Stock Photo by ©kikkerdirk 73977253 Here's my response to someone who had some nice things to say about a recent essay of mine published by University World News and republished by CounterPunch. (Unabridged version here.) Interestingly, and not surprisingly, I guess, I've received some pushback from intelligent people who are 'peaceniks' under normal circumstances but now find themselves … Continue reading Their Madeleine Albright Moment
Author: Mark A. Ashwill
Another Deal with the Devil, International Education-Style
Life is full of trade-offs, some of which involve fatally flawed moral compromises and hefty doses of personal and institutional soul-selling. -MAA This image taken from CCTV video shows Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018. (Hurriyet via AP) MAA: Khashoggi's last few minutes of life. His fiancée, Hatice … Continue reading Another Deal with the Devil, International Education-Style
How Wealth Reduces Compassion
Source: The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley I recently stumbled upon this 2012 Scientific American article that makes the point, using the results of various studies, that people's empathy for others is generally linked to their economic status, hence the subtitle, As riches grow, empathy for others seems to decline. … Continue reading How Wealth Reduces Compassion
Maskless US Colleagues Roll the COVID-19 Dice
I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed when I saw this photo, taken at the recent AIEA conference in New Orleans, and a colleague's comment: First time in my 40 year career to ever comment on how great it is to see maskless intl educators at work at a conference. My first thought was, Has … Continue reading Maskless US Colleagues Roll the COVID-19 Dice
A Call for Universal Empathy: We Are “The Other”
Here's my latest essay for University World News. Below is an unedited version, including quotes that do not appear in the published version. Image: iStock While I was deeply gratified and moved to see the outpouring of support for Ukraine and its people on various social media channels in response to the Russian invasion, I … Continue reading A Call for Universal Empathy: We Are “The Other”
RootsTech 2022: Finding Distant Cousins
That's me! 🙂 RootsTech, an annual virtual conference that rightfully bills itself as the world’s largest family history conference, is organized by FamilySearch (FS), a project of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). FS is an extensive database of records about millions of people in the US and many other countries … Continue reading RootsTech 2022: Finding Distant Cousins
Russian Invasion of Ukraine Elicits Selective Outrage & Sympathy
While I'm gratified to see the outpouring of support for Ukraine and its people on various social media channels, I realize how selective it is knowing that the US government and military have done the exact same thing. In a sense, Russia is taking a bloody page out of the US foreign policy playbook, which … Continue reading Russian Invasion of Ukraine Elicits Selective Outrage & Sympathy
Mixing Historical Apples & Oranges
The book I'm currently reading. If you haven't heard of Kent Nerburn and you're interested in US history and various Native American tribes that have been victimized and marginalized by said history, I recommend that you to look him up. I follow him on Facebook (I'm an author who works in the fields of spirituality … Continue reading Mixing Historical Apples & Oranges
A Vietnamese tradition inspires a genealogical journey
Here's my latest essay for VNExpress International. In it I mention a December 2021 article From New England to Vietnam: Settler Colonialism in Cross-Cultural Perspective that was published behind a paywall. Since VNExpress doesn't include links to other sites, follow this link to another blog post to read it free of charge. Photo courtesy of … Continue reading A Vietnamese tradition inspires a genealogical journey
Trash, Trash, Everywhere, Everywhere!
Photo by MAA. This is a common sight in Viet Nam, especially in the countryside. Like a magnet, a small trash dump becomes a large one. Let's take a partial inventory of the items in this disgusting pile of garbage, shall we? ---lots of plastic bags (it can take up to 1,000 years for a … Continue reading Trash, Trash, Everywhere, Everywhere!
An International Educator in Vietnam 
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