Tag: Pennsylvania State University

Repatriation

You can take a boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy.

This happens to me, not once, but twice. Culture shock upon culture shock! until I feel numbed.

I jog on the street full of motorbikes (nice people would say “Co len”, bad people would try to run me over), or tell jokes at music jam session, oblivious to the fact that half of the audience barely catches the meaning, much less the punch line.

So I made a few mistakes upon repatriation.

Mistakes I have had to pay for dearly, monetarily or otherwise (just stop short of  becoming a social stigma since it’s more acceptable to backpackers to come across as free and loosed, not someone whose outward looks exactly like locals).

There are Viet Kieu, and there are Viet Kieu.

The former, tourists – waving their US dollars , and the later, expats – hiding their VN dong.

Or, as I often joke: the real Viet Keu would react “OUCH!” when got slapped, while the fake ones “UI DA!”.

But it depends on where you go and spend your money. If a place rates you on how thick your wallet is, then it will throw you out the next time when you are a bit short .

Back to my jogging across the round-about. Quite challenging. In the rain, and in the thick of Saigon rush-hour traffic, I had to tap dance, jog in place or run in opposite direction like a running back at the starting line of another down in football).

I do miss my time at Penn State. Just like when I was at Penn State, I missed my time in Saigon. You can take the boy out of Saigon, but you can’t take Saigon out of the boy. At Penn State, I simply wished for a meal surrounded by my extended family, or to hang out with friends, some smoke, some play the guitar. Now, I am back, repatriated. With some new friends who smoke, some play the guitar. Then all of a sudden, I wish for that 8-shaped trail which wraps around the University Park golf field. There, I wouldn’t get run over by two-wheel bikes, but then, I wouldn’t hear “co len” by complete strangers either.

More than once, I have let the outside affect what’s inside. Now, after taking so many punches, I counter-punch by let the inside affect the outside. Like telling a joke in English to an audience of mostly Vietnamese . The experience was diametrically opposite to the time at Penn State when I was trying to blend in without  “getting” the punch line (since I was unprepared for a completely different conceptual frame of reference ). Exile to expatriaton.

At the end of all travel, one returns to the starting point and know the place for the first time. It has happened to me. Like a newborn again, taking in and embracing everything. So familiar yet so foreign.

More

When reading the ABOUT tab on some web sites, I got no idea what the companies were ABOUT.

Apparently they sell some intangible services, such as Human Development, but were afraid to say so. Others would try to get out of the box they found themselves in “we are more than just a hardware company, we also provide this and that”. More.

It takes a lot to say less and get More.

The KISS rule.

I took a few inter-disciplinary courses at Penn State (Science, Technology and Society), a baseline which set me on a generalist track. And because each field in and of itself takes up one’s life-time pursuit, the intersect of these fields overwhelmed me. Keep my curiosity up and ego in check.

Even now, we are working through the implications of globalization and free trade.

And that falls under just the Society heading alone.

As for technology, I have blogged about the rise of the machine, and its implications for human life i.e. the long disconnect.

I will leave Science to the scientists who research gene sequencing and try to find the cure for dementia and cancer.

We all want more, live longer and hopefully, find meaning during those extra years (my older siblings used to read serial Kung Fu novels when young, and now, watching Korean soap series upon retirement. I guess anything “foreign” can offer them MORE values than domestic).

We can’t take anything with us when we die, just as we did not bring anything to this world when we were born.

What matters is that journey, the pursuit and camaraderie (I miss walking to school with those young friends, just chatting about anything and everything. One conversation etched in my mind: the assassination of JFK).

Forget not the  past, but then try to. Because we can’t make progress without healing, and no healing when the chip is still on our shoulders.

Dementia sometimes is a good thing for those with a painful past (that makes up for most of us).

Besides, when we forget pain of the past, we have more room for even happiness.

Like de-fragmentation function on a computer which helps conserve more space more RAM.

Winter, symbol of hibernation, is behind us. Now is time for blossoming, for MORE.

Opportunity likes to dance with those who are already on the floor. May I have that next dance!

Music as Motivator

Old Time Rock and Roll, Get Ready, I Just Want to Celebrate etc.. will “soothe your soul”.

Take time out to massage the affective part of yourself.

Ancient culture or atomized culture, we all need to gather around the “fire”, to warm up, to celebrate and to belong.

Music as equalizer, as motivator. A call to march forward.

At Inauguration, Presidents hold concerts, to celebrate. Good for the top brass, good for us commoners.

In college, students played in marching band (at Penn State, they travel a lot and play a lot at home games). Even at corporate events , we hear music which can really kick start an evening.

