Tag: New York Times

Trash or Treasure

With 50% youth unemployment in Spain, front-page news showed dumpster diving photos.

It shouldn’t be. But it is. Life is difficult, says Scott Peck.

And since when was it easy?

For years, I put myself in a selfless orbit which , at times, has done much damage to myself (self-sabotage).

My appetite for risks and adventure, for sacrifice and heroism, got me in a bit of trouble.

In short, I have been addicted to adrenaline. Life on the edge, hanging and dangling on the cliff,  literally, on the last day of  a Wilderness Survival course in the White Mountain of New Hampshire.

Now, seeing men in Spain,  not in white and red bandanas having fun at the running of the bulls (which I would like to be doing, adrenaline and all), but dumpster-diving (which I definitely can’t see myself doing), I prefer being chased by the  bulls than the bears.

Are we in a battle against modernity itself? How come I-phone 5 is in short supply, but workers in Spain are not?

What is the real benefits of globalization and modernization in its present form?

Who dare to pose the real and hard questions and to whom?

Democratizing unemployment?

The rhetoric has been to “flatten” the process of wealth distribution via technology and globalization. But hard data point to a much different conclusion: the  top 1% got richer by the day, and more are joining their ranks.

Go figure!

We will soon reach 9-Billion (2050). Will there be enough energy and food for consumption?

Enough I-phone and whatever comes after “I” for everyone? Malthus revival.

The Third wave of civilization is descending on us so quickly (as described aptly via Moore’s Law) that we can’t handle the truth (agricultural and industrial waves took off not as quickly as the information age’s hockey-stick growth).

I remember discussions in some circles that one day, we would all have a bar code imprinted on our foreheads.

Scan me. Zap me.

Brand me. The Who would have to change their  “See me, Feel me” anthem.

But for now, you can’t seem to get through a day without some guy (even gal) asking for a hand out.

Brother, can you spare a dollar (used to be a dime) “Anh cho xin mot dong” (in multi-language).

Inflation hit everyone, from Seoul to Spain, Singapore to Shanghai.

At least, in collective societies of the East, people can squeeze in around the table (round) for a dip in the rice bowl. The strength of Western individualism (Robinson Crusoe) has finally faced its logical conclusion: I can find food, as long as you help keep the trash bin cool and clean. Why all the post-industrial brains cannot come up with solar-powered refrigeration for the mass, where spare foods can be deposited there for those who are in desperate need (I have seen used clothing bins, but not food).

Combo number 1 or 2? They have always tried to sell you and I more fries than our bodies can take.

Meanwhile, the rain doesn’t stay mainly in Spain. Anyone with fresh eyes can see something is not going according to plan . Your trash, their treasure. Be grateful, but then be outrageous. We need your rage.

Male vulnerability

Behind the tatoo, the tobacco and the toughness, lies male vulnerability.

I read about how the Watergate break-in was just one among a list of outrageous proposals such as kidnapping, wiretapping and high-priced hookers blackmail etc…

You can’t find tougher looking bunch than those “plumbers” and their Archille’s heels.

Yes, there is also female vulnerability. But male’s vulnerability turns everything upside down: how can he be…..?

Males are wired (no punt intended) to conquer. His logic flows one way: hunt, see, conquer. Nothing gets in the way.

He likes closure, trophies and the declaration of victory.

Like a book with many short chapters, a male life consists of many failed attempts (often edited out).

You are lucky if you landed a few by lines on the New York Times’ obituary page.

Male with high EQ are rare: flexible, creative, sensitive and intuitive.

I am surrounded by male who smoke, swear and swindle. So I am forced to decode quickly. everybody has his or her vulnerable spot.

Call it blind spot. Some has a larger “spot” than others.

When cultures collide, there is a huge gap:

attitude towards the opposite sex, family, society and war invalids.

Men went to war. Men got hosed down. But not stay down.

Yes. Male vulnerability is not much different from human vulnerability at large.

Only when he attempts to gloss it over,  to live in denial and with the illusion of grandeur, that it’s laughable

Momento morir (You will die, your Majesty).

Be mindful, be restless.

As I did. When woke up to the sound of funeral music.

Someone in the neighborhood was buried very early this morning.

The music might as well have been for me. For whom the bell tolls!

Yes, I am vulnerable. Always have.  No sense to deny it.

Unbundled incense

In his year-end Opinion, David Brooks of the NYTimes recited a story about people in Louisiana who had lighted a candle for neighbor’s graves.

This year-end here in Vietnam, I saw just that and more…incense, flowers and fruit.

