at edmittance

Man: So multi-level marketing…
Woman: That is right.
Man: So what exactly is that?
Woman: Oh just. You can go into the website. There are just thousands. It is like I introduce two people. Two people introduce two people. And so there are tiers to this marketing.
Man: Like Amway?
Woman: Network marketing or multi-level marketing. Yeah.
Man: Tupperware and Amway. Are they examples?
Woman: They are good examples. Yeah. They are in the same category.
Man: How did you get involved in it?
Woman: A very good friend of ours introduced us to it when my husband and I came to the Gold Coast.
Man: M-hm.
Woman: We were approached by this couple who became friends and we were introduced by friends, which is the deceptive element in multi-level marketing because very often they recruit friends and because they are your friends you naturally assume…
Man: That they are ok.
Woman: Yeah… have your interests at heart. Unbeknowns to us our friends although they are good business people they themselves were quite inexperienced in this particular business so they actually without meaning to misled us.
Man: Right. Ok. And what product initially..?
Woman: Well this company is called Omega trend and it is a sort of a replica of Amway.
Man: Right.
Woman: And so they started with cleaning products and…
Man: They broke away from Amway?
Woman: Yeah. They actually are a breakaway from Amway though they didn’t like people to know that because of Amway’s rep.
Man: Amway has a bad rep?
Woman: Incredibly bad rep so that Amway had to change its name that many times to disguise its…
Man: Past.
Woman: Yeah past or…
Man: I thought Amway like…I have that heard it is expensive but the products are quite good.
Woman: Actually that is what most people say and I think there is something to be said for quality. I think it is quite good quality but the fact is there is a high profit margin so I think it is inherently unethical and they pump up the price and they have to because the different tiers of people have to make their profit along the way, to me, for me, I think it is unethical.
Man: And you felt you got burned? You felt like deceived. You weren’t happy with your experience?
Woman: I felt, yeah….

