Posts Tagged With ‘ Diversity Equity and Inclusion ’

White privilege shows up in the weirdest places. Very long story distilled radically: My dad retired to Mexico and remarried (briefly) several years ago, and I have a half-sister who is 15. Her mother is Mexican, and my hermanita (little sister) grew up and still lives in central Mexico with her older sisters. They are beautiful, strong, brilliant women, all of them. (Runs in the family.. ha! I digress…) I hadn’t taken the opportunity to visit in person for a zillion and one (mostly lazy) reasons. We’ve managed to form relationships mostly over the internet, the girls and I,... Continue Reading

“I didn’t know you were gay. I thought you were in the military!” I’m actually not going to write about my complicated relationship with that comment from a former colleague but suffice it to say it stopped me in my tracks, made my blood run cold, and if I had a “panic meter” on my forehead it for sure would have pegged out at MAXIMUM DANGER DETECTED. Back then I was working for a company deeply steeped in the “Good Ole Boys” approach to life, business, and everything else. Sexual innuendo was normal. Sexual harassment was, too. Gender roles were still seen as “natural”. I... Continue Reading

His skin was SO black, and SO shiny, I was convinced he was a robot, and I was scared. I was about eight years old, and my dad was a non-traditional student at the university in the nearest big city (Green Bay), and being a consummate People Person, he was always inviting people to our farm, sometimes in small groups, sometimes in large ones. My dad’s also been a strident advocate for the underdog my whole life, and when he found out that the Muslim students at the university couldn’t find halal meat (not a common grocery option back in the early 80’s… at least not in Wisconsin!)... Continue Reading