This week:
Practicing Inclusion, Fighting Fair @ Home, Learning Disability/Difference Month, Being Sensitive is a Good Thing & Fostering a Love of Humanity
The Anne Frank Center Responds to the Pittsburgh Massacre:
HOPE, COURAGE, AND HUMANITY’S ROLE: ANNE FRANK’S VOICE STILL SPEAKS TO CURRENT TRAGEDY
(New York, NY, October 29, 2018) – The rhetoric since Saturday’s massacre has been unsurprising, as people naturally seek an explanation for the inexplicable violence that erupted in Pittsburgh. For example, the president’s son, Eric Trump, lamented that “somebody has to point a political finger to absolutely everything,” with others calling for a softening of tone and divisiveness “on both sides.” There are not two sides to this. There is only one. And it is hate.
The Anne Frank Center responds that it’s hard to identify a human act that doesn’t have political import, and in this case an American citizen blamed an entire ethnic group for a perceived – yet unfounded – political threat, fearing that Jewish people were committing genocide and that he must stop them.
Seventy-four years ago, Anne Frank observed that “there’s a destructive urge in people, the urge to rage, murder and kill.” That a 14-year-old observed such tragedy is heartbreaking. The massacre of 11 innocent people at the Tree of Life Synagogue is a devastating reminder of much we share with past generations.
Hatred still pits neighbor against neighbor; elected officials still speak of unity in one breath yet inspire aggression moments later; parents still struggle to shield our children from the horrors of evil and to teach them to maintain peace and respect for their fellow humans.
“I don’t believe that the war is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. Oh no, the common man is every bit as guilty,” Anne said. She called on individuals to recognize their role in either promoting or preventing hostility. Today, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect calls on every individual to recognize their role and to see that we’re in the midst of a battle for our own humanity.
Condemning anti-Semitism is not enough, when the government codifies discrimination and fights for the right to deny protection from harm. Condemning violence is not enough, when we encourage it with criticisms of colleagues and opponents as “enemies.” Occasional words are not enough. We need consistency in leadership and a commitment to civility in every town, every classroom and every capitol building throughout the country.
If Anne Frank’s words have taught us anything it is that actions and language matter.
Volunteers and educators with the Anne Frank Center teach children and community members how to respect our differences, understand cultures, and resolve our conflicts peacefully. We must conquer intolerance through conversation and compassion. As Anne Frank said, “The final forming of a person’s character lies in their hands.”
How we respond to this hate lies in our hands.
We teach the dangers of intolerance through Anne Frank’s diary, educational workshops, performances, and exhibits, including outreach responding to the massacre in Pittsburgh. Visit https://www.annefrank.com/ for more information.
Why Practicing Inclusion in the Workplace is Important (and in life too!) with George R:
In light of the recent events in Pittsburgh, I felt compelled to share today’s post about inclusion. The world is a crazy place and that’s why practicing inclusion and having compassion matter more than ever. Not only do we set our own standards for our behavior, but we influence others including our co-workers, family, and kids. Our behavior matters and can change lives…
https://careergladiators.com/2018/10/inclusion
October ended this week and was Learning Disability Awareness Month which raises awareness for the 1 in 5 students across the country who have a learning disability. As of last year, 6.7 million students between the ages of 3-21 received special education with 34% of students being officially diagnosed.
Made By Dyslexia:
Dyslexic minds process information differently. Their divergent, lateral thinking has created some of the world’s greatest inventions, brands and art. Yet dyslexia is still perceived as a disadvantage.
Schools aren’t designed for dyslexic thinking, and most teachers aren’t trained in dyslexia, meaning many go through life without knowing they’re dyslexic.
Dyslexic minds process information differently, creatively. Naturally curious, highly creative with an ability to unconventionally connect the dots and think laterally. But this different way of thinking often results in challenges with traditional learning and processing; with literacy, memorizing facts and organizing thoughts. So traditional benchmarks in both education and employment, often accentuate these challenges and miss the strengths.
But the world has changed.
The 4th Industrial revolution with advanced technology and increased connectivity has created new industries, new business models, new jobs, and entirely new skills. We now need creative thinkers to make sense of the change and disruption. We need dyslexic thinking.
By taking this pledge, businesses, educators and governments are committing to value and support dyslexic thinking and recognize its importance in the fast changing world.
MADE BY DYSLEXIA PLEDGE:
(invite your workplace to take the pledge)
We will endeavor to:
Recognize dyslexia as a different and valuable way of thinking.
Understand the importance of identifying each dyslexic and their pattern of strengths and challenges.
Support which is targeted to enable dyslexics to harness their strengths and flourish.
We’ll achieve this through:
Knowledge skilling up staff in schools and workplaces to recognize, understand and support dyslexia.
Discover using digital screeners which make it easy and cost effective to check if you’re dyslexic.
Adjustments in tests and assignments so dyslexics can demonstrate their full knowledge and skills.