at Your Guide

Mark: So you were born in Brooklyn and you like did you go to high school there?
Steve: Correct.
Mark: And then you went to university?
Steve: University actually was in the Bronx.
Mark: Right. That was during the Vietnam war?
Steve: Yes. Ahm. Yeah.
Mark: And you worked at a high school during the Vietnam war?
Steve: Junior high school.
Mark: To avoid the draft. (laughs)
Steve: Correct.
Mark: You did not want to go to Vietnam and fight in the war?
Steve: Correct. That is for sure.
Mark: Yeah.
Steve: So I taught in a ghetto school in Brooklyn. That was in Brooklyn.
Mark: Right. What did you actually study like in your degree at university?
Steve: Literature English and American literature, I guess.
Mark: Which writers did you like?
Steve: Joyce, Beckett, Salinger, Melville.
Mark: That is right. You loved…. What is that story you like by Salinger?
Steve: The Catcher and the Rye.
Mark: The Catcher and the Rye.
Steve: Well it is a novel.
Mark: There is a saying. What is the name of the main character?
Steve: Holden Caulfield.
Mark: Holden Caulfield. And there is something that he always says that you used to say for a long time.
Steve: Is that right?
Mark: Yeah there is some sentence that…
Steve: You know I think you are thinking of “Bartleby the Scrivener“. “I’d prefer not to”.
Mark: That came later but earlier on it was Holden Caufield. I remember you saying to me once when we had lunch at Kerala, that earlier in life you used to say this thing that Holden Caulfield used to say or maybe it was something that Salinger used to say and later you changed it to Bartleby.
Steve: Is that right? It very well could have been.
Mark: So you taught at the school in the ghetto. Where was that?
Steve: A neighbourhood called Brownsville.
Mark: Brownsville. Which borough is that in?
Steve: In Brooklyn. The black ghetto in Brooklyn.
Mark: And then later, like, were you from a Jewish area or an Italian area?
Steve: At first a Jewish area and then… Actually when I was…You will find this interesting. You tapped into something here. When I was about six years old my parents moved. When my sister was born, when I was six years old or seven years, we moved from renting an apartment to buying a house a few blocks away.
Mark: Right.
Steve: But the house a few blocks away was no longer in the Jewish neighborhood. It was in an Irish Italian neighborhood. I was the only Jewish kid.
Mark: Right. Mixed it up a little bit.
Steve: ah from time to time I got picked on but I would not stress that.
Mark: When they say like a Jewish neighborhood or an Irish neighbourhood, how long is a neighbourhood. Like two blocks, three blocks?
Steve: No no. Could be much bigger.
Mark: Could be like big ones and small ones, I suppose.
Steve: Yeah.
Mark: Some times you see like in Sydney you might see a couple of streets with some Chinese stuff. You can call it a Chinese neighbourhood…
Steve: There is a Chinatown in New York City now.
Mark: Yeah a big one.
Steve: It was one of my favourite places always. Even before I thought of studying anything about Japan and China I was always fascinated with … Asia… Japan and China.
Mark: When you go travelling in little towns in Australia, the two cultures that got there first are the Chinese and the Italians.
Steve: Is that right?
Mark: There is nothing from the outside. The first that gets there; it will be either pizza or a Chinese restaurant.
Steve: Yeah America too. Every place has a Chinese restaurant.
Mark: Although Chinese food is pretty different from… chop suey is pretty different from the stuff you get in China or Taiwan.
Steve: Yeah but like in California and New York you can get just as good…authentic…
Mark: I had good Chinese food in San Francisco.
Steve: I was once driving across country recently and late at night … I ended up in…I was in Oklahoma somewhere and the highway sign says the next stop is Shawnee. I am thinking I know Shawnee. I know the name but I was tired. I got off there and found a motel. And there was a Chinese restaurant buffet style and the thing was they had a hundred different dishes to choose from.
Mark: M-hm
Steve: So there were these really really really fat Americans were going up big pile after big pile and they are fat and that is why they are fat and they were taking from a hundred different things … you know … picking this and picking this and I am sitting there… I took a modest thing myself. I did not want to stuff myself..you know
Mark: Mm.
Steve: And then I remembered Shawnee is the hometown of a notorious gangster called “Pretty Boy Floyd”. The song they sing about him ..
Mark: Pretty Boy Floyd?
Steve: Pretty Boy Floyd from Shawnee and of course it was..his being a bad guy was totally unjustified. It was the authorities fault. You know. They spoke rudely to his wife one Saturday afternoon.
Mark: They done him wrong.
Steve: They did indeed. They done him wrong. Whatever the specifics of it was and he had to lay that policeman down. That is how the song goes I think.
Mark: Shawnee is a town?
Steve: Shawnee is a town in Oklahoma.
Mark: Right. ok
Steve: Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Mark: It is an Indian tribe too, isn’t it?
Steve: Yeah. Yes.
Mark: Yeah.

at clstal

Mark: I am just sitting here at a cafe in the Pahar Ganj area of New Delhi with Michael. Michael, you are not feeling very good?
Michael: No, I am certainly not.
Mark: What is the problem?
Michael: Well. I got diagnosed with amoebic dysentery about eight nine weeks ago when I was up in the mountains and I got treated for it then by a very good doctor with antibiotics but I fear that it has not yet gone away as I have had recurring problems.
Mark: You vomited this morning?
Michael: That is right. I got some new pills, that somebody at this very cafe recommended, that I take.
Mark: Ayurvedic?
Michael: No, no. Not those ones. These were some other pills. I forget what they were called. This man said that his sister was a nurse and these were the pills to take and I found them at a chemist, took a couple and I was violently sick this morning not long after taking one of these pills on the street, which was quite interesting.
Mark: Mm. That is terrible. How are you feeling now? Are you feeling a little better?
Michael: Not really I am feeling very weak I have to take some of these… you know… what do you call them…re-hydration salts.
Mark: And you are going to eat some banana and papaya as well?
Michael:Well I have got a papaya juice coming and yeah perhaps I will have some banana. I have heard that that is good for you.
Mark:I hope you feel better soon.
Michael: Thank you very much.
Mark: This man wants to clean your shoes.
Michael:Yes, I…

