Food for YOUR Soul

Have you ever wondered about working in a soup kitchen?

Cooking good food to nourish another's body and soul is one way I look after MY need to feed my Soul and to be of service to others. In my home, we a range from vegan vegetarian to carnivore extraordinaire so I have become adapt cooking-diversity. I find it rewarding to cook up something nutritious that also meets the health needs and taste preferences of my family and dinner guests.

My satisfaction of cooking for others and being of service grew exponentially when I had the opportunity to work in a neighbourhood Soup Kitchen. Working with others in the kitchen and eating and chatting with diners who came in for a hot meal made me feel like I was in my right place doing what I ought to.

When I watched this YouTube this morning my good memories of working in the soup kitchen came back to me. If YOU ever thought about working in a soup kitchen, watch Executive Chef Jeff Ansorge tell you why he believes working in a soup kitchen is good for the diners AND the Cook's Soul. Then, go to your local soup kitchen and become part of the good work of nourishing other's -- and yourself.

I'll hold your hand, any day, any time ...

Let's all work to stop homophobic bullying -- and all bullying.
May Peace walk always with you.

One teacher works to end racism ...

Here is a video about a classroom racism exercise conducted by Ms. Jane Elliot. She leads her students through a very powerful awakening experience -- indeed she uses her power as a facilitator to attempt to compel students to see the exercise through to the end. Personally, I think she is changing minds and changing lives. The lessons are incredibly valuable and, at the same time, I have some strong ethical cautions about exercises like this.

Before I would bring a provacative exercise like this into my classroom -- and my teacher did a similar exercise in my elementary school class in the 70's -- I would ask students (and if they were minors, their parents) for fully informed consent. I would want students to know that the exercise is very important, powerful and emotionally and intellectually challenging. I would want students to know they may wish to leave and they may learn a lot if they completed the exercise. I would want students to know that they had the right, regardless of colour, to withdraw from the exercise at any time. In addition, I would want the student to know that though this exercise focuses on Race, we would have similar discoveries if we did the same exercise around Sex/Gender or an even more in-depth exercise to show how Sex/Race/Social-class can combine to have devastating interactional effects on a person's access to freedom, respect, and resources. Perhaps Ms. Elliot obtained exactly this kind of consent before the video camera began rolling? We can't see the ethical consent process in the following clip, but I want to emphasize I do not believe an exercise like this is appropriate without very careful and very detailed prior informed consent.

Please watch Ms. Elliot's work with students and monitor YOUR process of thinking and re-thinking about Race. In addition, decide how YOU feel and what YOU think about her use of this exercise as a racism teaching tool. Are her methods justified her message? Of all the points made by Ms. Elliot and her students, which statements do YOU believe are the most critical for ending conscious and unconscious racism?

Credit: Thanks to the Upworthy folks for sharing this video.

Sup? Diversity Happiness for your day.

Here is a toe-tapping dose of Diversity Happiness for your day.
Many thanks to Michael C. for sharing these 5 minutes of global joy.
:o)

"Remember What We Forgot" by Shane Koyczan

After everyone created art pieces showing the negative words that have been targeted at us and positive words that have been gifted to us, we finished class with another spectacular performance by Shane Koyczan, "Remember What We Forgot."

To This Day Project by Shane Koyczan

Today in class we began our inquiry into hate messages. Shane Koyczan - a powerful spoken word  poet - started us off with this discussion of hate-filled, hurtful words.

A Letter To The Guy Who Harassed Me Outside The Bar

"When will someone make a gender-swapping plug-in for real life? Where’s my magic button, the switch I can flip to show men like you what it feels like on the other side of your “jokes” and “compliments”?  -- Emily Heist Moss"

Thank you to Psychology of Gender alumni, Bree B., for sharing this excellent blog post by Emily Heist Moss entitled, A Letter To The Guy Who Harassed Me Outside The Bar. This article is for you if you too are yearning to express the harm done by the unremitting sexual harassment and assault that can occur when a girl or woman decides she want to walk out into public spaces. This article is also for you if a woman has asked you to read it because she believes you are not aware of the harm caused by the comments and gestures you aim at girls and women. Ultimately, Ms. Heist Moss is asking us to SEE the harm done and DEMAND that it stops.

Be sure you also check out "Jailbreak the Patriarchy" a Google Chrome extention that flips -- on and off -- the pronouns and gendered meanings of your internet content. I recommend this for men -- and women -- who have trouble seeing their man-centric world. What better way to SEE if you genderswap the text and READ the news from a woman-centric point of view. Once you can SEE the centrism, then you can CHANGE and CHOOSE how you see your world.

Thank you Emily Heist Moss -- and Bree B. -- for sharing.

Imagine how you would feel ...

How does an accent change your assumptions about a person?

Muslim youth talk about being judged

National Thank a Police Officer day in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Multi-racial identities: the true face of multiculturalism?

Between: Living in the Hyphen by Anne Marie Nakagawa, National Film Board of Canada

"One man" movies promote hyper masculinity

What myth do you most often see at the movies? "One Man ..."



Here is a similar theme from a Woman's point of view.

It's Time Cup Game. This week we began our practice of learning something from the "bumbling beginning" -- enjoying the gawky-awkward start as well as our gradual mastery of the task.

Here's everything you will need to practice the Cup Game, learn the words, and appreciate the Imagine Dragons vision for the song.

It's Time by Imagine Dragons





Here is "It's Time" Imagine Dragons' music video





and here are the lyrics if you want to learn the words while you practice the cup game

For the Birds and Star Trekky problems

This week we will watch Pixar's "For the Birds" and "Beam Me Up, Mr. Chan and take Police observational notes about what we see. Then, we will discuss how we understand the participants motives.

What are you studying for?

Why I Hate School But Love Education||Spoken Word

by Suli Breaks

This is water - surrounding you giving you a choice

Published on May 5, 2013

Speech given by David Foster Wallace to Kenyon College's 2005 graduating class.

Welcome to our Diversity class!

Congratulations! You have begun an exciting adventure in Diversity. As you journey through our course work together, I hope you are surprised, challenged, affirmed, and inspired. While you are learning about many peoples and cultures, I hope you will also realize what makes YOU unique and wonderful. Rather than your being restricted by unrealistic social pressures and stereotypes or feeling like you need to "settle for" what others are offering, it is my sincerest wish that you leave this course knowing -- deep down in your bones -- that:

Our world needs the REAL you.

Cheers, Dr. Jessica.