Now that I’m back from Brazil, the biggest question I get is “will Brazil be ready for the Summer 2016 Olympics?” The question is spawned by talks of impeachment. Yes, the house voted to impeach President Dilma while we were there, but very democratically-it still has to pass the Senate (for context—the US has had two…
DetailsDear Inner voice, Your employment with me, as discussed during the termination meeting earlier today, is terminated, effective immediately, because you are a complete f#%king a$$h*le. As your employment file reflects, you were originally hired as an entry level Internal Risk Management and Communications Adviser, primarily to protect me from danger, to help me with…
DetailsWant to get people talking to you? Find a subject that they’re interested in. This is as old (or older, but at least made popular by) as Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. Say their name a lot. Get people to talk about themselves or things they know. Take my sister…please! This is…
DetailsYou wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do. – Eleanor Roosevelt My son is always positive his teachers don’t like him. The feeling comes from his nature to be contrary…to espouse the contrary idea to the majority discussion. (Think most teenagers, although for him it pre-dated…
DetailsHow to Talk to your Child About Racism “Invite a Chinese stranger to your home and have your children sit next to them on the couch until they feel at ease. Repeat for all other races.” Full-Original Source, The Onion http://www.theonion.com/graphic/how-talk-your-child-about-racism-52588 Does Racist Humor Promote Racism? And this piece about racist humor. The opening jokes…
DetailsMy dad has stories, and he wants to tell them, but wants to know the listener is interested. I hear it in my dad’s voice, particularly when he is talking to my son. “What do you want to know,” he asks. “Ask me anything.” And then there’s silence, or “I don’t know.” There is that “you…
DetailsI’ve been in an intercultural relationship (US-Brazilian), married for almost three decades, which means a few things—I’m bordering on old as dirt (actually, we eloped really, really young), I’m really lucky (or stubborn), and I’ve made a commitment to really knowing my partner (who in a good marriage wouldn’t say that?) But, and I’m not going…
DetailsWhat makes race humor funny and what makes it offensive, and is this question part of the bigger conversation about cultural agility and owning your own identity? A week late I found on Twitter a conversation started by NPR’s Code Switch tagged #NPRObamaEffect, asking the question “Did Obama Inspire A Big Debate On Identity?” It…
DetailsOh the pressure! It’s bad enough that we have to stay young, look skinny, be trendy and professionally successful. But it’s all supposed to be meaningful and for a “life purpose” too? Who has time to have good hair AND care about other people? The good news is that you can appear to be values-driven to…
DetailsThe best way to avoid being called a racist? Just deny that race exists. How? Be colorblind! It makes people of color feel valued and respected, and it makes you as a white person feel strong, powerful and good—think of it as your community service. If Meryl Streep can do it to solve lack of…
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