at Matt Hintsa

Mark: Hello, Mr Bestluck?
Peter: Hi there. Come on in. Welcome.
Mark: My name is Mark White.
Peter: Hi Mark. How are you doing?
Mark: Good.
Peter: Take a seat on the black leather sofa.
Mark: Thanks a lot.
Peter: Make yourself comfortable.
Mark: Thanks for agreeing to see me today. I am sure you don’t have much time.
Peter: No problem whatsoever.
Mark: I have come to ask you about your recent acquisition of Mosquito City…
Peter: U-hum.
Mark: … Airlines.
Peter: Yes.
Mark: Was it a sudden decision to buy the airline company?
Peter: It is one of my dreams come true actually. I had been thinking about this for quite a long time, although I hadn’t told anybody until very recently.
Mark: Oh wow! I have got a scoop.
Peter: You have got a scoop. Yeah. (laughs) It has just all happened (at the) beginning of last week.
Mark: Right..So..?
Peter: I phoned David Bowie. You know David?
Mark: Yeah
Peter: And he has..He said that I can buy his jets from him. Marvelous. At a very reasonable price as well.
Mark: you are buying a new fleet.
Peter: Yeah. That is right.
Mark: Right. So you have always wanted to be in the airline industry?
Peter: Not really. It is just something to do. You know. Something. A little bit of fun on the side.
Mark: With all your money?
Peter: Well, that is true.
Mark: Yeah. well. You plan to expand the airline company. Do you think that the Mosquito City Airport is big enough for this new fleet of jets?
Peter: Well, I do because I think that Mosquito City is becoming quite a phenomenon.
Mark: Uh-huh.
Peter: Everybody wants to come here.
Mark: Right.
Peter: And I can understand why because it is “Happy Happy Land”, if you know what I mean.
Mark: I must say it is a beautiful place. I have only just arrived myself a couple of days ago. I got a job. I am making a lot of money. I am staying at the hotel for nothing. This is a great place.
Peter: Just one day. Just imagine… one week … one month…one year.
Mark: How long have you been here?
Peter: I have been here sort of most of my life actually.
Mark: Were you born rich?
Peter: Well, I was born rich inside.
Mark: Inside?
Peter: it sounds a bit sort of corny doesn’t it but ahh..
Mark: No. Not really.
Peter: What is the point of being rich if you are not rich inside?
Mark: All that glitters is not gold.
Peter: Very true.
Mark: Money isn’t everything. So your fortune has grown since you inherited it?
Peter: It has grown considerably.
Mark: M-hm. What kind of industries have you invested in?
Peter: Well…actually I am building a golf course next to the new airport.
Mark: Right. Ok.
Peter: So you will have to come down and see it with me.
Mark: Yes.
Peter: How about tomorrow?
Mark: Ok. Yeah. That sounds great. I would love to.
Peter: Great. Fantastic.
Mark: What time?
Peter: Maybe..how about… I am laughing now … six o’clock in the morning?
Mark: Six o’clock in the morning.
Peter: Yes.
Mark: So early?
Peter: There will be my stretch-limo waiting for you outside your hotel.
Mark: Oh wow! Yes!
Peter: With a chauffeur.
Mark: Ok. Yes.
Peter: No problem.
Mark: Wow!
Peter: See you tomorrow, ok?
Mark: Ok. See you tomorrow. Bye bye.
Peter: Bye.

at kanaka pacifica

Mark: Elder Tiave, that is not a common English name. What is your ethnic heritage?
Elder Tiave: No, I am part Filipino. I am Samoan and Hawaiian.
Mark: Wow!
Elder Tiave: So I have nothing to do with Cambodia.
Mark: But you are a Mormon.
Elder Tiave: Yes. I am a Mormon.
Mark: And your whole family is Mormon?
Elder Tiave: Yes, my whole family.
Mark: And you are on your mission? You are here for two years?
Elder Tiave: Yeah. I just recently came out to Cambodia and started my mission here in Cambodia.
Mark: Mhm.
Elder Tiave: I started learning the language, Cambodian language in Utah and then from there I came out here and just started teaching the the people here (about my church). I have been in this country for about three months and it is a challenge sometimes but I am starting to get better at the language. Yeah.
Mark: Do you speak Tagalog or Filipino or Hawaiian?
Elder Tiave: No, I really don’t know any Filipino language but my grandma does.
Mark: So you were born in the States, grew up in the states; you are pretty much American, now.
Elder Tiave: Yeah, I am actually from Hawaii.
Mark: Right but your ancestors are all mixed?
Elder Tiave: Yeah. All mixed.
Mark: It is starting to rain so lets get out of here.
Elder Tiave: All right.

