Category Archives: Authors

Advisors, Authors A-H

Renewing Diversity No. 8: Updating the Classics – by Carlos Cortés 

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To a great extent, popular culture is a series of remakes.  Remakes of classical theatre.  Remakes of children’s stories.  Remakes of old movies.

There’s nothing basically wrong with that.  Hamlet has been restaged thousands of times, sometimes preserving its original historical context, other times being modernized.  Film director Akira Kurosawa transported “Macbeth” and “King Lear” into Japanese historical reimagining with stunning effect in “Throne of Blood” and “Ran.”  Director John Sturges reciprocated when he repurposed Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” as a rollicking American western, “The Magnificent Seven.” 

But each remake occurs at a specific moment.  Times change and, with those changes, we get altered views of both the originals and the remakes.  Changing views of diversity have deeply influenced that process.

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Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity, Teams & Leaders

Building Belonging at the Intersections of Identity and Leadership – by Khris Baizen

As industries evolve to meet the needs of a changing workforce, the value of diverse leadership has never been more clear. This is especially true during Asian American Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, which invites us to examine the intersection of identity and leadership. In navigating cultural expectations, neurodiversity, and generational shifts, leaders today are called not just to manage teams—but to create spaces where people feel they truly belong.

Advisors, Authors A-H, Social Issues

The Mysterious Woman in the Polka Dot Dress – by Terry Howard

Dear readers:   Before you bid au revoir to this side of planet Earth, add Little Rock in Arkansas and, a few blocks away, the Little Rock Nine Museum, to your must-do bucket list. And if you get there, before leaving town take the walk down South Park Street – alone like I did years ago – in front of the imposing fortress of Little Rock Central High School. Hold that possibility until the end of this narrative and, with it, a recommendation.

But before the anti-DEI history erasing crowd comes gunning for my noggin, snatches me off a street corner and handcuffs me for a one way government expenses paid one way trip to a prison in El Salvador, I figured that I’d try to stay one step ahead of them with another little-known bit of history they’d prefer that you didn’t know about, namely that of one Grace Lorch. 

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Advisors, Authors A-H

Welcome to our Grieving Community – by Terry Howard

Silly me!  You’d think that I’d have learned by now that acting on a hunch can take you into uncomfortable situations, places that can leave you struggling with finding the right words.  I guess I’ll never learn.

You see, given the turbulent times of today – and acting on a hunch –  I called to check in on several longtime friends “Jimmy,” “Barbara and “Eddie” recently. Although I was primarily interested in their physical well-being, after reading an article about “grief” (I’ll get to it further down ) I’d hope to get their thoughts on that topic as well.

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Generational, Religious Diversity Kit

Renewing Diversity No. 7: A Sliver of Bone – by Carlos Cortés 

“Do you have any religious or ethical reservations about what kind of bone we put in your mouth?”  That question both startled and pleased me.  As I answered with a simple “no,” I broke into a broad smile.

Some context.  My young periodondist was in the midst of trying to save my 90-year-old mouthful of teeth from the ravages of aging.  To do so she was giving them a thorough laser treatment and selectively rebuilding my dental structure through new bone.   

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Of Women, Race & Ethnicity

Prof. Anita Hill: Significance of Seat-taking – by Terry Howard

“Are you a scorned woman?” 

That was the “brilliant” question asked to Prof. Anita Hill by Senator Howell Heflin, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 1991 confirmation hearing (comprised entirely of graying white men) there to determine the fitness of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the U. S. Supreme Court.

After a three second – “are you kidding me” – pause and throat clearing, the good professor calmly answered, “no I’m not senator!”

Now let’s fast forward 35 years later to a recent Sunday night when Prof. Hill sat stoically across the desk from her interviewer, CNN’s Jake Tapper, to recap the experience and her life since then. On full display during that interview was the sempiternal nature of her professional demeanor that’s seemingly unchanged by time, a steadiness Prof. Hill exhibited during eight hours of blistering grilling by senators, some of whom had questionable backgrounds with respect to their treatment of women. Her poise and unflappability during her interview were textbook. 

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Politics

A plea for more “Howard (and Harriet) Beales!” – by Terry Howard

Howard Beale had finally reached his breaking point. He was not going to take it anymore. Beale is a fictional character from the film Network (1976) and one of its central characters. He is played by Peter Finch who won a posthumous Oscar for the Beale role. 

Here’s an excerpt from his advice for folks to do during those tumultuous times:

“I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad.  I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ 

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Authors A-H, Of Women

Celebrating WOMEN’s History MONTH – By Camm Ashford

Originally published in the Chattanooga News Chronicle

Deborah Levine:
A Woman of History Making History

Multi-dimensional. Purposed. Passionate. Resilient. These words and many more describe Deborah Levine – a woman of history making history as she lives.

A Chattanoogan by choice, the soft-spoken author gave the Chattanooga News Chronicle the honor of an interview for readers to be inspired during Women’s History Month, as well as know the hidden achievers who live in our very own community.

Deborah Levine’s biography features her accomplishments to include the roles of author, writing coach, editor-in-chief, script writer, journalist, and pioneer of cross-cultural leadership. Just as her roles are many so are her passions to learn, study, read, write, communicate, and convey to others tremendous insight and information.

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Gender, Sports

Renewing Diversity #6: Trans Talk – by Carlos Cortés 

“Can we finally stop talking about trans sports?” read the headline in the February 11, 2025, Los Angeles Times.  Of course this was followed by a column talking about — you guessed it — trans sports.  So the answer is no, we have to keep talking about trans sports for the same reason that people keep climbing mountains: because they are there.

 Four years ago I ended my ADR column on trans sports by positing that “the case of transgender female athletes may pose one of the ultimate tests for diversity advocates because it requires the difficult weighing of competing legitimate equity concerns, with no simple win-win solution in sight.”  I illustrated that conclusion by positing two hypothetical situations.   

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Advisors, Authors A-H, Of Women

I’m Deeply Sorry: My Letter to Six Women – by Terry Howard

I decided to offer a different approach to Women’s History Month 2025 before the celebration ends up on the chopping block by the Trump administration joining African American and other monthly celebrations. 

Now whereas the mind immediately goes to “past” when it conjures up the word “history,” or perhaps “history makers” in the future, my angle in this narrative is to zero in on current history in the form of an apology to women. So this letter of apology is to you “Bernice,” “Rita,” “Evelyn,” “Francine,” “Rosa,” “Alexzandria,” your loved ones and others who depend on each of you emotionally, spiritually and financially for the devastation that’s interrupted your lives.

I’m sorry, deeply sorry. I’m also embarrassed and enraged.

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