According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 75% of white people have no friends of color, a statistic I find both startling and consistent with my experience. Typically, building interracial friendships means that both parties need to put in work. Both need to step outside their respective comfort zones to learn and embrace a culture with which they may…
Achievement Unlocked: Black Males, Video Games & Academic Success
“Honestly, the truth is, this isn’t just for one group. All students benefit from learning environments where mistakes are treated as part of the process rather than the final judgment. See, games make that possible. A math game can encourage persistence. A history simulation can deepen empathy. And a collaborative quest can teach communication. Games…
The Unspoken Rules: How Culture Shapes Power in Professional Spaces
by Michael Strickland In the architecture of everyday conversation, some voices echo in marble halls while others whisper against soundproof walls. Cultural power dynamics play out constantly in workplace settings, often in subtle ways that can significantly impact people’s experiences and career trajectories. Consider how communication styles reflect cultural power dynamics. In many Western corporate…
The Practice of Trust, by David Kirkland
If you’ve ever stepped into a vulnerable school or a fractured community with a clipboard full of good intentions, you’ve likely seen it in eyes, before you heard it in voices, hesitation, guardedness, and quiet doubt. “We’ve seen people like you before.” And they’re right because, before it leads to a strategy, a policy, or…
The Challenge of Color: Seton Hall University Dean Cites Interdisciplinary Approach to Education as the Solution
Dean Bryan Crable is thinking about color, opportunity, and how we as a society conceptualize race, racism, and privilege. For him, as Dean of the newly formed College of Human Development, Culture, and Media at Seton Hall University, these ideas are some of the most crucial of our time, according to an article by Allison Joseph….
How Much Does Our Language Shape Our Thinking
An estimated 1.5 billion people—roughly one in every five human beings—speak English, making it the most widely used language in the history of humanity. Like other colonial tongues, it spread first through “conquest, conversion, and commerce,” Rosemary Salomone writes in her book “The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language,” but its…
Children’s Home Society of Idaho Announces Adult Women’s Support Group
by Michael Strickland The Children’s Home Society of Idaho has long been a beacon of hope for children and families. They offer exceptional mental and behavioral health care guided by a team of compassionate professionals. Rooted in the belief that mental health is as vital as physical health, their mission to serve children includes supporting…
Having children? In THIS economy?
Are you destroying Western civilization if you don’t procreate? By Sarah Li-Cain There’s been much hand-wringing over birthrates in recent years. And, depending on where you grew up, you might even be told you’re selfish for not wanting to have children. Or mutliple chilren. In this episode, we’re going to look at the financial realities…
Illustrating Silence, Familia, Invisibility, and the Semiotics of Undocumented Fear
Sponsored by the Center for Minority Serving Institutions, this talk with Alberto Ledesma, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the Arts and Humanities, University of California, Berkeley, presented images from the speaker’s graphic auto-ethnographic novel Diary of A Reluctant Dreamer to talk about the way that undocumented life impacts not just everyday acts, but the…
Rethinking education in the light of post-truth “new” racism and xenophobia: the need for critical intercultural media and news literacy
Post-truth can be described as a cultural phenomenon in which emotional or personal beliefs have more influence on public opinion and policy decisions than facts, evidence, or rational discourse (McIntyre, 2018), writes Christina Hajisoteriou. Objective facts and evidence may be downplayed, dismissed, or manipulated to support a particular narrative or agenda. In a post-truth environment,…
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