Creative Resources for the Workplace, Community and Classroom
Instruct & Inspire with these Religious Diversity books by award-winning author Deborah Levine
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All posts by Editor-in-Chief
Our climate crisis is now – by Deborah Levine
originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press
Looking to the Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Scotland, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth was overheard referring to the global all-talk and no-action as “irritating”. I grew up with British understatements so I knew that meant total disgust mixed with a few expletives. The Queen was irritated by folks who don’t walk-the-talk and was probably left speechless by how many American leaders gloss over our growing climate crisis.
Continue reading Our climate crisis is now – by Deborah Levine
Black-Jewish Dialogue December 2021
Let there be music!
Be inspired! Hear these two creative souls who share a love of music from their respective religions.
Scroll down for the link to the recording.
Melvin Kindall Myles is a Mississippi native, born and raised in the Delta area of Clarksdale, MS; known as the birthplace of the blues. He is a Soulful Christian and Jazz Vocalist now based in Atlanta, GA where you will find him regularly serving in the Worship and Arts Ministry of the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the former pulpit of MLK Jr.
Rabbi Micah Lapidu works at The Alfred & Adele Davis Academy, a Reform Jewish Day School. He’s also a songwriter and composer of Jewish and spiritual music including four albums: Be a Blessing (2013), A Palace in Time (2015), Eit HaZamir (2016), and Menschology (2017). His music has been sung & performed at Jewish organizations around North America and Israel and in several churches including Atlanta’s Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
CLICK to hear December Black-Jewish Dialogue
Dialogue Partners:
American Diversity Report, Chattanooga News Chronicle, Mizpah Congregation, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, C.U.R.B. – Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda.
Second thoughts on banning books – by Deborah Levine
(originally published as an opinion column for The Chattanooga Times Free Press)
The banning of books has been around for centuries and America is no exception. We have banned books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We banned 273 books in 2020 with more to come. But don’t the recent controversies over school library books seem a bit irrelevant to you? After all, we’re online 24/7 and the influence of books seems pitifully modest. Unless authors have a huge following on Tik Tok and Twitter, students are unlikely to storm classroom libraries. So why the brouhaha?
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Black-Jewish Dialogue November 2021
Black and Jewish
Welcome to the Black-Jewish Dialogue, a virtual exchange of information and perspectives . The November dialogue “Black and Jewish” has been recorded. Scroll down for the link to the Dialogue recording.
Bryant Heinzelman
Bryant HeinzelmanBryant is a veteran of the US Army, and a graduate of the Military Intelligence Cryptologic College of Corry Station, Pensacola. After a particularly difficult deployment to Iraq he shifted his focus from intelligence analysis to Jewish community building, interfaith outreach, and inclusion initiatives. Bryant is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultant working primarily with North American Jewish organizations, a Jewish Educator, Teen Engagement Mentor, a 2018 Union for Reform Judaism Jew V’ Nation Fellow, and bluegrass hobbyist. Bryant is currently studying the “Intersections, Conflicts, and Alliances of the Black and Jewish Diasporas” at Western Washington University (in preparation for Rabbinic school), and resides in Bellingham, Washington.
Dr. Barbara Weitz
Dr. Barbara WeitzBarbara is the former Director, Film Studies Certificate Program at Florida International University English Dept. She has done research for years with Dr. Tudor Parfitt and with the Kulanu Organization in identifying and supporting Isolated, Emerging and returning Jewish Communities around the world. She also has been on the steering committee of FCOS (Faith Communities Organizing for Sanctuary) and has spent time at our southern border trying to assist migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. She is currently heading up the organizing group preparing to help refugee Afghanis settle in the community. Through her research with Jews of Color, she has spoken at conferences and given webinars on the growing topic.
CLICK for DIALOGUE RECORDING
Dialogue Partners:
American Diversity Report, Chattanooga News Chronicle, Mizpah Congregation, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, C.U.R.B. – Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda.
Angela McIver Podcast: Trapezium Math
Real American Families
Real American FamiliesAngela McIver founded Trapezium Math, an after-school math program after completed PhD at the U. of Pennsylvania with dissertation: Understanding the Numerical Reasoning of Middle School Students. She has interviewed children all over the country about their understanding of basic math concepts and develops math materials that are both engaging and confidence-building for young children. Trapezium provides ways to teach challenging math to very young children through Trapezium Math Club®, Trapezium Math at Home® and Trapezium Math for Schools®. Trapezium gives students, parents and teachers the tools they need to build fearless, confident math learners.
As part of their curriculum, Trapezium launched the Real American Families project to celebrate the country’s diversity, especially the many faces and lifestyles that define the modern American family.
Hear the discussion:
1. Why math education needs to change in America.
2. How families can help their own children build strong math foundations.
3. How important it is to include diverse representation in math education.
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Facebook’s nasty smell – by Deborah Levine
originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press
Some folks cried Death to Facebook while others turned to Twitter during the FB Blackout. Entertaining tweets welcomed newcomers and entertained us longtime Twitter-ists. “Is that (outage) before or after injecting bleach into the CPUs and shining a UV light in all the network ports?” Others referred to ads aimed at young women, “… if Instagram is down, who’s gonna constantly try to convince me that my life would be better with lip injections?” I laughed at the tweet suggesting we rename it “social NOTwork” but sighed at hopes that we’d return to a pre-2000 culture. Not gonna happen!
Sedruola Maruska Podcast: Social Justice
Sedruola Maruska is an Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice consultant focused on tapping into the power of individuals to transform companies and industries. Her areas of special interest include: Race & Ethnicity , Gender & Orientation, and Disability.
Hear the discussion:
1) That equity and inclusion need more focus than diversity
2) That individually we have the means to make a difference
3) Social justice is everyone’s problem not just the problem of a handful of people
CLICK to hear podcast
Mauricio Velasquez Podcast – Sexual Harassment
Difficult DEI Conversations:
Sexual Harassment
Mauricio Velásquez and ADR Editor Deborah Levine discuss the challenging DEI topics of today’s workplace with a focus on sexual harassment. Mauricio is an ADR Advisor and CEO of Diversity Training Group DTG, which serves a broad range of clients including small and large organizations, not-for-profit, professional service firms, local, state and federal governments, law enforcement, and the military.
CLICK for Mauricio’s podcast
Diversity Town Hall 2021: Deborah Levine – ADR Editor
DEI OVERVIEW
DEI OVERVIEW 
Editor’s Note: This was the introductory presentation at the 2021 Diversity Town Hall in partnership with the Gary W. Rollins College of Business /U. of TN at Chattanooga (Moderator Dr. Gail Dawson) and the American Diversity Report.
CLICK to hear presentation
TRANSCRIPT:
I appreciate both the eagerness and anxiety about the future of the diverse workplace and I’m often asked to predict what that future will look like. Predicting the future requires looking at the past – at the history of the diversity field and how it developed. I’ll get personal here and go back to New York City 40 years ago. I had just graduated college with a degree in anthropology based on cultural structuralism along with the science of storytelling. I was excited about getting a job, but was considered esoteric and irrelevant. And female. No one would hire me. Still hopeful, I went to an employment agency in Manhattan. As soon as I walked in the door, the office manager insisted that I sit at the all-women’s table and take a typing test. I said no and moved to sit at the all-men’s table where they were interviewed for executive positions. The manager said no. I insisted, he physically blocked me. I insisted again, he threatened to call the police.
Continue reading Diversity Town Hall 2021: Deborah Levine – ADR Editor