Walking in to teach aqua aerobics this morning, I looked across the sea of blue hair, wrinkles and skirted suits and remembered the ladies at the swimming pool at my Grandma’s apartment complex in Miami Beach: “Don’t splash honey” they would say, plastic bags covering their freshly teased hair. I was 5…how do you swim without splashing? So I…
DetailsMy problem with representations of women in advertising is not that they’re beautiful, nor, given my delight with this ad, that they’re scantily clad. Apparently it’s more of a “boys against girls” mentality. I like this ad because, basically, the girl “wins.” She’s smarter, stronger, slyer, and ‘wins,’ while teaching the boys a thing or…
DetailsWith the notable first black Disney princess debuting 84 years after the first (in the Princess and the Frog, in Theaters December 11), I don’t doubt that the number of black dolls also falls well behind that of white dolls. So it’s understandable that, as the Wall Street Journal points out, “many black parents had…
DetailsWhen Marc and I first met, I didn’t know what to think. We were in the “Green Room,” aka the Counselor’s office at Robeson High School in Chicago, getting ready to visit classrooms as motivational speakers, as part of the Black Star Project. “I tell them about careers in marketing, and to believe in…
DetailsAs someone not as connected to the spiritual side of Christmas (is Santa connected to the spiritual side of Christmas?), this ad for “Boost Mobile” is funny, definitely a good visual image to convey the message of “wrongness”, although I hope it doesn’t run during Saturday morning cartoons! How does this, or does it, fit into the…
DetailsHappy Thanksgiving! Ours is a ‘mostly vegetarian’ Thanksgiving because everything is vegan, except for…come closer so I can whisper…except for the turkey in the kitchen, and it’s not the one pardoned by President Obama today. Our annual family gathering of vegetarians (nothing with a face, but will eat dairy), vegans (no animal products/no harm to animals–my mom even suggested…
DetailsJust like a website has the public face and then the ‘behind the scenes techinical side,’ so for Intercultural Parenting there is the social side of raising a child with intercultural awareness and sensitivity, and then there’s Intercultural Parenting–two parents of different cultures parenting together…or more like side-by-side…or is it one after the other? I…
DetailsI’m always quick to jump on images OF women in media, but here is a great series on breaking down ads targeted to women. In this critique of yogurt ads, feminist and comedian Sarah Haskins highlights every stereotype of women’s desires/habits possible, from dieting to shopping to shoes. If you already knew Sarah Haskins…why didn’t you…
DetailsI’ve seen “Blood Diamond.” I’ve seen the “Migrations: History in Transition” photography exhibit by Brazilian photojournalist Sabastião Salgado. I’ve walked through the “Doctors without Borders” traveling “model” refugee camp. I’ve even cried looking at the static images of suffering of those poor, poor people displaced and ravaged in far away lands by war and…
DetailsBug Buffet, source foodista.com Sorry, I know it’s sophomoric, but when I wanted an image to communicate Culture Shock (from a United States/Western European perspective) I couldn’t resist the photo of basically a ‘bug buffet.” I know I’ve heard they are full of protein, even tasy, but from my own cultural perspective, I don’t…
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