Greetings,

It is an honor for being charged Editor-In-Chief of the Center for International Study’s Monsoon Newsletter.

Returning to Ohio University is an honor and a full circle experience. I am originally from Boardman, Ohio and nearly 34 years ago I attended O.U. as a freshman. Mid-way through my first year I joined the Navy and served on the aircraft carrier, George Washington. Afterwards, using the skill set afforded to me from the Navy, I traveled the country and abroad as a young software engineer. After settling down in Scottsdale, AZ I discovered I had an affinity for a different type of language: linguistics. Then in 96’ I set out to travel to other countries for the purpose of developing my cultural intelligence and fluency in French, Portuguese, Italian. However, it wasn’t until 2 years later that I found my calling. While traveling through Tibet in early autumn of 98’ the experience changed my life. Each summer after, I returned to travel to other remote corners of China to witness, participate and learn their culture. After accumulating so much passion for the culture I knew I had to learn the language to thoroughly comprehend the intrinsic details that define the Chinese social make-up, as well as how they think. In September of 2004 I entered Peking University (Beida) in Beijing, China to learn Chinese Mandarin, while simultaneously traveling the country.  I found myself immersed in a culture that is a 360* polar opposite to ours. Therefore, the sacrifice for complete immersion was tremendous, in that, I studied 7 days a week, 16 hours a day, for 2 years without holidays or any association with English culture. BTW, this is the discipline Chinese students maintain regularly. Three years later I found myself in the right place at the right time; the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics was approaching. It was not a secret that China was open to the world, and everything culturally going on in the world was happening right there in Beijing. Every foreign industry you can imagine was there to reap the profits from this incredible sports spectacle Beijing was preparing and they all needed interpreters or translators. I was one of a few U.S. citizens in Beijing fluent in Mandarin. After establishing myself as a recognized translator I went on to manage start-ups in the growing education industry. From Pearson to Beijing Aeronautics and Astronautics University (China’s M.I.T.)  as well as private endeavors, finally I considered myself a part of Chinese culture. After 20 years of traveling, living and working in mainland China I am here to change the vista of how China is perceived. To provide a pedestrian perspective for a grassroots understanding about the table talk issues we all face today.