My husband and I were at an event last month and a woman who was very proud to have presented at the UN in support of aid for children in Central America (which is important) kept referring them as “those people” as in “you can’t imagine how poor those people are.” “You can’t imagine how…
DetailsI teach a cardio-kickboxing class on Tuesdays, and there’s one member who often wears a t-shirt that says “# 1 Grandma!” I’ve joked with her, asking if she’s coming to learn new discipline tactics (always adding, “seriously, folks, don’t try this at home!”) So it’s not like the image in the Simply Potatoes ad above…
DetailsThis was supposed to be a cute post about how the Youth Ambassadors from Ecuador (8 high school students and one adult mentor) ended up having to stay two extra days in Chicago because on the day of their departure (9/30) the military closed the airports in Ecuador after a rebellion by the police, in…
DetailsI always remember the scene from Sex, Lies and Videotape when Andy MacDowell is talking to her therapist about how hard it is to live her daily life when she reads about so much pain and suffering in the Newspaper everyday. That’s how I feel after reading about Rutgers student Tyler Clementi, 18, a freshman…
DetailsIn fair fighting, the rule was always to use “I” statements, as in “I feel this” or “I did this,” as opposed to “You” statements, as in “You always do this,” or “You make me feel this,” (“I feel YOU are an a——” doesn’t count.) In intercultural communications, in the framework of Geert Hoftstede, it’s…
DetailsWhere can you hear 13 hours of Jazz for FREE? At the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Saturday, September 25, 2010. The event runs from 1 pm to 2 am and takes place in 13 landmark and unexpected venues across Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, from the Oriental Institute to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, to the…
DetailsFor Jews it’s 5771, for Christians (and the world) it’s 2010. For the Chinese it’s 47098. It’s 1431 Hijrea (after the migration of Muhammad PBUH from Mecca to Al-Madina ) for the Islamic calendar. And for the Jain’s it’s going on 75,000 years. The conversation arose during a celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New…
DetailsLessons in intercultural communications abound every day, everywhere. Over the past few days, “my friend” learned how orientation to different jobs/careers fields can yield the same intercultural snafus found in cross cultural communications. Whether it’s Jargon (think SEO, CEO, B-Hag, NGO, HACE), written communication styles (think Engineer vs. School Teacher) or simply the anticipated protocol…
DetailsIf TS Elliot said “if I had more time I would have written a shorter letter,” then I say if I had been more brilliant I would have invented a simple and accessible application to teach about the depth of cultural differences and race in a way that immediately makes you aware of your unconscious…
DetailsI read with a bit of sadness this week that Oxford University Press, the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, said “so many people prefer to look up words using its online product that it’s uncertain whether the 126-year-old dictionary’s next edition will be printed on paper at all.” I learned early on to replace…
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