Principle #2 When the author starts talking about the We culture she was born into, her story reminds me of Muppet Christmas Carol, and a conversation between Rizzo and Gonzo. Rizzo: Rats don’t understand these things. Gonzo: You were never a lonely child? Rizzo: I had had 1,232 brothers and sisters. Gonzo: Wow, rats really … Continue reading I to We—From Individualism to Collective Identity
Category: Education
Micah 6:8 — interpreted through “social justice”
Okay, this post is one where I think I am actively inviting perspective and comment from others. Because I have read something, and feel I have a real "ethnocentric" block in my mental processes. I have been thinking for hours, and just cannot make sense of this passage the other way it is being presented. … Continue reading Micah 6:8 — interpreted through “social justice”
Sankofa – Learn from the Past
Principle #1 When I read the description of Sankofa, it sounded like something I could agree with, and something I continually do with myself and my children. It isn’t something forgotten by white culture and only remembered by communities of color – though the term may belong to them: Sankofa, the mythical bird who looks … Continue reading Sankofa – Learn from the Past
A New Social Covenant
Sometimes I wonder if the authors of my textbooks live in the same country, with the same history, as I do. In the first chapter, titled "A New Covenant," of this text-book, the author writes: THE UNITED STATES WAS FOUNDED on the values of rugged individualism and competition. In our review of the first three … Continue reading A New Social Covenant
Salsa, Soul and Spirit #2
(For those of you asking where Salsa, Soul and Spirit #1 went, it was never published. WordPress ate the post. After 90 minutes of writing and saving it every 15 minutes, I went back an hour later and found it no longer existed, along with the second post I was writing during the hour gap. … Continue reading Salsa, Soul and Spirit #2
Communicating Social Identity
Okay, I have written 8 blogs, on 8 chapters, from a text book Difference Matters. Which leads to this paragraph: “So why are you telling us this?” asked a colleague who read a draft of this book. “What am I as a reader to do with this? How am I to use it?” she wondered. Her questions … Continue reading Communicating Social Identity
Age Matters
Many things in our lives are tied to age markers. Graduations, driving, starting school, working, marriage, retirement. We all take measures of one sort or another to look like or separate ourselves from the markers that people use to recognize our chronological age. We try to act our age or belie our age, to speed … Continue reading Age Matters
Ability Matters — to all of us, some more than others
It is hard to say which of these things that matters is the most important. But this one may be the most obviously emotionally charged for me because of my children. This is the header under which "developmental disabilities" comes. As the parent of an autistic daughter (high functioning -- I always need to mention … Continue reading Ability Matters — to all of us, some more than others
Who are you? I am myself.
I have been doing a lot of reading for my upcoming class on international and intercultural communication. I expected information on communication between foreign cultures, things that would help in communicating with people in the various global offices of the global corporation that I work for. But the readings all seem to be American-centric, and … Continue reading Who are you? I am myself.
Sexuality Matters — Too much?
(Another post on another chapter of the text book Difference Matters.) (Note: Don't think I'll get too detailed, but some might consider the topic and some of the discussion R-rated.) I think this is the chapter so far where I am the most conflicted. Most of the other chapters had a well-reasoned feeling to them … Continue reading Sexuality Matters — Too much?
At The Rainbow 