Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Vietnam
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It’s half past five AM. Outside the Women Association of Ho Chi Minh City, I heard music. Not hip hop, not trance. Jut Gold music “Gui Gio Cho May Ngan Bay”, blasted from a boom box . It’s dark, but the sidewalk hosted a group of women practicing Tai-Chi. The music was about acceptance, about one wing drops after another. But…
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Last month, during the height of the election campaign, I saw plenty of signage for local board seats. Many hybrid names (Vietnamese-American) which tell me two things: second-generation immigrants are now politically active, yet they still want to keep those last names, to serve as bridges to the old world. Old World–New World. I know…
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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…
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Overhearing some people talking about rain in Dalat, Vietnam‘s mountainous area, I thought back to a time and a place where innocence was shred like old skin. You see, growing up in Vietnam even in the midst of the war, was still something to be cherished. You might have neighbor’s funeral with flag draped over…
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That voice which slows toward the end of the song as the chord changes: “If you’re going to San Francisco…” accompanied by the 60’s signature tambourine, has died. But his one-hit wonder stays, perhaps more famous than the city itself. It’s a state of mine. A period in history, with in-depth expose by Tom Hayden…
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People who connect with so and so, tend to be interested in so and so…. Once you clicked down that path, you entered a maze that leads you further down the path of algorithmic and formulaic social links. No backing out, no return. So, my machine-led social graph has taken on new twists and turns as I went…
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I was born late into the fold. My brother and sister had already been in college when I arrived. So I grew up watching “chinese fire drill” around the dinner table: Dad chasing brother, mom trying to intervene and my sister, w/nothing to do, joining the commotion. It’s like Chevy Chase‘s National Lampoon Vacation in Europe, caught…
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Scientists just found out that Earth is much older than previously thought. It certainly has a way to maintain itself. Remember Tsunami and Fukushima? or the Louisiana oil spill and Katrina? At the time, we thought we couldn’t bear the grunt, but one by one, they are now behind us. Same thing with this summer ‘s drought and…
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Science has just made a great leap. Congratulations. They have discovered the equivalent of DNA of the universe. Named it Higgs, after the scientist. This lifts the burden off our shoulders: we are not faceless random masses. If there are DNA’s, there are designs and destination (you might not like it if it’s not to your preferences).…
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I have randomly collected disasters: monk burning, war evacuation, nuclear melt-down, boat people exodus, LA riot and earthquake, 9/11, Katrina relief and lately, my Penn State. Living in disaster zones. Affected by but not addicted to them. So I cherish a quiet Sunday morning…until the Euro soccer game starts. There will only be one winning team.…
Thang Nguyen 555 