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: tech and multi-cultural marketing

  • Missed Miss Universe

    I would have watched Miss Universe over “the Education of Charlie Banks” last night. Go Venezuela! We need all the positives we can get to end this summer. It’s move date for incoming freshmen also. A generation which I am told never had to make a decision on their own: Mom is only a text…

  • Monk in Wal-Mart

    God, guns and country. Then, a monk, not outside of Wal-Mart soliciting for donation, but inside, at the cashier line, waiting to pay. It’s a common sight today. But by turning the clock back a few decades, you wouldn’t expect both (Monk and Wal-Mart) to coexist. At least, it’s not quite as contrast a sight…

  • Trading up

    I was struck by the new LA scene. http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-foodtrucks22-2009jul22,0,7542552.story The last time when I was working in Los Angeles, we called it “roach coach”. Now, there is this nouveau lunch truck scene in Little Tokyo, away from the industrial park, its incubator. (it makes sense, since many of the assembling type of jobs have been…

  • Chariots of fire

    The Scottish Justice has just released the Pan Am convict on the ground of compassion and mercy (pronounced “merci” like Thanks but no thanks, in French). California, on the other hand, bunched up Chino detainees on the ground of budget cut. It would have made more sense had it been the other way around. They…

  • Ambush journalism

    Keep the camera rolling! (and the stop watch too) while the abrasive reporter tries to illicit comments from the subject. Founder and producer of 60 minutes died yesterday. The show was at its peak  (and Network programming in general) when I graduated with a broadcasting degree. An ensemble of veteran journalists aggressively pursued stories of…

  • Take it as a group

    We need SNL to develop a skit about “my name is Khan” detainee at NJ airport. And have it air in India (to show how “irreverent” American free speech could be). (At this writing, there still is a sit-in in Berkeley to demand a firing of the professor who wrote the legal justification for detaining…

  • Isolated, insulated, incarcerated

    Heard it on Morning Edition that VA Senator Webb urged the US to lift sanction on Myanmar, a country half the size of Vietnam (42 million). Opposition leader Suu Kyi was awarded Nobel Peace Prize, then to be detained again. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112014807 Webb, a valor-turned-diplomat, was interviewed from Hanoi. He essentially said that following the example…

  • Mr Lonely

    In the late 70’s, you could hear it on the radio : “Mr Lonely”, “I don’t want to sleep alone, stay with me, don’t go”, “Feelings” “Never fall in love again” (that’s why!). The Me decade. End of August,  you will see the topic reintroduced by University of Chicago’s John Cacioppo, with an astounding new…

  • worthless currency

    The bus rider paid for the fare in Trillions of Zimdollar. Or else, a live chicken will do. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090816/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe_zimdollar I experienced this back on May 1st, 1975 aboard a Seventh Fleet warship on the way to Subic Bay (thank you President Ford). We learned from word of mouth that the South Vietnam currency in our…

  • The New Low

    Canadian University system has just introduced a new low grade (lower than F) for Academic Dishonesty (plagiarism or online essay service etc…). At least, the University is catching on with high-tech trickery, and how these portable devices and outsourcing services can aid cheaters. TA’s will have to play cops, always vigilant and alert. I suggest…