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: United States

  • Time as equalizer

    Presidential terms last four years.  Our life expectancy, used to be much less, now stands in the mid-70’s depends on the air quality near you. It’s an allotment. Non-negotiable. Except for a few variables e.g.unique gene pool, diet, exercise, stress level and accidents. Some people even wish they were dead.  If you drag on day in and day…

  • Ennobling

    You don’t have to be rich or poor.  Nobility is a choice. A willful act of service. A realization that your words, which might injure someone, be best left unsaid. WWII servicemen, having seen and heard all there was to be experienced, have put themselves through school (GI Bills) and affected the change we see…

  • Ma Belle

    She hit all the right notes. Struck the chords. Evoked the emotion. Great speech arouses. Got the audience on their feet. They were waiting to hear, not for a hand-out but for a herald. Together we can. But the disconnect is when it comes to action: People simply don’t believe either side i.e. the propaganda, the…

  • On Persuasion

    Lights, sound, camera, ACTION! He is back, still with “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” for an entrance and an exit punch line “the Union, as conceived and committed to by the Founding Fathers.” He systematically laid out the choices, an either-or. He mentioned the opponent’s alternate universe , where 2+2 might not = 4. Or…4 more…

  • Leaders as human

    We miss those towering figures from WWII (remember the canes, the hats? and the saying  e.g.”Never never give up”). It’s a different landscape now  (Apple, Facebook etc… with CEOs without a tie). So it goes. New world order.  New icons. New  profiles and preferences. Still, they are human. Supposedly connected with their people. Leaders of…

  • 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.…

  • Moon Cake

    You can’t possibly finish one all by yourself. In fact, when I was a kid, I remembered it got cut up not into four but eight pieces, like we would with a Costco pizza. Slices of sweet moon cake, in all varieties. Big confectionary  revenue every year in China and Vietnam. Although it’s a Children…

  • Sand and Storm

    Isaac is sweeping through the Keys in a Northwest arch as seen in previous storms. Paradise bills come due. This summer we have seen an eerie absence of tornadoes (too dried to happen). Paradise’s sand box are put on high alert. The last time, a political convention that got that much press attention before it gets…

  • Unseen hands

    that manipulate interest rates, oil price, appropriate and earmark budgets for the commons. Adam Smith must be talking about the abstract “invisible hand” of a free market, while in reality, we all feel there are levers behind the scene with successive hands, tinkling and adjusting. Some are automated, by self-improving algorithms. One example of the…

  • Enduring trends

    Technologists are enthusiasts. Their progress are documented in hockey-stick trends. Meanwhile  we as ordinary human are still reacting out of fear as if we were still living in caves. The reptilian brain vs rapid rise of chip speed, guns vs germs, technology vs anthropology! As early as 1950’s, graduates would hear something like: “boy, you get…