People are either already home or on the way. They cook, clean and cater to many needs, among them, lighting neighbor’s graves.

A girl still in helmet, with parked scooter by her side, spent a silent moment praying, Then she would visit nearby lots, perhaps people she used to know from her village church.

In life and in death. You are not forgotten. A form of social immortality.

I read about a sinking commercial cruise, with captain and his crew escaped first to safety.

Would you want to ever step on one of those “luxury” cruises?

Living in style, dying solo.

I tried to nap today when neighbor knocked on my door to see if I were OK

(perhaps he was “xin” – beer + heat exhaustion). Then the Lion dance team went around the entire block reminding us this is their year, the year of the Dragon.

Flower Festival proudly displays mighty Dragon in all shapes and sizes, Vietnam’s version of Rose Parade.

Young girls pose for photo-ops, maybe later seen on Facebook or scrap-book.

The Earth seems to rumble.

People chat up with “natives”, knowing that whoever is left in Saigon, is from there (as opposed to workers, students and relatives who have gone home to their respective villages in the countryside).

City folks or country folks, everyone is gearing up to give and receive.

The gift baskets, the flower bouquets and the sticky “banh chung” (rice cake) have been delivered. Water melon (whose inside is red, signifying good luck), blossomed Hoa Mai and kumquat trees are on firesales.

Vietnamese talk about “khong khi Tet” – the taste, texture and ambience of Tet.

A sense of utter confidence that Heaven and Earth are in alignment and agreement to bless the pure of heart.

I can’t find no further evidence than someone who stood silently at an isolated grave, then lighted up incense for neighbor’s graves. Candles or incense, US or VN, we all long to live the rest of our lives the best way we know how and periodically to celebrate it the best way we can. Here, this way, is  familiar to most, but somehow, vaguely strange to me. I, however, found one constant: ABBA‘s Happy New Year played over and over to welcome the  Year of the Dragon. Tung Cheng! Tung Cheng! Tung Cheng!

Micro Resolution

When you were young and with others, you wanted to start a revolution.

But if you were young, but alone, you might want New Year Resolution e.g. diet, “biggest loser”, learning Spanish, pick up a new skill set.

Then when you have been around the block a few times, you still think of New Year resolution, but just  micro ones e.g. jogging every other day, email your kids every other week.

We need to tell ourselves it’s not been OK. That there is room for improvement.

Never too late. For older guys, to meet someone new, even a new male friend, is a hassle: how much can I put trust in the guy even though he has been my friend’s friend? What does he want in exchange ?

In business, even with benefits spelled out in details, people still want to let it simmer. Fools rush in!

On a larger scale, consumer sentiment makes or breaks an economy already teetering on the brink. It’s been more than three long years.

We haven’t trusted ourselves enough. Nursing our wound feels safer than taking small risk.

Government gets bigger, but our paychecks smaller.

The skeptics have had a field day: they would never run out of materials for late night TV.

David Brook of the NYTimes noticed a trend in communitarianism in a small town near Baton Rouge. The kind acts were so real it could be surreal.

Neighbor actually lighted the candle at your loved one’s grave?

Makes me want to live there, to be a part of this “Utopian”.

(in fact, the main character in the story did just that, with their move from  PA back to LA).

Right now, I am living  in a city of roughly 9 Million. And tonight, there will be at least one tenth of the city gather near the river to watch the fireworks.

I am sure there have been small kind acts everyday (I helped a kid in a toy car roll up the stiff sidewalk just now).

Here, people are “white-skin envy” (mannequins in stores are all white).

If you found a black person, perhaps he/she is around 40 years old, fathered during of the Vietnam War. Other Africans who did not make the soccer team also decided to stay on but constitute a tiny portion.

I read somewhere that the greatness of a nation is in how it treats its weakest link (the US with its handicap law enactment is undeniably civilized). Nordic countries are way up there on this scale.

In the end, it’s our every-day act of kindness that adds up.

Let’s make this our micro resolution.

President Bush was sincere when he urged the nation to go about daily routine, such as shopping (right after 9/11). That resolution could be taken out of context. I would rather understand him as saying, let’s have our micro-resolution of many as answers to the macro-barbaric acts of a few. The key is togetherness. His dad’s adage was “a thousand points of lights”. Let 2012 be the year of our thousand micro resolutions.

Pay it forward!

In defense of one’s time

After all, it’s your time, your narrative and your unrealized dreams.

You and I must take ownership of this. And not hesitate to come to its defense.

Whether it’s hard rock or soft rock (Seger finally went digital), hardback or paperback, boom box or boomers, software or soft drinks.

