Category Archives: About Us

About the American Diversity Report

STEM Baby Still Has a Way to Go – By Gay Morgan Moore

I am a fan of the CBS television show, The Big Bang Theory. Though frequently exaggerating the personality traits of scientists and engineers, it hits the mark often enough to make it genuinely funny to those of us who love and live with those in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Featuring three physicists and one engineer who often experience difficulty adjusting to the non-STEM world, The Big Bang Theory cast includes two successful women scientists. These women are equally as dedicated to their fields as the men, but they do not get to do the cool stuff like travel into outer space or send a signal around the world that comes back and turns on their apartment lamp, or even, to my knowledge, and I have seen a lot of episodes, present a paper at a conference. They are, however, depicted as smart, serious scientists and, more importantly, beauty and sexual attraction are a minor part of their characters.

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Those Meddlesome Metaphors – by Terry Howard

“Biggest bang for the buck!”…..”Firing on all cylinders”….”Let’s bury the hatchet”. “Let’s raise the bar”.

“Think out of the box.” “They need to ramp up soon.” “Level the playing field!”

Ever notice how metaphors – figures of speech in which one concept is used in a place of another to suggest an analogy – have etched themselves into everyday conversations?

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New Year and the Gong Struck – by Pat Garcia

The gong struck, and the New Year ushered us into what? The answer to this question will appear as we move further into a year that promises to be a challenge for us all.   It is my personal belief that this year will test our methods of communication by bringing us face to face with the double talk that we speak, which ignites chaotic confusion and hinders our ability to communicate with each other.

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Working Through Self-Destructive Behaviors During the Holidays – By Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C

The holidays can be a wonderful and cozy time of year. We reconnect with those long forgotten warm sweaters that have waited patiently for us in the back of our closets. Everything we eat and drink is pumpkin flavored. We start to look longingly at our fireplaces, and even anticipate the first snowfall. But for many people, the shift out of daylight savings and other harbingers of fall and winter create feelings of anxiety, loneliness, anger, and depression. Many therapists report an upswing in referrals this time of year, and the focus is often on the difficult feelings that colder weather, less sunshine, and the approaching holiday season evokes.

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How My Mother and Bob Hope Taught Me the True Meaning of Christmas – by Joel L.A. Peterson

It has been fifteen Christmases since my mother passed. But, I can’t help remembering all the lessons she taught me – especially one regarding what Christmas is all about. It was Christmas Eve, 1987. I was a young naval officer and I had been at sea nearly 100 days straight escorting U.S.-flagged tankers through the Persian Gulf in the largest convoy operation since WWII. On this particular Christmas, my ship, the aircraft carrier, USS Midway, was just outside the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran, while Iran and Iraq were approaching their sixth year of war with each other.

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Mistaken Restrooms – By Terry Howard

8:47 am: I stole a glance at the clock on the wall and suddenly it dawned on me that I had less than 15 minutes to get to my next meeting in another part of the building. Barring interruptions, I figured that I could get there on time. I gulped down the remainder of my coffee, politely excused myself and left. On the way, I thought that I’d better stop off at the nearest men’s room given that I’d consumed two cups of coffee during the meeting I just left.

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Honoring Native American Art in the Southeast – by Deborah Levine

There is much beauty to celebrate in Native American art, but that it’s a struggle to create given the devastating historical events surrounding Native Americans. The Cherokee Nation had a culture that thrived for almost 1,000 years in the Southeastern United States: in Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and parts of Kentucky and Alabama. Life of the traditional Cherokee changed drastically with European expansion and cession of Cherokee lands to the colonies in exchange for trade goods. Migration from the original Cherokee Nation began in the early 1800s as Cherokees wary of white encroachment moved west and settled in other areas of the country’s vast frontier.  Their eventual removal by force prompts the question of whether there is any Cherokee cultural presence remaining in the Southeast.

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Toxic Employees, Toxic Workplaces- By Mauricio Velásquez

Toxic employees are trying to “take over” and create toxic workplaces. As a diversity trainer, sexual harassment prevention trainer, consultant, executive coach, and expert witness, for twenty five years now, so much of my work points to one emerging phenomenon – toxic employees, toxic workplaces, are on the rise!

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Modern Feminism Alive and Kicking – by Fiona Citkin

IMMIGRANTS’ INPUT

The vague feminism of our grandmothers was about their desire to be counted with – not only as wives and mothers but also as equal partners in life outside home and society salons. If we think of feminism as influence-seeking, it’s as old as humanity, transitioning from individual to mass feminism. Thus, strong women always strived to achieve individual influence—and some succeeded. Think La Malinche, lover/advisor of Juan Cortez, or Esther – wife/advisor of Persian King Anasuerus, or feminist-minded Eleanor Roosevelt who shaped the role of the First Lady, or countless others who became influencers because of their men. Women rulers, like Queen Victoria, Catherine the Great, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher, – impacted the world through their strategic thinking. History provides ample individual illustrations of what’s feasible for a “weaker sex.”

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Inner City Students Need a Chance to Be Brilliant – by Martin Davis

Young people in the inner city public school system face peer pressure daily, pressure just for speaking proper English, asking questions in class, turning in homework, carrying books to and from school, and studying for tests. When I heard African American students talk about these challenges, I knew right then and there that something had to change in our schools. That’s why I created the Be Brilliant project. A change in our children’s mindset was in order.

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