Work hard and play hard culture.

Fun, fast and flavourful.

Something about those beats that awake and arouse ancient genes.

We are meant to live in herd and hunt in packs.

No way around it but marching to the same drum beat.

(Incidentally, I found financial guys have the most fun at parties, even though it’s them who will process those payments a few weeks later).

Of course we need rah-rah sessions.

We need to be recognized, to be motivated. It’s not for the winners. It is to draw out the best from the laggers.

A few days ago, Thomas Friedman had a piece about the cultural differences between Washington and Silicon Valley. His central theme was Collaboration.

And how different the concept was perceived and processed in those two places.

I would add creativity and imagination to the mix.

What could be a better source to inspire and jump-start “out of the box” thinking than to turn on those good old-time Rock and Roll, theme songs and marching tunes of the Valley. I have run into a bunch of old acquaintances. The secret sauce has always been music.

Of course, exercise and diet are top of the list. But musicians tend to maintain that care-free, let’s-see-what-happens attitude. It keeps them young and fit. It keeps them upbeat (notice the positive term). At the very least, it draws out the inner child that refuses to grow up in this pain-filled world.

When in doubt, in stress, in trouble, just know You’ve Got A Friend.

Matchmaking

In Vietnam, one of the first questions is What animal represents you? (12 symbols of the zodiac).

Second question is, how come you are single. Find someone to alleviate your miserable state of being single (collective society).

Third and logical conclusion: find someone, whose symbol matches yours, yin-yan, fire and ice, earth and sky etc…

I found this mechanism an easy way out, as opposed to Vietnam Got Talent, where candidates are picked base on their merits.

What do you expect? You are known to others as son or daughter of so and so.

This reminds me of the Museum of Innocence which recounts a story of a character who fell in love with his distant cousin. No where can you find individualism collide more with social more. He managed to collect even her hair to be displayed later in what he called, the Museum of Innocence.

I found a public comb hanging in the men’s restroom at an ACB bank branch here in Vietnam. Apparently, it’s common property, to be shared among the men.

Part of my missing education, was that by the time I was supposed to reap the benefits of all that our country had to offer e.g. matchmaking system, shared mores, shared pot of luck (guests would pitch in to jumpstart a new family), I instead launched cold turkey ino the culture of sports at Penn State, of extreme competition although we always chanted “We Are”.

The “We Are” in Vietnam is quite different from the “We Are” at Penn State.

The latter nailed Coach JoePa to be the fall guy (while it’s Sandusky who was supposed to be nailed).

I am not defending the former “We Are”, nor do I accuse the latter.

But in Vietnam, for example, a rape which occured within the four walls, stays within the four walls.

The victim would rather be dead than seeing her family be put to shame.

So life goes on. What’s your animal symbol?

Use that comb. Shake off  the past. Forget and move on.

You will never find a public comb in Penn State lockers, where We Are is the chant.

But you will find it here.

and maybe, even a suitable other-half, if you can answer the first few questions by the matchmaker.

Oh, by the way, these days, they also asked if you had own a house. A scooter was a given. Just as back then, they assumed you own some buffalos to tend the field.

My sister has lived a hard but productive life. As symbolized by the animal represents her.

Mine? you guess. It’s the monkey. Jumping from tree to tree , culture to culture and not commit completely to one set of beliefs. It’s boring for a monkey to sit under the shade of just one tree in a forest full of them. It would bore him to tears. Scratching that ich all day wondering if the next tree might be worth the leap. Who knows, I might find happiness at the next bend, next road less travel. And if not, the journey itself is the reward.

What’s your animal symbol? or Avatar? You see, each culture has its own way to move beyond one self. To break out of what’s given, what’s restricted.

May you find your match, off or online.

Moving on

I read about and followed with much interest the Penn State game this past weekend.

Where is Joe? First he was absent on the side line, where his rolled up pants were a fixture more than signature.

Then he went up on the booth. This past Saturday, he wasn’t there either, nor was his statue. Ohio won, but not as easy.

The Nittany Lions put up a fight “push them back, way back”. Still, a lot went unsaid there. Just moving on. Motion forward.

Aren’t we all!

Labor Day, Memorial Day. First rest a bit, then Rest in Peace.

Moving on.

Self-deception.

Who are we trying to fool, except ourselves?

I read about the original cell which stays on for billions of years. I am glad we could die (rather cancer war than casualty of war). As  far as biology is concerned, we were meant to be immortal, Greek or geek.

But then, with all the abuses and accidents, we have pretty much done it to ourselves (global sales of weapon, pornography and drugs together curtail population explosion).

