What’s a TCK? Read here. A much more complete list than mine can be found here (thanks, Sezin!). Barack Obama: The world’s most famous TCK right now, and maybe that’s a good sign (perhaps it’s fortunate that few American voters recognized the term). Obama As A “Third Culture Kid” How Obama Really Thinks: A Primer for… Continue reading Famous TCKs: Third-Culture Kids in the News and in History
Category: TCKs
Third-Culture Kids: Growing Up Everywhere, and Nowhere
You who are on the road must have a code that you can live by. And so become yourself, because the past is just a goodbye. Graham Nash – Teach Your Children “A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’… Continue reading Third-Culture Kids: Growing Up Everywhere, and Nowhere
Coming “Home” to America
So I’ve returned to live (and work) in the USA. A number of people, particularly US immigration officers, have said: “Welcome home.” I am grateful for their friendly intentions, but “home” is not what the US represents for me. I’ve lived here only about a third of my life to date. Having spent many of… Continue reading Coming “Home” to America
Shut Up or Go Home – No Culture Likes a Kibitzer
I was recently interviewed for an article about third-culture kids, to be published in the Christian Science Monitor. In an hour,s taped phone conversation, Erik Olsen asked many questions, including: “Being an outsider in all cultures, how does that make you feel?” I thought for a moment, and said: “Superior.” No doubt that statement will… Continue reading Shut Up or Go Home – No Culture Likes a Kibitzer
Cultural Assumptions
What You Think You Might Know About Somebody… Might Be Wrong Years ago, before we were even living in Italy, Enrico and I spent a night in Courmayeur, on the French side of Mont Blanc, on our way to somewhere. Our hotel included breakfast (most of them do), eaten at large, bare wooden tables with… Continue reading Cultural Assumptions