Being White in a Black Majority and Calling Out Unconscious Bias
Just recognizing bias isn’t enough. Equip yourself with language and tools to exercise your privilege to engage in conversations around race.
Vegan Inclusive Thanksgiving
Your High Schooler just announced they are vegan. Your sister’s bringing her new S/O…who is Vegan. Don’t panic! It’s easier than you think to make your Thanksgiving vegan inclusive. Just start with the side dishes #VeganThanksgiving
JUF Brings Person-to-Person Connection with Hurricane Maria Relief
As soon as I saw the plastic bag full of shoulder pads hanging in the closet, I grasped our shared humanity. Millennial colleagues who were with me on our recent JUF/TOV* trip to Puerto Rico to help with Hurricane Maria relief may not have even recognized them. After all, we were at a house with…
How can you communicate across opposing ideas?
Can Civil Discourse be saved? In the 1600’s New England Town hall meetings offered a space for all in the village to come together to have a say in local law. In the 1890’s Salons, made famous during the French Enlightenment, filled homes in Boston as a place for women and men to congregate for intellectual discourse.…
Illinois Chiefs of Police Engaging with Communities to Build Trust
The February 2018 issues of Command, The Official Publication of the Illinois Chiefs of Police, talks about their work to advance dialogue with communities of color. Mountains of statistics and studies tilting in law enforcement’s favor haven’t resolved much in the national discourse as police have tried to build bridges to minority communities in recent…
International Women’s Day at Praxair
International Women’s Day planning committee at Praxair in Burr Ridge (l to r) Elizabeth Supple, Chris Ranous, Erika Rogozinski, speaker Deanna Shoss, Joe Abdoo, Kristen Alcazaren, and Ann Klochan. International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated in force this March. For my colleagues from Serbia and Russia, they can remember celebrating this special day since they…
Brazil Exchange: Not our “Poor Brethren to the South”
For anyone who knows me, reading this title you are probably thinking “what the H.E-double hockey sticks…your husband is from Brazil!” Yes, but historically US State Department programs, such is this one coordinated locally through World Chicago, and in particular one’s from Partners of the Americas, (which focuses on exchanges just in this hemisphere), have been…
Middle East North Africa: One Size Does Not Fit All
I love, love, love, Thanksgiving. So when World Chicago said they needed Thanksgiving hosts for a “multicultural group,” we were in. World Chicago “promotes citizen diplomacy.” Essentially, World Chicago makes the local arrangements for travelers who are on professional and educational exchanges (“to advance national security, economic development and social justice”) funded by the US…
From Bagels to Bacalhau…Sharing New Cultural Food Traditions
We got sandwiches from New York Bagel & Bialy in Skokie the other day and I said to my husband, “this must be the best lox and cream cheese sandwich you’ve had,” referring to the 3” inch high concoction he was holding. “The best one was with May,” he responded—the May in question being the…
MOSTRA Brazilian Film Series Launches November 3
MOSTRA VIII Brazilian Film Series Brings 26 Films and Six Filmmakers to Chicago – Nov. 3 to 18, 2017 CHICAGO, IL – For the 8th year, MOSTRA Brazilian Film Series will bring feature and short films, documentaries, panel discussions, Brazilian filmmakers to a diverse audience in Chicago. The largest Brazilian film festival in the Midwest…