at kabl1992

First Bloke: I was born in Papua New Guinea. I lived there for ten years then I moved to England with my family for two and a half years. After two and a half years we came to Australia and I have been living in Australia since 1981.
Second Bloke: What part of England did you live in?
First Bloke: I lived in a place called Cornwall.
Second Bloke: Right. And tell us about New Guinea.
First Bloke: New Guinea is a very hot country. My parents there were teachers and I went to an international school.
Second Bloke: Where did you live there?
First Bloke: I lived in Port Moresby.
Second Bloke: Right.

at ton3vita

Woman: When I finished school I went to university, Melbourne University, and studied science, a bachelor of science . I then did my honours degree and after that I worked in a heart disease research institute.
Man: In Melbourne?
Woman: In Melbourne. It is called the Baker Heart Research Institute. So I worked for a year, a bit over a year on cholesterol and the metabolism of cholesterol in the body.
Man: How the body breaks it down?
Woman: How it is actually transported. So I was looking at a protein, that determines how the cholesterol in the blood is modified and delivered to cells and how it is returned back to the liver..
Man: Right.
Woman: …to be broken down into bile. So we were working on that and then I wanted to have a break so I went traveling and I traveled through western Europe and ended up in London and I worked at the Guildford Surrey County Hospital in an immunology lab and that was more diagnostic work. It was quite interesting. And after that I moved to Finland. Helsinki.
Man: Wow!
Woman: And I did my PhD there.
Man: In Helsinki? In English?
Woman: In English. Every student who is doing their PhD; they have to write their PhD in English.
Man: Right.
Woman: And the seminars are given in English.
Man: So you were in Helsinki for like five years.
Woman: Five years.
Man: Do you speak Finnish?
Woman: Not very well. I can understand a bit, but it is quite a difficult language and because English was my mother tongue they wanted to practise their English.
Man: Right.
Woman: And preferred to speak English with me. But yeah I did take lessons and try and learn it…and that was all… So the PhD was all metabolism and transport.
Man: Right.
Woman: And after that I decided to move back to Melbourne so I took the trans-Siberian train.
Man: Wow!
Woman: And went that direction into Beijing.
Man: Into China, yeah.
Woman: Yeah. Then got back to Melbourne and I started my post-doctoral research which was in a different field.  It is blood diseases like leukemia and I was researching stem cells in the bone marrow and a signaling pathway…
Man: Stem cell research; that is illegal in some places, isn’t it?
Woman: It is. This is adult stem cells. Not embryonic.
Man: Right.
Woman: So we all have stem cells in our bone marrow and they are constantly re-populating the marrow and providing us with our whole immune system.
Man: Right.
Woman: But they are normally dormant or “quiescent” as we call it. And they only go into division when they need to produce certain cells. So I was trying to figure out or understand what controls; like what signals they get to move them from quiescence to an active state
Man: Right.
Woman: So that was three years and that was in Melbourne. So I just published the work from that and decided to travel…

at ton3vita

An American Guy: One of the critical events (in his life) was when he was looking up in the sky and the sky split like a scrim .. you know… like a … there was a scrim of reality and then the whole thing split apart…
An Australian Guy: I don’t know that word. “Scrim.” What is a “scrim“?
The American Guy: A “scrim” is what you find when you got a stage. You got the actors on a stage and you got a band behind it or something. And they are playing the music. There is a scrim there that keeps you from seeing the band.
The Australian: A sort of a screen. Ah right ok.
The American: Yeah. I guess it is related to the word “screen” but it is associated with theatrical life and things like that. He saw… and this was his words
The Australian: Ok.
The American: The heavens parted like a scrim and behind it he saw the grand being..
The Australian: Wow.
The American: You know and this is like have you ever read Swedenborg?
The Australian: No.
The American: Swedenbourg’s “Grand Man”.
Australian: I have read about him a lot but..
The American: Swedenbourg is fantastic but what he called the grand man was the …you know..the paragon of all man what you might call “christ” or ..what you might call…whatever religion you are talking about. What he saw …what he saw… He saw the heavens part…and he saw this as a constellation … and there was a constellation of billions of stars and what it formulated was a man with his face upturned in utter ecstasy. And this was what…the thing… that probably determined and formulated his seeking and his life from that time on.
Australian: Mmm.

(the sound of laughter)

Download the text: International Business Story (pdf), by Mark White

Download the text: The Obsession (pdf), by Mark White