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shadowkatQuodlibetical, a. - Not restrained to a particular subject; discussed for curiousity or entertainment
Quahog, n. A large species of clam.
The above more or less explains most of my livejournal entries. Except for possibly this one, which is more about curiousity and not so much on the entertainment.
Today, we did diversity training. I've done this several times now - twice in companies, at least three times in school, plus had a legal class on it. And had a school chum do a sociological study on it. We both majored in English Lit. She minored in sociology, I minored in cultural anthropology. We had all sorts of interesting debates about minorities and diversity in school. She focused on statistical makeup, I focused on getting to know people and understand different religions and cultures. Basically one was quantitative analysis and the other qualitative analysis. As a result, her conclusion was that our college was woefully non-diverse and mine was it was wonderfully diverse.
Anywho. In the class we took this little statistics quiz and here's some interesting stats that they threw at us. (For the purposes of the stat's below, nation = US. This isn't global.)
1. 75% of all working-age American Women are in the labor market. 47.6% comprise the labor pool of the NYC and Long Island area. 15.5% are in my company.
2. Minorities comprise 48% of the labor pool of Long Island and New York City area.
3. The average age of the nation's workforce is 40 and projected to rise to 41 by the year 2010.
4. Immigrants makeup 14.4 % of Long Island's population. (Yes, I thought it was more than that too.)
5. 10% of the percentage of the nation's population is gay, lesbian or bi-sexual.
6. 20% of America's workforce is disabled as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
7. There are 54 million persons with disabilities in the US.
8. 35.6% of all cases filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2008 alleged discrimination/harrassment based on 1) race (35.6 %), 2)retailation (34.3%) and 3) sexual harrassment/gender bias (29.7%)
9. 4.6% of all cases filed with the EEOC in 2008 were found to have some legal merit.
During the class, many of us stated that things had changed little since the 1980s, sure there were advancements, but we felt this increasing sense of frustration...that little more had been done. I had an epiphany of sorts and voiced it towards the end...that if we want to further diversity, to fight against racism, sexism, and other various forms of discrimination based on everything from cultural and religious differencies to nationality and class distinctions, we oursevles have to fight daily to do so. Seek out ways to learn about people who are different. To see another point of view or perspective. And to stand up to rude or offensive behavior in our workplace or amongst our friends and family members. Easier said than done. Since I hate conflict. And yes, there are things I've put up with in my workplace that I shouldn't. And things I've said that I regret. Although the fact that I regret them is something. Is it human to pigeon-hole? To catagorize? To be prejudice and make assumptions?
And is it possible to rise above it? I hope so.
Depressing class. I left feeling sort of like the weather outside, gray, and chilled. Wanting to be elsewhere. Working out with the personal trainer helped kick a little of that. Truth is no workplace is perfect. And people are frustratingly and fascinatingly complex.
I've met people who are very liberal and not racist, politically correct, yet, oh god, they are monsters in other ways. One was a hitman, who killed for a drug cartel.
Another a serial bully/pathological liar and naracissist who well made my life a living hell for over a year. Yet, politically speaking, quite nice, and not racist. Sexist - perhaps. But not racist.
And I know people who are racist, bigoted like Archie Bunker from All in the Family - yet kind souls. One I can think of - volunteers all her time at animal shelters and has helped me and others, more than you can imagine.
The older I get the more complicated the world seems. The answers harder to find. More questions pop up.
I remember writing a novel with the names Shannon, and Yvonne. And a college friend asking me if I realized those were black names. I told this tale to my Granny at the time and she came back with the comment - "well, your friend is from TEXAS, what do you expect?"
It sounds funny. But both people were wrong. They both made broad generalizations based on
experience.
And I remember talking about Europe with people at work and in social settings about France - traveling there. I happen to love France. Fell deeply in love with the country and the people when I first visited Paris in 1980. Loved it so much, took 6 years of French, or rather struggled through 6 years of it. I suck at learning languages. No facility for it whatsoever.
Here's some of the comments I've heard from work colleagues in my lifetime.
"Well, Spain is great, but avoid France. They are rude."
"Had the worse time with the French, they make fun of you and won't speak English."
"Traitors and cowards. We had to save them during WWII. They wouldn't even support us in Iraq."
All are generalizations.
Or my uncle who is dead now, and I loved dearly, but made me wince and want to leave the room whenever he called basketball - "niggerball". Or commented on my sisterinlaw and niece's heritage - they run a little dark those cherokees, you might want to watch it.
Or the director at my workplace with his crude sex jokes and banter with the department secretary, who encourages him. Their off-color humor that I really wish I wasn't privy to and am not sure how to handle. Lovely people outside of that one thing.