So we give the workers a symbolic rest, Labor Day. But actually, we meant for factories to have their machines deep-spayed and well-oiled.

Farmers don’t rest on Labor Day. IT supports don’t rest either in colo centers.

Labor Day belongs to the Industrial Revolution, the 2nd wave, with coal as the main source of energy.

I read that in an interview before his death, an out-spoken Cardinal talked about the Vatican being behind two centuries.

He must be referring to the image of  Sheep May Safely Graze while parishioners “flocking” to the only village church.

I think it’s Marshall McLuhan who coins the phrase “global village”. Even then, he  meant the mass brought together by mass media (Tower of Babel analogy) in a one-to-many broadcast. Little did he know, we now have many-to-many conversation, originated and uploaded from the ground level. As of now, everyone got their 15-minute of fame on Facebook (Famebook?) and 140 characters on Twitter (modern-day AP) – as in United Breaks My Guitar.  Perhaps even we, at one time or another, think, maybe the world can use a few personal computers, as Watson used to think back in 1943.

Institutions and individuals, both are behind the times. I caught myself a few months ago in a moment of prejudice. I heard a ringtone rap music. Not from urban blacks. But with Central Vietnamese accent. The combination shocked me, then it delighted me the second time around. But my knee-jerked reaction was “you must be kidding?” One would expect to hear Northern Vietnamese accent  in songs, not Central, and when it comes to rap music, it’s the American quintessential, not Vietnamese. If this long Depression does us any good, it’s a wake-up call. It humbles us . Yes, it’s the “end of men” as titled in an upcoming book, but by the time the “end of women” comes about, it’s the beginning of the machine age.

The point is, early adopters will keep on adopting (space tourism, echo tourism, edu- tourism, medi-tourism )

And the richest among them, will keep moving beyond Beverly Hills and Betty Ford clinics to “the Island” to do some serious make-over (spare body parts replacement and rejuvenation). Versailles-style ($17,000 leather boots).

Go ahead and protest. Show some guts and show some skin. By the time we do, they no longer find some use for fur coats to cover their once wrinkled bodies. They already got new ones put in. Talking about moving on. Just make sure we don’t become the Pharaohs of the 21st century, embalming ourselves to no avail.  Where is Joe Pa? Ohio won again. Shuck!

Myopia

It was just a few years ago when friends and I discussed the inevitable departure of Joe Paterno at Penn State. Retired? Replaced? Removed? Now, it turns out, it’s his statue that got removed.

Who would have conjured up that scenario.

Today, the Nittany Lions will get their verdict from the NCAA. I am hoping for a lighter sentence. I bleed Blue.

(and Orange, at MCI).

Penn State taught me about being a team player. WE ARE.

Today, my team, our team gets punished.

Not for its diligence and desire to win. But for its failure in moral leadership.

Physical and moral aptitude, hand in hand.

Certain lines cannot be crossed, not without penalty. We know the rules. We play by the rules. Now we are penalized by the rules. Fair play. The only way.

There will be no applause sound track today. Maybe just silence. The same silence that the leadership at Penn State chose as a response to the Sandusky‘s accusation a decade ago.

When I went to school there, during Spring Break concert, the opening act was “Here comes the Sun“. Maybe the school should invite that guy to play again. Maybe, the magic works again.

Pushing away darkness, pushing away institutional myopia. And most of all, showing and shedding more lights on Beaver Stadium, where our school mascot will once again do one-hand push-ups on the sideline while defense” Push them back, push them back way back.”

Highs and lows

Perhaps one of the places you wouldn’t like to visit these days is Happy Valley, PA.

Heart of Penn State Football. Normally alumni would post home-game tickets as if they were for Albert Hall‘s Fab reunion concert.

Now, it’s a place that is much condemned: punishment for Penn State, penalty for Penn State.

Alumni started to flip the script: BOT this and that, the Governor himself, where was he? etc…

This fiasco reminds me of a rack-focused shot from a David Lynch‘s movie, perhaps Mulholland Drive? which slowly reveals what’s beneath the well-manicured auto-irrigated lawn. Finally, real Happy Valley is revealed.

We know now, there is no perfect place. Nor people. Just ordinary human beings with highs and lows.

Like you and I.

It’s like when we receive our transcript: some courses we did better than others.

Oh well.

Ethically, Penn State is getting its report card. We Penn Staters are getting a black-eye.

Hard to imagine “senior panic” plus austerity, plus this. Perfect storm.

I feel for graduating seniors. I want to remind them of Steve Jobs‘ commencement address “Stay hungry, stay foolish”, plus, “Stay clean”.  BTW, I am not ashamed to admit I started out there at Penn State in my first job as a janitor at the HUB. Reports say one of the janitors at PSU saw what happened but “was afraid for his job”etc…

Maybe he too should be taken into custody for not doing his job: cleaning up the mess at Penn State.

