by Deb | Jul 14, 2009 | Change, Transition and Transformation, Connections, Culture, Healing, Learning
Many of us have been taught a dysfunctional view of what it means to be strong and courageous. We teach our boys that being strong means never crying and never acknowledging their feelings with the exception of anger, of course. Real men don’t cry or show pain....
by Deb | Mar 10, 2009 | Change, Transition and Transformation, Connections, Culture, Healing, Metaphors and Stories, Quilt of Humanity
I had the privilege of attending the finals of the NY Knicks Poetry Slam, a competition among poetry performance artists. The Knicks Poetry Slam is a five-year old program designed to use hip-hop and poetry as a vehicle to motivate and inspire high school students to...
by Deb | Dec 11, 2008 | Culture, Mindful and Intentional, Quilt of Humanity, Spirituality and Reflection
Consumerism has reached a new low with the trampling of a man in a Wal-Mart Store by shoppers eager to obtain deep discounts on the day after Thanksgiving. While shocking, this kind of behavior is a consequence of the messages in the United States we all receive about...
by Deb | Mar 27, 2008 | Change, Transition and Transformation, Connections, Culture, Equity and Justice, Healing, Metaphors and Stories, Quilt of Humanity
In the book, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan artfully tells the story of two individuals who grew up with dramatically different cultural stories. Bashir Khairi, a Palestinian man, was six years old in 1948, when his...
by Deb | Mar 25, 2008 | Culture, Metaphors and Stories, Quilt of Humanity
Stories can differ completely depending on who is narrating them as well as the point in time that is seen as the “beginning” of the story. In her book, The Thirteenth Tale, a mystery about a family, Dianne Setterfield speaks to this: “I shall start...
by Deb | Feb 4, 2008 | Culture, Equity and Justice, Quilt of Humanity, Quilt of Humanity ModelTM
Two articles in the New York Times illustrate the impact of class differences and the vast economic inequities that exist both in the U.S. and globally. There is a continually growing divide between those who live richly and lavishly and those who barely make a...
