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: Middle-East

  • To beat a dead horse

    Even to this day, people still using the Vietnam War as a figure of speech: “Syria will be another US‘ Vietnam” etc… It was meant to be the new Boogeyman. To scare off the children. To conjure bad imagery and bring back nightmares. In Rambo, Stallone’s rare line was “where they call Hell, I call…

  • Voice & Video

    Via camera phone, satellite uplink and YouTube upload, we got pictures and sound of the upheaval in Libya up to the minute. The golden gun (its now-deceased owner must have watched James Bond’s Gold Finger), the Club Car and female bodyguards. When I was growing up, we were cooped up inside the house (curfew) while news of…

  • Disco distraction

    That’s what we need. Late 70’s, we also got gas price hike. We got “a crisis of confidence”. And we got Middle East hostage situation that drove Nightline ratings over the top.  But we also got disco. It helped. Distraction did not solve any problem. It just got our minds off the situation at hand. For however…

  • Asian self-awareness

    In some cultures, people felt ashamed to put on clothes, or if they dressed at all, they would go to the middle of the house in plain view instead of the far corner (where it would draw more attention to the act of changing). Au contraire, at 24-hr fitness, I notice most of the corner…

  • Fallible leadership

    Former Google CEO, in a recent interview, admitted that he was too busy to see Social Network coming. Former Microsoft CEO, at the turn of the century, admitted he too missed the significance of the Internet. The Vatican, after years of floundering, decided to settle sexual abuse cases ( as of this edit, Pope Francis…

  • Men on the verge of nervous break-down

    Here comes the beaver or the beer. Whatever handy to help men cope with his “manpression”. It is common knowledge that men hardly ask for directions when lost, much less share their problems. Women fare better, whether it’s over sweet, or sweat. Jodi Foster, most admired for being an accomplished Yale actress-director, has had frequent run-ins with the…

  • Oil and Water

    Oil price backed down as tsunami water gushed up to Japanese shores. The two shall never mix. Middle East rising. Pacific falling. News of a thousand deaths abroad eclipsed news of petty thefts at home. Statistically, street crime is down while cyber-crime up. I admire Net Gen’s speed to mobilize relief efforts e.g. People Finder by…

  • the art of showing

    In Impressive First Impressions, author Vu Pham introduces the concept of “reset”.  By that he means, we constantly need to reset our first impressions according to each context and situation:  at work, at play, at home. The same guy.  When he was at the top of his game, generated a different impression than when he…

  • Both sides now

    ABC News last broadcast of 2009 featured some celebrities we have lost, among them, one of its own: Peter Jennings. Peter’s most memorable quote:: “when I look at a coin, instinctively, I want to flip it to see the other side”. He used to take a bunch of books to read on plane rides, according…