By: Tim Clark on March 18, 2024
Every week, as we begin class, Dr. Clark gives our cohort the coffee table test: “If a person saw the book that we all read this week on your coffee table, and asked what it was about, what would you tell them?”. This week we read Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief,…
By: Jennifer Vernam on March 18, 2024
Written in 1999, Jordan B Peterson’s Maps of Meaning[1] endeavored to help us make sense of the world’s cache of stories and myths that shared similar symbols and meanings. His assertion is that when we pay attention to the patterns we see in the narratives we use, we uncover helpful and necessary truths about ourselves…
By: Travis Vaughn on March 18, 2024
Has one of your favorite singers or bands ever decided to go unplugged? One of the bands I’ve enjoyed listening to over the past twenty years is Rise Against. In 2018, they forewent their typical electric, frenetic, punk rock sound to go acoustic in Ghost Note Symphonies. The compilation album included some of their songs…
By: Jana Dluehosh on March 15, 2024
Let me tell you a story about a shy, little girl. She happened to be part of a family that a lot of people knew and sometimes put on a pedestal. They were talented and outgoing. This little girl did not want any attention, she just wanted to live her life. In her sophomore year…
By: Esther Edwards on March 15, 2024
“I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that does not have a slant. All writing slants the way a writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular.” (E. B. White)[1] E.B. White is referring to writing. However, we all carry our own ‘slants’ whether we are writers or not.…
By: Russell Chun on March 15, 2024
माइक्रोएग्रेशन्स: मजबूत दावे, अपर्याप्त सबूत, Microaggressions: Strong Claims, Inadequate Evidence – Hindi Introduction: Part 1: DEI/Microaggressions Part 2: Critiquing Microaggressions Epilogue: Something for Christians Introduction DEI…Microaggressions are terms that are relatively new to me. While the injustices in the workplace bear revealing and active discussion. I am unsure about the “over activism” that has emerged…
By: Cathy Glei on March 15, 2024
In the last three years, our district has done a deep dive into helping staff across the district unravel implicit and explicit biases as author Pragya Agarwal, of the book Sway: Unraveling unconscious bias, proposes. Our district has strongly encouraged staff to become a part of the Justice Leaders Collaborative, a platform for social justice…
By: Dinka Utomo on March 14, 2024
I am very grateful to be able to be in this lecture program which brings me together with brilliant minds who build awareness to think critically about thoughts and attitudes of racism, inequality, exclusion, denigration, and the like. This program guides and shapes students to think and behave as leaders on a global scale. Namely,…
By: Adam Harris on March 14, 2024
A few months ago while I was reading through Luke’s Gospel I noticed how Jesus wrapped up a statement that caused me to think, “Huh, I never noticed that.” To give some context, in this section of Luke 5:37-39, Jesus is cautioning his listeners about putting new wine in old wineskins, and at the end…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on March 14, 2024
“During Hurricane Katrina in the US, two photographs in particular made news amid the wide-spread havoc and destruction. In one photo, a dark-skinned young man is shown in New Orleans flood-waters, a 12-pack of Pepsi under his right arm, holding a garbage bag with his left hand. A caption read: ‘A young man walks…
By: Mathieu Yuill on March 14, 2024
In August 1999 I was living at my parents house but our relationship was bad. Towards the end of the month they told me I had to leave and I had three days to move out. Heading into my second year of college and without much in the way of reserve funds I took to…
By: Kally Elliott on March 14, 2024
“Mrs. Elliott?” the assistant handed me a memo. “Yes,” I replied. “Mr. Hamlin would like to see you in his office after school today,” “Do you know what this is about?” I asked. “No, except I did hear him say something about how you were teaching the kids to say “Brothers and sisters” rather than…
By: Scott Dickie on March 14, 2024
Hmmm…what to do with Pragya Agarwal’s Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias? (1) At the risk of going in the categoric opposite direction that Jason recommended in our last cohort zoom gathering (that is, find one point and go deep), I am going to try and articulate why I find myself torn in several directions with this…
By: Todd E Henley on March 13, 2024
Two months ago, we sold our washer and dryer online and I watched as the customer backed into our driveway. When he stopped, I walked outside to greet him. I waved hello and the first words out of his mouth were, “Do you live here?” Honestly, I thought that was a foolish question. After a…
By: Pam Lau on March 13, 2024
“The man’s words to me are not offered but flung: ‘So, what are you? I mean, where are you from?’ I say, ‘New York.’ ‘But your name is Carlos–where are you really from? ‘I say, ‘New York.’ ‘Bueno, yo soy Latino-mi padre es Colombiano, Mi madre es Estadounidense, nació en New York City, I lived in 4…
By: Jenny Dooley on March 13, 2024
Reading Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Dr. Pragya Agarwal, is a reflective process. It’s uncomfortable discussing bias due to my intersecting identities as a Caucasian American woman. I’m feeling awkward acknowledging the unconscious bias I experience as a female and as a former expatriate, while simultaneously feeling regretful of my unintentional biases. I’m painfully aware…
By: Tim Clark on March 11, 2024
There’s a person I get to occasionally do work with who thinks that they are right about almost everything. This otherwise smart, reasonable, capable, and pleasant to be with human being simply can’t back down when their perspective is being challenged. As I’ve considered the reason this may be the case, I believe it’s a…
By: Kim Sanford on March 11, 2024
Three days ago, I picked up Sway by Pragya Agarwal.[1] I began reading, and by page 35 I knew what I wanted to write my blog post about. Because I want to keep you in suspense, I’ll come to that in a minute. After the first chapter, I intended to continue with an inspectional read,…
By: Jennifer Vernam on March 11, 2024
In Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias,[1] Pragya Agarwal paints a picture for us of how we are programed to make judgments about others based on how we have been conditioned within our own context.[2] Agarwal asserts that we all have these biases. No one is immune.[3] Much as we learned in RARE leadership,[4] Agarwal encourages that…
By: John Fehlen on March 11, 2024
I came into this blog post knowing that I wanted to title it: “Red and Yellow, Black and White.” If you grew up in the church, or for that matter, didn’t have your head buried in the sand for the entirety of your human existence, you would have [most likely] heard, or at least heard…
