Cross-Cultural Truth: No Such Thing as a Fat Barbie

With 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…

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What I learned from Marc Sims: Self Proclaimed “Pseudo Motivational Speaker”

   When 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…

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The Ultimate in Cross-Cultural Understanding: Vegan-Carnivore Thanksgiving

  Happy 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…

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The “Other Side” of Intercultural Parenting

Just 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…

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Hey Ladies, How About Some Shoes and Shopping to Go With Your Yogurt

I’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…

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Defying Assumptions: Samasource Provides Internet Jobs to Refugees in Kenya/Somalia and Beyond

  I’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…

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Culture Shock: Still Can’t Adjust to Eating Bugs, but Doesn’t Stop Passion for International Volunteerism

  Bug 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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