8 Reasons Being Highly Sensitive Is Actually a Good Thing:
Don’t be so sensitive — it’s not that big of a deal. As someone who’s come to appreciate my sensitive side, I find it unfortunate that being sensitive is often equated with being weak or dramatic.
Sensitivity is wrongly depicted as an undesirable trait, while nonchalance is mistaken for a sign of strength. While I do agree it’s important to recognize your high sensitivity and find ways to make it work for you — rather than against you — it’s not inherently bad to be sensitive.
In fact, there are many overlooked benefits to being a highly sensitive person. Here are eight of them. https://highlysensitiverefuge.com/being-highly-sensitive-good-thing/
This Is the Best Way To Fight With Your Partner, According to Psychologists
TIME
When it comes to relationships, conflict is inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be emotionally distressing or callous. Couples can disagree and, yes, even fight while still showing compassion and respect for each other, according to psychologists. In fact, clinical psychologist Deborah Grody says, married couples who don’t have any conflict are often the ones who end in divorce. “Relationships that can’t be saved are relationships where the flame has completely gone out, or it wasn’t there in the Read the full story
Culture Report
Culture Report: What Arts Can Teach Scientists, and Vice-Versa
By Julia Dixon Evans on Oct. 23, 2018 | View in browser
U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera with UCSD Arts and Humanities Dean Cristina Della Coletta. / Image courtesy of Farshid Bazmandegan, UC San Diego Division of Arts and Humanities
This year, UC San Diego’s Institute of Arts and Humanities received its largest-ever National Endowment for the Humanities award. The $750,000 matching grant will help fund the 2-year-old institute’s new home, which broke ground this past June. UCSD is one of the first institutions to receive this particular funding.
“They’re going to use our proposal as a model for others in the future,” said Cristina Della Coletta, dean of UCSD’s Division of Arts and Humanities, which encompasses the institute.
It’s hard to discuss the arts at UCSD without also questioning what it means for arts to exist in a science-centric institution, but Della Coletta wants to overcome that “either/or” assumption. Rather than pitting science against the arts, she hopes the institute will help UCSD to “educate the whole individual.”
“The arts and humanities have a lot to offer the sciences,” Della Coletta said. “We need more humanists.”
The new building will be the first endeavor in UCSD history to bring all the humanities together, and the hope is to not only proliferate a more cohesive curricula and collaboration among the faculty, but also stronger public programming. And with it, a unified approach to receiving funding.
It’s paying off so far.
Luis Alvarez, director of the Institute of Arts and Humanities and a professor of history, used additional UC funding to develop a new oral storytelling initiative, The Race and Oral History Project, dedicated to preserving San Diego’s diverse stories.
Launched this spring, the project engages undergrads from diverse communities in San Diego to document — and learn from — their oral histories. Working with community partners like Casa Familiar in San Ysidro, The New Children’s Museum, CHE’LU and United Women of East Africa, students learn technologies and skills required to collaborate, converse and record stories, archiving them online.
From a parking lot to the new home for UCSD’s Institute of Arts and Humanities. / Photo by Anthony King
“Libraries are often driven to collect, preserve and disseminate forms of knowledge that are deemed ‘authoritative’ or ‘significant’ by institutional decision makers,” said Erin Glass, UCSD’s digital scholarship librarian who assists with the race and oral history project. “It’s an exciting example of the value of participatory, community-based archives that highlight perspectives often excluded by institutions.”
While culture thrives on San Diego’s university campuses, few community members bother to drive and park there, so it’s harder to engage the larger community. The Institute of Arts and Humanities aims to change that. “We’ve really tried to mark IAH as an institute that can put UCSD out in the communities of San Diego,” said Alvarez, “and bring those communities to UC San Diego in ways in which they may not always have done, historically.”
In addition to the race and oral history project, the institute is presenting these community programs in the fall:
- An Oct. 24 film screening and discussion: “Singing Our Way to Freedom,” with Paul Espinoza, on Chunky Sanchez and the music of San Diego’s Chicano civil rights movement
A Nov. 14 discussion: “Beyond the Wall: The Aftermath of Deportation in Mexico,” featuring members of Otros Dreams in Accion
If you are local…
Please Remember to Vote Next Week!
Here is a resource to help you make sense of the mongo ballot…
https://www.kpbs.org/news/election/
Every day is National Philanthropy Day in San Diego but the Official Celebration is this coming Monday!
Hope to see you there…
Learn more about some of the honorees here and remember they represent all the great work we All are doing to make this America’s Kindest and most Purposeful Region
- https://www.insidersguidetospas.com/trudy-bronner-outstanding-philanthropist/
- http://thevistapress.com/vistans-named-as-afp-san-diego-2018-honorees-for-national-philanthropy-day/
Thanks this week go to George R, John C, Marlaine C, and advocates of Inclusion and Humanity Everywhere!
Please pay it forward
Love,
Neville
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‘The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.’- Mark Twain
Happy Soul Food Friday! 