Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Pennsylvania
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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…
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Ceremony has its place in every culture. It’s an occasion for recognizing distinctive people or acts of valor. As opposed to guilt and shame, praise and recognition validate achievement. Maslow ranks this need right above survival and security need. Self-esteem. Martial Arts and Military subscribe to ranking and recognition more than often: black belt and…
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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……
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We got into this mess (housing bubble and derivative fallacy) en mass. Are we going to suffer in isolation? No way! With crowdsourcing, virtual forum, email, cloud etc.. we got enough in our arsenal to reverse the course. Technology (the way) and the will. That’s all we need. And a little bit of love (courtesy of…
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Fact 1: I went to Penn State. Fact 2: I felt ashamed and defensive (no punt intended) at the same time Fact 3: I am not alone in this. There are more stuff to be worried about these days: immediate and long-term future. Already a book was out (at 50% off) about Penn State and…
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I did everything twice. It’s become a pattern. It’s become a pattern, 6th grade found me fumble from a French-system to then Vietnamese system, so I ended up repeating my 6th grade at two different Middle Schools. Then, my freshman year got interrupted (by the White Christmas song that was played on US Arms Force radio, the…
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B3, CVA Black and White. Grainy. Shirts and Skins. Friends from junior-high , whom I shared the ping-pong tables and school canteen. We sat through civic lessons, English lessons, Math tests and Lab tests. The photo must have been taken at one of those off-site PE classes. I learned about honor, honesty and history; the…
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My kid’s elementary school is collecting lip balms to send to our troops overseas. It struck me that we spend our entire life trying to do good, from small gestures to larger ones, only to see others take it away in an instant. I saw the beautiful picture of the 9/11 girl whose life ended…
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Years ago, my roommate invited me over for Thanksgiving. The ride from Penn State to Lancaster was a long but memorable one. It’s predominantly Amish there. And I remember discussing with his Dad about “Turning East” by Harvey Cox (the subject I took that summer). Years have gone by. While Western consciousness has yet turned…
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First day of my kid’s summer. First day of being a FT Mr Mom. It happens! I reflect on Summer 75 when I was looking forward to resettling in Central Pennsylvania. America, Land of the Free. Back then, I was sure the nation was still in a state of shock, and perhaps was relieved that…
Thang Nguyen 555 