We had no other choice (from my vantage point, we used to laugh at silent movies, showing people  holding up the ear-piece when answering the telephone – Charlie Chaplin style).

Yesterday’s  music has become today’s Muzak (the Beatles in symphony heard in doctor’s waiting room).

Hard Rock is now a Cafe and Casino.

Harley can seat two comfortably.

And the U2 will give a concert on Yahoo celebrating Clinton’s 65th birthday (Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow).

Inaugural Balls from Carter to Clinton  had a spike in between thanks to the show-biz excess during the 80’s ( astrological charts were consulted before there was Windows Calendar).

I graduated when the country swung to the far Right (remember the AID’s scare, so “girls just wanna have fun”)

with nuclear annihilation a real possibility. The trickle-down economy did not trickle down to me. Instead, it drove inflation all the way to this day.

A lot of senseless shootings (JL and Brady). A lot of tele-evangelists got rich quick and went down quick (could have been quicker in the age of Twitter and Wikileaks).

My Dad came over in the mid 80’s, and lived the rest of his life in the NorthEast.

Toward the end, he got tears in his eyes when I suggested that he accompany me on a trip back home. “Too old, too weak,” he said.

No more in defense of his time. Just a slow surrender to institutional inertia (nursing home), gravity and fate.

Somewhere in this decade, we will see  a surge in Baby Boomers‘ revival, not so much in Burning Man’s style, but in giving, cruising or traveling (Clinton vs Clinton).

They all read up on CEO Ray Anderson, champion of sustainability in business, who had just died. They all knew “the good died young”. So they party on

and stop thinking about tomorrow.

Flowers children turned flower (senior) citizens (The Playboy Club, Pan Am).

Every face in the NYT obituary is now recognizable while every face in the presidential debate unrecognizable (even the familiar Lehrer has now retired). Names of  far-away war (Kabul) now replace forgotten ones (Hue). I spent a night in the basement of Henry C Lodge’s house. And that was  a highlight (according to Jackie’s oral archive, Kennedy appointed his Republican opponent to take charge of a conceivably unwinnable war.)

It’s time to tell the story in defense of our time.  Transitioning from performing to directing, the mother of self-reinvention, Madonna, took up her place behind the camera to follow in the footsteps of  Clint Eastwood  and  Jodie Foster).

We will need a host of Oliver Stone, not Oliver North to reframe our narrative.

Story of a lifetime, of our time, of living in a place where there are so much, yet still much to be done (poverty rates on the rise here in the heartland). We can limit the tweet, but then they retweet. Facing engineered scarcity, society ends up wanting more (bandwith) to tweet and shout (even in conflict, the two sides in Kabul now use Twitter the way the red phone once was in the White House).

It’s not 9/12 that we are facing. It’s 2012, the year of fear.

It’s almost like the Mayan scare, that our best time had already been behind us. If anything, it puts pressure on us and forces us to be mindful (that other great civilizations had already succumbed to ruin). They said when you jump, it gets faster as you drop nearer to the ground. We who are older are cast as wise men, whether we like it or not. It’s been a set pattern, hand-me-down from time eternal. Wise because of forced choices ( and of short time that remains).

I wish I had the vantage point of  a supernova, to see our short span here on Earth. Our time in the context of sweeping light years would count for much less (each life would have an equivalence of a mere short tweet).  But, then, each life is ” a wonderful life”, for at one point or another, we have given and received, intersected and influenced others’, blessed and cursed, but always forward. This makes story telling in our time all the more urgent. Yesterday we laughed at silent movies (Chaplin), today, even DVD format seems obsolete (HD?). The audience now demands to see the story in 3-D and to talk on the phone hands-free. Nothing is wrong with Progress, except for its planned obsolescence. Certainly its clock doesn’t seem to be in sync with ours.  As someone aptly puts it ” the more things stay the same, the more they will have to change.”

Stay hungry, stay curious

The first advice was from Jobs, a college drop-out, in his commencement speech.

The second, recently, was the gist of a NYT op-ed by Brooks.

Those are mantels of would-be entrepreneurs.

Where else can you find people who are willing to sleep (if at all) in sleeping bags and code for days on end, with no prospect of a pay check?

Interns for life.

Meanwhile, exchange students protested inhuman “trafficking” at Hershey‘s outsourcing arm.

No more sweet spot there at sweet factory (after the students realized that taken in all the expenses, they ended up working for free). Interns for life.

At least they learn a thing or two about voicing their opinion within the confine of  the law.

We finally enter an age where muscles and machines (physical layer) are counted less than mind (application layer). A recent WSJ most-read by a VC guru was all about “software eating everyone’s lunch”.

