Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish A Multicultural Tradition

   I realized as I mixed together onion, fresh cranberries, sour cream, sugar and horseradish tonight that is is not the actual cranberry relish I love, but the tradition of Susan Stamberg slipping her recipe for Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish into on-air conversation, every year since 1972. I’ve heard her suggest it to foreign heads…

The Black Man in Tuxedo Does Not Work Here and Other Unconscious Biases

You’re at a black tie event.  You’re looking for the restroom.  Who do you ask? “Me,” joked our new friend who spontaneously joined us at our table at a recent black-tie-event, jovially laughing at the third time in the last 10 minutes he’d been asked for directions.  “It’s hard to be a black man in…

Consciously building unconscious bias

I was struck by author Malcolm Gladwell’s desicription of “Rapid Cognition” in the book blink, and how he used the example of the car salesman to show how ignoring sub-conscious ‘knee-jerk’ reactions to people can negatively impact the bottom line.  (e.g. assuming someone won’t be buying  a car strictly from their appearance/first impression.)  When we (social…

Kids Movies Still Carry Either/Or Message for Girls

Nancy Olson as Betsy Carlisle in 1961’s The Absent Minded Professor vs. Anna Faris as Sam Sparks in 2009’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs…We’ve come a long way, right?  Not really. One of the joys of having kids (or borrowing other people’s kids) is for the excuse to indulge nostalgic yearnings by re-watching favorite childhood…

I can’t be a male chauvanist…I’m a woman!

Dillon and I were driving home the other night and I was excitedly telling him about a band called “Sax in the City” of all sax players that would be playing at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival that took place on Saturday.  Dillon had just started taking saxophone lessons last week.  “It’s a group of like 8…

“Beer Summit” Off Course. If Done Right, Could be Meaningful

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Henry Louis-Gate – Race Card www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance I’m nervous about the “Beer Summit” tonight.  It actually could be a great opportunity to have a meaningful conversation about how stereotypes and bias play out in the…