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Showing posts from May, 2020

Saving Face

I think we can connect this topic to COVID too. But I'll leave it at that. So,  in recent news...yet again...another shocker. Only, none of us are really that shocked. Is it THAT important to stand your ground? Save face? Show who's "boss"? How many times in history has a person's hunger for power and control--motivated by fear and insecurity--led to the types of horror we were reminded of the other day? **This thing from the other day(s!!!) is undeniably a race problem. This thing from the other day(s!!!) is undeniably an American problem.  When is the country going to WAKE UP TO ITS PROBLEMS AND ACTUALLY DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOMETHING RADICAL AND HELPFUL AND DEEP ABOUT THEM?** But also, this, what I'm writing about--Saving Face-- this isn't only a race problem, this isn't only an American problem. If you are a parent I'm sure you've gotten caught in the trap of power. Grasping for it as it sneakily snuck out of

Identity

I was going to have this post be all about jobs. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew what I'm really thinking about is: Identity. And Identity is much more than the job you do. Working as a college instructor I used to teach this Communications class. The textbook we used has a whole chapter on how the way we communicate effects our identity and how the way we communicate is affected by our identity. There's a little exercise in there where you're to think about yourself, your identity, your self concept--whatever. And write down the roles you play or the words that come to mind when you're describing yourself. Words like: father, son, teacher, wife, stay-at-home parent, real estate agent, singer, funny, smart, good looking, healthy...you get the idea? Write down maybe 10 things. Then, rank those things. Which ones are most important to you? If you had to rank them, how would the order go? Then. Then take away one of them. Take away that top one; im