I had a long talk with a Thai colleague the other day about the nature of freedom. She is convinced that Thailand is freer than the United States, and has visited the United States many times. She, and other Thai I’ve met always point to all the rules that govern behavior in the United States. How you can build, where you can park, what you can do, what you can buy, what you can sell, where you can sell, and on and on. …
Month: February 2016
The American Dream in a Nail Salon
“I left my country when I was 14,” he said.
“What city were born in?” I asked.
“I lived in Hue (pronounced ‘weigh’); it’s in the middle of Vietnam. Hanoi is in the top. Saigon is in the south. That’s where the American troops were. Hue is in the middle. The king? Long ago. The king lived there; the king’s houses are still there.”
I watch as he trims the cuticles of my finger nails.
Good Blogs and Stories Need Conclusions, Don’t They?
I thought that our move to Thailand at the beginning of January would provide me with much blog material. Much is different here, of course, and difference and contrast can lead to an awareness of the wonders of cross-cultural experiences.. I already wrote about the driving and traffic habits, but of course the differences go much further. The university hierarchy is different (why does Bangkok and the central government get involved in classes we offer?),…
Why I Like Boring Driving: Learning to Drive in Thailand
Last month we moved to Thailand, and one of the first things we did was buy a car to get around Chiangmai. The Chiangmai area has something over 1 million people. The middle of the city is a tourist hub organized within the crooked streets of “the old city,” many of which are one-way. These are surrounded by an actual moat which forms a square. Outside the moat are massive “ring roads” near one of which I know live.…
We’ve Always Done It This Way
…I wrote the post below during my last semester as an adjunct instructor at a rural community college. I resurrect it here because Warren Waren over at Racism Review just published “Institutional Racism: Comparing Oscar Nominations with Higher Education Faculty.” It’s a must-read, especially for anti-racist White academics serving on hiring committees, as faculty and EEO representatives at PWIs (Predominantly White Institutions). Inspired by the recent hashtag campaigns #OscarsSoWhite and #OscarsStillSoWhite, Waren draws deft comparison between the Oscars academy (94% white) and academe (“15% of the enrolled student population at America’s colleges, but only 5.5% of all full-time faculty are black.”).