% a century ago, now it stands at mere 4% (conversely, a…

  • When truth shows up

    On the list of “cities that might get worse”, many are from California (Stockton, Bakersfield…but surprisingly, San Francisco as well). Even with and despite boosted help from Tinsel Town. My first impressions of Los Angeles were formed back in the midst 80’s, during the commercial real estate boom (remember Michael Douglas and the Japanese gangs, or automobile…

  • Never too old to salivate

    I was there on Black Friday.  95 North. Wal-Mart stop. I saw shoppers pushing carts filled with wireless printers, Blu-ray players and flat screen TV’s. The only other time you see people taking stuff from the store in the dark was during the LA riot or Katrina. Just as soon as one comfortably sat back…