Category Archives: Advisors

Advisory Council

DL Opinion columns

Is it just another day on the internet? – by Deborah Levine

(originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

My first reaction to the hacking attempts on my website was to wonder about the motivation behind it. Were the multiple failed login attempts related to the emails I just sent out  announcing an upcoming event about “Serving our Diverse Communities”? The event’s purpose is to highlight and honor those who serve and have them share their expertise. So, given its diversity element, could the motivation behind these attempts to mess with the back end of my website be at least partly political? 

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Advisors, Politics

Governor “King on Steroids” Mark Robinson – by Terry Howard

 

on steroids“Martin Luther King on steroids!”

Huh? Did I hear that right? No wait. Maybe it was a buildup of wax in my ears. Did I see that right? Or perhaps it was a coffee smudge on my eyeglasses. 

But no, as much as I’d like to blame it on my lying eyes or deceitful ears, I heard and read that right. Those were the exact words from the mouth of former president Trump in endorsing Republican Mark Robinson for governor of North Carolina. But he didn’t leave it at that – “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you’re Martin Luther King times two.”

Okay readers, calm down and take a deep breath. We’ll get through this. I promise.

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Gender

Diversity and Speech Part 44: Generations of Gender Talk – by Carlos Cortés

Keeping up with the ongoing changes in diversity language has become a matter of lifelong learning.  For a near-nonagenarian  (I turn 90 on April 6), this means continuous learning as well as relentless unlearning.  That is, trying to unlearn old uses of language that decades of repetition have deeply wired into my brain.

Take gender.  Growing up in 1940’s Kansas City, Missouri, I learned that men were men and women were women.  I inhabited a world of man talk and woman talk, men’s jobs and women’s jobs, men’s clothes and women’s clothes.  It wasn’t much different in college during the 1950’s.   We were men and women, not cisgender or transgender men and women. 

Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 44: Generations of Gender Talk – by Carlos Cortés →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Generational, Politics

Why not a “Sully” Sullenberger for President? – by Terry Howard

“Some voters are burned out on outrage!” 

That’s the recent headline in a national publication. That outrage? The eyebrow raising rancor, silliness and general awfulness surrounding the upcoming presidential election.

And the truth is that if we strike out the first four letters in the word “outrage” what’s left are three letters many voters are particularly burned out on…. age…as in President Joe Biden’s age! Count yours truly among them. Shucks, if I had a dollar for every time Biden’s age is cited in the news, I could purchase a luxurious mansion in Miami, Malibu (or, eh, Mar-a-Lago). 

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DL Opinion columns, Holocaust/antisemitism

Know history so it will not have to repeat – By Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I thought of this saying on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day: “History repeats itself. So you might wanna pay attention.” A comment from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum resonated with me: “As we are witnessing an alarming rise of antisemitism around the globe, it is more important than ever for us to recognize the critical lessons of Holocaust history as we commemorate the victims and honor the survivors.” At the same time, there is growing noise about the “Holocaust Industry,” which asserts the American Jewish establishment exploits the memory of the Nazi Holocaust for political and financial gain and to further Israeli interests.

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DL Opinion columns

COVID Extremists Unite – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I freaked when I saw this article online, “The Covid extremists can’t bear that nobody is listening to them”. I’d just recovered from Covid and then, something called Covid Rebound. Having escaped Covid for years, and been thoroughly vaccinated, I thought I was safe. I complained to my daughter, the doctor. After briefly expressing sympathy, she said, “You’re old! Be grateful for those vaccinations. Otherwise you could be dead.” 

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Groundbreakers storytelling, Levine articles, Women in STEM

STEM Women Storytellers – by Deborah Levine

Women GroundBreakers Storytelling

STEM storytellersThe push to attract women to STEM education and careers is gaining steam, but the impact is questionable. Young women have ample cause to be discouraged given the decrease of the number of women professionals in many STEM fields. Bucking the trend, efforts to encourage women to embrace STEM have increased dramatically. Those efforts span the country, including in Tennessee where Chattanooga’s Women GroundBreakers Storytelling featuring women in STEM.

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DL Opinion columns

Hate and the cost of silence – by Deborah Levine

3 Comments

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Many quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. were posted on line this week. A fellow Chattanooga colleague got my attention with, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  Then I got an email from a synagogue buddy asking me why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) was being silenced and suggested that I write about this for my TFP column. Interesting coincidence! But I was busy mailing a DEI book that I’d written. Holding the book in one hand, I picked up an unmarked envelope mailer only to find that there was something already in it. And that’s when coincidence became weirdness. 

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Advisors

HONORING MLK DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH – by David Grinberg

Timeless Lessons for Generations Z and Alpha

Black History Month is an opportune time to pay tribute to the greatest civil rights leader of our modern times: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK’s timeless words of wisdom continue to resonate today with a new generation of young people–Generations Z and Alpha–who can learn many vital lessons for the civil rights icon. Most notably, that hate begets hate on social media and digital devices. This is especially relevant due to the ubiquitous nature and influence of today’s mobile, digital and virtual Information Age on the minds and development of young people.

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Advisors, Books

BLACK HISTORY MONTH BOOK REVIEW – by David Grinberg

Elwood Watson “Keepin’ It Real: Essays on Race
in Contemporary America”

 

James Baldwin, the famous 20th century American intellectual, once observed:

“History is the present. We carry our history with us.
To think otherwise is criminal.”

This is an important point to ponder during the annual Black History Month observance during February in the United States. Baldwin was an iconic and outspoken figure of his time who was internationally recognized as a leading voice of the African American experience.

Thus, as Baldwin reminds us posthumously, we should not only focus on trailblazers of centuries past, but also consider more recent history when assessing the state of racial progress.

Continue reading BLACK HISTORY MONTH BOOK REVIEW – by David Grinberg →