There are 100 reasons to stay under the covers today. It’s gray outside (at least in Chicago). There’s a pandemic. Aggressive political rhetoric spews everywhere. Horrid world events. How can anything you do make a difference? That’s just the time to act. I was thinking about this as I planned for the…
I have been working on a blog post on the Trayvon Martin shooting at least since the verdict last July, and probably since the actual shooting in February 2012. And, you know what? I have accepted today that it will never happen. I have been accused of being too politically correct, and of having a…
Below are two stories, one about taking action for social change (like really taking action—not just liking something on Facebook) and the other story is about how media can perpetuate negative stereotypes (and how important it is to see something firsthand before passing judgment.) Both stories are interwoven here because 1.) The stories converge, albeit…
I was talking to a good friend, a man of color, a leader in the field of diversity, intercultural competence, engagement and inclusion. He told a moving story of being inspired as a child by his dad, who jumped to enlist in the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but then faced spitting in…
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…
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…
This may look like I accidentally posted a private e-mail to my blog. I won’t deny it, I really do want to introduce artist Chris Jordan, author of Running the Numbers to Brenda at Kinship Circle (and to Janet at SHARK). But it’s really about Intercultural Communications. Intercultural communications looks at our similarities and differences, evaluating…
US business culture norms today are all about action and the bottom line. “Show me the money!” Think about it. If Socrates were working at a corporation in the US today, with all of his thinking and pontificating, his boss might say “he’s full of baloney…what has he actually DONE?” (or more likely, “Socrates, stop…
Have you ever been in a position at work where you are working your tail off and all you hear is criticism from those around you? As explained by a sympathetic friend to me once, “it’s like the idea of a moving target. If everyone else is sitting around doing nothing, you running by…
My college roommate used to love to start conversations at parties by asking “Do you think good and evil are objective or subjective? (This was the same roommate whose favorite Charades word was Dostoevsky’s “Gulag Archipelago,” but that’s another story…) A lively conversation always ensued. Is murder always bad? What if the person is terminally…