Just try to fight drones, or robot cops.

BTW, it’s been a lost decade, with 9/11 as one bookend ( the two planes knocking down the Twin towers), and  the other, two helicopters (albeit one was left behind) getting back at Bin laden. It is to show how much harm done by one man’s hyper-imagination, and how much good our collective brain are capable of (a recent Tampa youth just wanted to copy Columbine, instead of applying to Columbia).

Stay hungry, stay curious. Drop out if you lack the passion for staying in (a Venture capitalist argued just that when he offered a contest for new ideas from would-be entrepreneurs, college degree  not required).

But stay curious. There are a lot of unknown unknowns out there. Learn to connect the dots, and recognize the patterns. Spot the trends.

And don’t forget to stay curious even when you were no longer hungry.

Because someone will eat your lunch before you know it. Borders, HP (computer division) and Nokia, have all learned this hard lesson. No rest for the weary. Not in this century.

Not when machines like Watson can start “swamping”, guessing your next move.

And quit when you are ahead, like Steve Jobs. Learn calligraphy. Learn something about something. Stay curious.

Losing one’s self

In a recent NYT op-ed, David Brooks summed up prevailing graduation themes: find yourself, live to the fullest, be passion-focused etc.. instead of losing yourself in solving others’ problem. Even my kid knows that time passes more quickly when you are absorbed in a task.

When you lose yourself, you end up finding it.

Before graduating, I took up an internship at an ABC affiliate in Scranton, PA.  At the time, it had a huge dump for abandoned cars. Mount Pocono was not too far away. Often times, the only news in town was trash workers’ strike, which I helped cover with passion.

Then, we were sent to Harrisburg to follow a lead on a nuclear power p accident. Before I knew it, I was held up for days, learning more about broadcasting than I could ever learn in 4 years.

I never went back to Beaver Stadium to receive my diploma. But I did get my badge of life. After the experience of working for nothing, but learning everything, I went on to make three rounds of volunteer overseas to lose myself again and again (all along acquiring the sense of place, of cultures and social webs.)

He who is no fool to lose that which he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.

From there, I found my modus operandi: work hard, play hard, and work some more (adrenaline producer).

Schools are so structured and protective. The institutions are built on a foundation of learning, character building and self/status-preserving. Students aren’t encouraged to take risks, much less think out-of-the-box (occasionally, they brought in speakers from “outside”, but the script remains the same: conformity).

I hung out with a group of well-meaning students: wholesome and healthy (Get Together, Kum By Ya).  But life outside of campus is quite off-script. On campus, Joe Paterno might be our “God“, Raymond Brown, another one (Penn State Choir), but the Trinity in real life, I found out, were gold, silver and green.

It’s hard to convince people to think critically and carry on intelligent discussions without screaming, attacking and holding a personal vendetta.

At work, instead of collaborating, I found clique after clique.

In school, I forgot that I was non-white. In life, they make sure I am reminded of it.

So, to recent grads: keep losing yourself that you may find it.

Other people may know some parts of you better than yourself. So, to fully discover yourself, you will have play sport-contact against life’s jagged edges.

One day, hopefully sooner than later, you will come to a sudden realization that you are not the center of the universe, and that not every one accepts and loves you unconditionally as your mom and dad have (I use present tense for you, but past tense for me).  And the most you can elicit from strangers are like a line in a Chicago album “does anybody know what time it is”.

Life is difficult. Life in post-Recession era is even more difficult.

The only way to survive this downturn is to charge out of the gate, ready to give yourself completely away without hope of a return. Surprise the world with your Camelot zeal . Ask not…..Infect others with your enthusiasm and passion.

We need your strong muscles and your radiant smile.

I love those who pulled all-night going over text books. Now get ready for lengthier and thornier book of life.

It’s only just begun. Ironically the beginning was at the end, the way Orientals flip their books. Counter-prevailing as it is, David Brooks has a point. So was T.S. Elliot.

Calling on Leaders

Mongolian Khan, upon his first day out of jail, jumped on the horse to lead his nation to new height. Lennon and Yoko still purchased full-page ad in the NYT to run the same poster as they did 40 years ago “WAR IS OVER, if you want it”.

With the new digital order, thought-leaders emerged to shape our agenda and culture.

Gone are the days of orators speaking for hours in the arena.

In our digital age, one just looks you up, at his/her convenience.

The audience no longer has to shout out , as in the Network, ” I am mad like Hell, and I won’t take it anymore”. He or she simply clicks away or types in a negative comment.

