You’re at a black tie event. You’re looking for the restroom. Who do you ask? “Me,” joked our new friend who spontaneously joined us at our table at a recent black-tie-event, jovially laughing at the third time in the last 10 minutes he’d been asked for directions. “It’s hard to be a black man in…
DetailsSharing tidbits of information we had gleaned from the day at dinner the other night, I announced that Japan had the highest population of people over age 65, to which my 9-year-old son Dillon countered that Utah was the state with the highest population of children, to which I made a snide remark about polygamists,…
DetailsLack of diversity in Board Rooms really isn’t any cuter when it’s emulated by 5-year-olds, as seen in this ad by agency TBC for Haribo’s Gold-Bears gummy candy. And, as Just Sayin points out in the comments on the original post on adfreak, the ladies are not fairing much better either: “all the boys are…
DetailsQuick. Gut answer. If you see an African American and a Caucasian person debating Affirmative Action, which side of the fence would you imagine each is on? As students prepare to return to college for the fall, an article on NPR last week explored “Affirmative Action: How Far Have We Come?” reflecting on the case…
DetailsI just spent 1/2 an hour watching Rhett and Link’s local commercials at ilovelocalcommercials.com, which are absolutely wonderful snippets of middle America and small town businesses that have been nominated (by anyone…nominate your favorite business) to have a free local commercial made for them by Rhett and Link, sponsored by MicroBilt. Some local commercials beg…
DetailsDillon came home from a great field trip last week with Northlight Theatre Camp to see Shrek the Musical, presented by Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Theatre in Chicago. “How was the play, I asked?” mostly thinking it was a cute and innocuous attempt by Broadway to engage younger audiences (although I heard gasps…
DetailsAs I was entertaining my “I Am White” Race Test yesterday, someone asked “why?” What’s the purpose for this?” I’ve learned in USAmerican Culture, that usually the value of “why” is measured in money…how much money will it make? Or what Fortune 500 company are you doing it for? As a marketing strategist, of course…
DetailsWhite Tim White talks a lot about White Privilege, White Peggy McIntosh is well-known for “Unpacking the White Knapsack” about what it means to be white, and most recently, White Mikhail Lyubansky, professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois, takes a stab at the notion in his article on psychologytoday.com, “Going Where Glenn Beck…
DetailsI saw an ad on late nite TV last night for a pharmaceutical promoted as critical to help men’s health as they age. The patient was an older white man, and the doctor (also a man) was African American. According to a recent article by Ronald Brownstein in the National Journal Magazine, “The Gray…
DetailsWhat happens when you open yourself up to different interpretations of the same item? That’s what intercultural communications does–it encourages you to see things through a different lens…to look at something through another perspective. In the workplace (or in real life) the theory is that it can explode the average white bread experience (aka The…
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