This talk chronicles the turbulent coming-of-age exploits and experiences
of a young American serviceman who spent a formative five years in East
and Southeast Asia at the height of the Vietnam War, during the explosive
and crazy era of the late 1960s and early 1970s. This stranger in a strange
land, a military policeman, evolved in unforeseen ways – not all of them
good - as he encountered unique Asian cultures while surviving perils that
included frequent bar brawls, race riots, destructive typhoons, Vietcong
rockets and alcohol-and-illegal-drug-crazed practices that damaged lives,
including his own. This revealing tale explores elements of American’s
influences in Taiwan, lost to time, and many on the island are working to
resurrect that history.
Lunch will be provided.
TC BROWN is a former newspaper journalist for multiple publications in California, Ohio and Kentucky, including the Plain Dealer of Cleveland, The Columbus Dispatch and the Kentucky Post. His investigative work led to an appearance on ABC-TV’s Nightline. He has been a free-lance writer for local, state and national publications, including the New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review and Playboy magazine. He was a Kiplinger Digital Media Fellow at The Ohio State University and has been a long-time communication consultant, including running the national Twitter feed for a grassroots, pro-democracy group. He was an adjunct professor of journalism at Ohio Wesleyan University. National, state and local organizations have awarded his work, including the National Press Club, the National Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors and Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, among others. From 1968 to 1973 he was an Air Force military policeman in Taiwan and Vietnam. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and this recounting of his time in Asia is his first book.