Leaders will need to be transparent, harmonizing his/her on and offline persona (only a third of respondents said they were truthful on social networks). Past leadership styles e.g. empowerment, alliance,  command and control, and laissez-faire; need to be revised and perhaps, recombined.

Today’s leaders are real people, with hope, fear and dream, just like their followers (on a Harley over the weekend or ride a bike to work, New Year, New You in New York.)

In Matterhorn, we followed the new Lt of Company C through war-time Vietnam.

He learned to make hard calls, to sweat and to cry.

Leaders also face doubt and indecision.

But they are not philosophers. They do think hard but also act decisively.

And mind you, leaders are not accountants.

One of the Kennedy’s whiz kids regret having led the Vietnam War solely by number crunching. (Even the press briefing bore the cutting humor “5 O’Clock Follies”).

Leaders lead without regrets. When time calls for it, leaders are ready .

He or she is not a line manager ( who leads from behind or on the side). Leaders lead from the future, set the tone and inspire excellence . They reframe and rekindle while being “one of the guys”.

Leaders lead people to their deaths, and they thank him or her for it.

We have a few still around. Calling on leaders.

Media shock

When I was working weekends at the School of Journalism at Penn State, journalist-wannabes would check out Advertising Age,

Christian Science Monitor, and of course, the New York Times.

And everyone read the campus paper.

They even showed Deep Throat on campus (organized by the Student Association).

Such was the time.

We all lined up with our punch cards in hand to get to the (mainframe) computer lab (2 computers per 30,000 students).

And I was quite privy to take my singing group into the Agricultural TV studio over the weekend to film my “YouTube” version.

According to the latest issue of the Economist, television is still having a steady market shares in sports and major events.

Print media of course doesn’t fare well.

Everybody is trying to monetize the online version which so far contributes to the demise of its print division.

Newspaper boys and press men are joining last century’s coach men and horseshoe makers.

A lot of Vietnamese men were working at the Post in the early 80’s.  Hope they can transfer to AZ to work within Amazon.

The news will still be there.

Or email alert.

Or mobile alert.

This is not new. At MCI we were issued Skypage with news and weather alerts.

It’s prescient that my retirement will be without Reader’s Digest large print, and Christian Science Monitor (online only).

If I were going back to Media school today, perhaps I will take online courses only. That’s where the action seems to be, monetized or not.

It’s one thing to be alone and reflective with the printed pages. It’s quite another to log on, and view the same pages perhaps million are also accessing.

World Shared Web. On the go and in the cloud. I don’t think they still check out Ad Age which are kept behind the counter.

But the passion for news at Penn State is still unsurpassed as shown during the Joe Pa earthshaking event.

What, when, where, how and most importantly who (knew about the locker incident). We still need media men, however we get our news.

 

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 to his biographer.

The inquisitive mind. Intolerance for ambiguity. Searching for a whiter shade of pale.

Toffler recounted a conference he had attended, where a man essentially said that he had done manual labor all his life, and then, just wanted to die an educated man.

Learning to learn.

From the vantage point of “the other side” , we can now afford to look back at the Digital Decade. A the macro level we got Health Care and Homeland Security. At the human level, we rediscovered bravery: rescue on the Hudson, fourth plane over Pennsylvania, and most recently, a Dutch passenger over Detroit.

We continue to underestimate our own capacity for good and evil.

Something is hard-wired in our brain (positive wiring, and negative wiring). That’s nature. Managerial conclusion ranging from aristocracy to meritocracy, from X to Y and Z. Post-industrial society pushes its manufacturing model (plants and machine) to the Far East (China is outsourcing this down to Vietnam, end of the supply chain). This made all the debate over NAFTA a waste i.e. Samsung digital TV made in Asia vs analog TV set made in Mexico, inter-America trucking vs intercontinental shipping.

Apple has its server farm in North Carolina, 19th century home to the textile and furniture industries.

Waltham, Erie and Pittsburgh all get a life extension, thanks to post-industrial reinvention, from factory to fab.

If Peter Jennings were alive today, he would still be flipping the coin to see what’s out there.

(being from Canada, and stationed overseas in Vietnam, the Middle East and England , he apparently saw it all).

Maybe the imminent phasing out of newspaper is not bad (NYT goes global today).

In Network Effect, the Economist concludes that people still need the news, even if they don’t need newspapers.

People once thought telegraph spelled death to newspapers. As it turned out, telegraph helped speed up the news.

One thing is certain: with broadband, more people will get their news and get it fast.

Speed, survival and self management ( a term used by Peter Drucker in this knowledge economy e.g. to learn, to mutate and to adapt.) To die an educated man, let’s flip the coin to see the other side.