Thanks to Intercultural Talk reader Cara for sending this Survey opportunity on language and identity (actually, it’s a forwarded email from my sister, but it sounds more important the other way, not to ‘dis’ my sister…speaking of which, where does the word ‘dis’ originate?…enough already, here’s the survey) Subject: FW: Survey on Language and Identity…
DetailsHonestly, I don’t see how this could be viewed as anything but offensive. Now the question, do I do more harm by showing it? Does the New Yorker feel vindicated because it’s gotten more visibility than any cover in years (can you clearly describe any other cover of any other New Yorker? Maybe an antique…
DetailsIt was less than two weeks ago that Ka-duc Luong wrote here about his experience fleeing from Cambodia as a baby with his mother, and told of her incredible bravery and perseverance to save her family. My deepest sympathies now go out to Kai and his family, upon learning that his mom has unexpectedly passed…
DetailsBelow is a letter I wrote to the Park District in a nearby Village after seeing a racist act by a Village employee on Sunday, and the response from the Village. I was compelled to write the letter, and I’m satisfied with the response, but I’m surprised and a little annoyed by my biggest concern…
DetailsThank you and welcome to guest blogger Kai-Duc Luong. Kai has lived in the US for the last 11 years, 10 of them working in corporate America. He left the corporate side to fully pursue his dream of being a filmmaker a year or so ago, to devote his attention to finishing the feature-length documentary…
DetailsMy 7 year old son, L, was telling me a story this week about the slip-n-slide at summer camp, and how much fun it was. He said the first time he went so fast he slid off the end and got so covered with mud he “looked like a black man.” It was just the…
DetailsWhile I risk being called a traitor as a St. Louisan defending a possible purchase of Anheuser-Busch by a non-American Company, as the wife of a Brazilian I must defend the fact that there are, indeed, ‘real businesses’ in Brazil. This stems from a conversation I was having yesterday. I can’t remember the genesis of…
DetailsI know, I know, many an ‘anti-racist’ will say that simply enjoying the foods and traditions of another culture as a ‘tourist’ does nothing to combat racism. But, honestly, I disagree. I’m raising a 7 year old, and for now I’m not going to go into in-depth history to explain why there is racism and…
DetailsMy husband and I were talking about the economy over breakfast this morning and he shared that he read in O Globo, Brazil’s major daily paper, that Americans saw a $1.7 trillion first quarter loss in net worth. His commentary on that was that “the U.S. is losing its place as the unchallenged leader of the…
DetailsYou know it’s difficult to talk about intercultural and interracial issues when you avoid talking even to yourself, in private, for fear of being offensive. Certainly I jest, but only sort of. There’s a couple of things I’ve noticed over the past nearly two weeks, and I have a couple of solutions to start. 1. …
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