Monthly Archives: July 2015

Getting Ready 25 The same question, what are we supposed to be teaching? is still the central theme of all communications between us and our hosts in Vietnam. This is the first question we asked back in February and we are still asking it. But now the deadline is approaching and in about 3 weeksContinue reading “Getting Ready 25”

Getting Ready 24 We got our work plans from Vinh, signed by the President, Le Vinh Danh. We are called “Visiting Lecturer.” The semester will be from August 15 through January 31, 2016. This brings us right up to Tet, I think. In addition to teaching 15 sessions of our own classes (“The Art ofContinue reading “Getting Ready 24”

“We’ve been through hell together” Most names of individuals and organizations and businesses have been changed. The first part of this story was told to us as labor educators when we were invited into Local 721 of an un-named International to provide contract bargaining and contract campaign training by the new leadership team prior to theContinue reading ““We’ve been through hell together””

What I am posting below is written by a close friend of ours, Rich Egeland. We first met him when we were teaching labor education in Chicago. As you can see from this, he took advantage of just about every labor ed opportunity that came along. Rich and I were chatting on line about his current adventuresContinue reading “Rich Egeland: A ticket to the fight”

Getting Ready 23 Settled into more or less a schedule. Beautiful weather here in Vermont. Rain every few days, then the river water gets cold. A couple of days of sun heats up the water. Swimming is easy, whether down in the park where the water is warmer or up at Pikes Falls where it’sContinue reading “Getting Ready 23”

Getting Ready 22 This will be about Angie Ngoc Tran’s book, Ties that Bind: Cultural Identity, Class and Law in Vietnams’ Labor Resistance. Cornell Southeast Asia Publications 2013. This is the book I needed to read, although it is too dense for me to have been able to get through before now because I didn’tContinue reading “Getting Ready 22”

Getting Ready 21 I had sent an email to VInh, asking her as clearly as I could about how the assigned textbooks (the ones listed on their week-by-week curriculum) are going to be used.  Would the students each get a copy of the book to read? Or a photocopy? Or a translation? Or should we teachContinue reading “Getting Ready 21”

Getting Ready 20 Sitting in lobby of non-descript hotel in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Landed at Bradley last night on Southwest after leaving Oakland an hour late, followed by sitting on the tar mac in Chicago for at least one extra hour, so went to bed about 3 am. Going up to Vermont on AMTRAK whichContinue reading “Getting Ready 20”

Getting Ready 19 I was sent a video https://vimeo.com/126371846 August, 2012: Miners at the Lonmins platinum mine in Marakana, South Africa are represented by the NUM, National Union of Miners, which has been MIA from the point of view of the miners. Workers want wage increases and ask to negotiate with employers. There’s a minorityContinue reading “Getting Ready 19”

Getting Ready 18 Actually rented a car, a little white thing. Drove the 400 or so miles down the Central Valley to LA. Haven’t done this for years, not since we came back to California from Illinois in 2010 and went car-free. We usually go by train, taking the San Joaquin 715 from Emeryville orContinue reading “Getting Ready 18”