Most Politically Correct Ad Ever?
This may be an attempt at the most politically correct ad ever….representatives of diverse cultures, underlying green themes, and low-sodium….as long as no-one takes offense to leprechaun jokes!
Who’s the Smartest Guy at BYU this Year?
I found this fun parody of the new and wildly successful Old Spice spokesman, a promotional piece for the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young Univisity on adfreak.com last week. While it should have been a simple, pithy post, I’ve obsessed for seven days about whether or not to post it. Why? Because my…
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Owning Your Own Story…Like Roberto Carlos Ramos
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…
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Whose Granny is This?
I 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…
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When History Becomes Personal and Other Inconveniences
This 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…
DetailsWhen Bias Turns Deadly
I 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…
Details“I” vs “You” Orientation
In 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…
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Hyde Park Jazz Festival Attracts Nicest Volunteers on Earth
Where 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…
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The Jewish Jain and Other New Year Traditions
For 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…
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Intercultural Conflict: How Jobs and Titles are Like Cultural Fiefdoms
Lessons 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…
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