Not “where was the Governor”, but “where was the janitor”. Highs and lows.

Changing-transforming

The first comes natural. The second,  involves an act of the will and intervention. Penn State will need to be transformed.

Besides, it’s not the place. It’s the institutional mindset. We know this. We will do it, individually and collectively.

It’s Sunday morning. I will use this day to reflect on my experience at Happy Valley. Those 4 years have always been special to me. Now, they will need to be looked at in a different light. Perhaps with more maturity due to hindsight.

Today, when I jog pass a lush-green golf course, I still think of PSU’s.

The shorter loop is 4 miles, the 8-shape loop 8 miles.

Students could be seen jogging around the clock up and down those hills. The book Running was a run-away best seller at the time. So were jogging shorts.

And…..long socks with color-stripes up to our knees .

We would watch Midnight Cowboy, Midnight Express…anything with “midnight” in the title. Disco was in the air. And the shiny silk shirts.

Long-hair students sat along “the Wall”, while more traditional ones would stop by the Creamery. The best there is.

When it’s home-game weekend, you can hear the roaring echo from Beaver Stadium. Post-game evening, win or lose, it’s full house at local pubs. It’s fun to go out in Happy Valley. Everyone finds a date, winter or summer.

It’s 50’s innocence, now facing 21st-century ethical dilemma: big box, big bucks and bomb-shell publicity problems.

I can well imagine the press descending upon State College, the Corner Room, Old Main, the HUB. I am sure they interview students, staff and faculty for reaction.

I am sure they camp out at nearby hotels (lots of them to accommodate tourists). Then, they would pack up and go on to the next disaster.

Happy Valley will once again be quiet..until September.

Summer there is hot. Student housing are sparingly occupied, either by those who need to work summer job, or take a summer course to finish up their degrees.

If any good comes out of this, it’s the proper place of football in the scheme of things. Perhaps academic, and yes, ethics.

Institution for higher learning, for learners and decent folks, PE included, but not as THE thing at Penn State. The changing and transforming of place, people and priority.

Ignore it!

Willful ignorance, kicking the can further down the road. Hoping it lands on someone else’s front yard.

Problems got ignored,  because if solved, it’s gonna cost. Penn State pedophile problem is one.

One of us vs societal rule of law, subjectivity vs objectivity, warm feelings vs calm rationality.

I read JoePa’s son’s op-ed in USA Today. He asks for suspense of disbelief until the full investigation is out (email in context etc….).

In short, we need time. Kick the can a little further down the road once more.

Don’t ignore it, but also, don’t just immediately jump to conclusion.

Moral dilemma.

Beaver Stadium was adding seats. Can’t just tear them down.

Moral rehab vs mortar remodeling. If you look back, you will turn into salt.

Just ignore it?

Tragedy comes in three for me: 1975 Saigon evacuation landing at Penn State – devastated. Three-Mile-Island internship 79 – terrifying. Now FootballGate.

I want to ignore it. Then it creeps up. Like an unwanted member of the family.

Hoping there is no such thing called Thanksgiving, so you don’t have to face him/her. Meeting with Jesus. Court date. Press inquiry. Public debate.

Can’t ignore it now, ever.

the right screen

Smart phones got computer, TV and phone screens, all in once. The combined screen.

I was sitting in front of a lap top and an attached large screen. For a moment, I looked at one screen while the action took place at the other. To catch on, I  need to follow the cursor to know where the action was.

In life, we have looked in the wrong place for the right thing.

(to make friends while in prison, for instance).

Penn State commissioned JoePa statue in front of Beaver Stadium, just to now debate whether to take it down.

The Christian in Asia a few centuries ago, were told to remove ancestor’s altars, traditionally placed at the center of the home.

The FEDs keeps reducing rates. Should we look there for future directions? Unemployment indicators? Housing and foreclosure reports?

Never have we been tested as during the past 4 years.

Am I looking at the wrong screen?

Prophets have arisen, and more shades of truths have been made available.

Which way is the wind blowing?

Put your money in Macau.

or in Manhattan?

Google Glasses or JcPenney?

Pick your people right. Business model can always be modified as we go along. Often times, it’s on the wrong screen anyway. Keep the statue. Make it a teachable monument. After all, JoePa had always championed scholarship and athletic pursuit hand in hand. Institution for higher learning should at least have intellectual honesty and moral conviction to defend its mantel and mission. Especially when it is now looking at the right screen not smokescreen.