People are so difficult. There are days I want to be a hermit. And other's that I can't bare not to be with people. And I keep hitting myself for my infractions and failings. I know I've made them. Or the times I failed to stop those who did.
The media does not make it easier. The mixed messages, the constant blast of misinformation.
Generalizations. Assumptions. Fired off in every commericial, headline, or billboard.
We are inundated with them. Told what to think, to feel, to want.
Whenever I take courses in diversity or discuss this topic, I have mixed feelings. I feel this odd sense of frustration. And hope. I know things are advancing, that I am advancing, and yet at times, I fear not far enough. I think the key if there is one is to not stop questioning, not stop asking questions, and to not assume there are answers. To try very hard not to put people into categories or pigeonholes, no matter how hard that may be.
At any rate, it's not an easy topic for me to discuss online or off. And I think that may well be the point. If it were easy...then there wouldn't be a problem.
Quahog, n. A large species of clam.
The above more or less explains most of my livejournal entries. Except for possibly this one, which is more about curiousity and not so much on the entertainment.
Today, we did diversity training. I've done this several times now - twice in companies, at least three times in school, plus had a legal class on it. And had a school chum do a sociological study on it. We both majored in English Lit. She minored in sociology, I minored in cultural anthropology. We had all sorts of interesting debates about minorities and diversity in school. She focused on statistical makeup, I focused on getting to know people and understand different religions and cultures. Basically one was quantitative analysis and the other qualitative analysis. As a result, her conclusion was that our college was woefully non-diverse and mine was it was wonderfully diverse.
Anywho. In the class we took this little statistics quiz and here's some interesting stats that they threw at us. (For the purposes of the stat's below, nation = US. This isn't global.)
1. 75% of all working-age American Women are in the labor market. 47.6% comprise the labor pool of the NYC and Long Island area. 15.5% are in my company.
2. Minorities comprise 48% of the labor pool of Long Island and New York City area.
3. The average age of the nation's workforce is 40 and projected to rise to 41 by the year 2010.
4. Immigrants makeup 14.4 % of Long Island's population. (Yes, I thought it was more than that too.)
5. 10% of the percentage of the nation's population is gay, lesbian or bi-sexual.
6. 20% of America's workforce is disabled as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
7. There are 54 million persons with disabilities in the US.
8. 35.6% of all cases filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2008 alleged discrimination/harrassment based on 1) race (35.6 %), 2)retailation (34.3%) and 3) sexual harrassment/gender bias (29.7%)
9. 4.6% of all cases filed with the EEOC in 2008 were found to have some legal merit.
During the class, many of us stated that things had changed little since the 1980s, sure there were advancements, but we felt this increasing sense of frustration...that little more had been done. I had an epiphany of sorts and voiced it towards the end...that if we want to further diversity, to fight against racism, sexism, and other various forms of discrimination based on everything from cultural and religious differencies to nationality and class distinctions, we oursevles have to fight daily to do so. Seek out ways to learn about people who are different. To see another point of view or perspective. And to stand up to rude or offensive behavior in our workplace or amongst our friends and family members. Easier said than done. Since I hate conflict. And yes, there are things I've put up with in my workplace that I shouldn't. And things I've said that I regret. Although the fact that I regret them is something. Is it human to pigeon-hole? To catagorize? To be prejudice and make assumptions?
And is it possible to rise above it? I hope so.
Depressing class. I left feeling sort of like the weather outside, gray, and chilled. Wanting to be elsewhere. Working out with the personal trainer helped kick a little of that. Truth is no workplace is perfect. And people are frustratingly and fascinatingly complex.
I've met people who are very liberal and not racist, politically correct, yet, oh god, they are monsters in other ways. One was a hitman, who killed for a drug cartel.
Another a serial bully/pathological liar and naracissist who well made my life a living hell for over a year. Yet, politically speaking, quite nice, and not racist. Sexist - perhaps. But not racist.
And I know people who are racist, bigoted like Archie Bunker from All in the Family - yet kind souls. One I can think of - volunteers all her time at animal shelters and has helped me and others, more than you can imagine.
The older I get the more complicated the world seems. The answers harder to find. More questions pop up.
I remember writing a novel with the names Shannon, and Yvonne. And a college friend asking me if I realized those were black names. I told this tale to my Granny at the time and she came back with the comment - "well, your friend is from TEXAS, what do you expect?"
It sounds funny. But both people were wrong. They both made broad generalizations based on
experience.
And I remember talking about Europe with people at work and in social settings about France - traveling there. I happen to love France. Fell deeply in love with the country and the people when I first visited Paris in 1980. Loved it so much, took 6 years of French, or rather struggled through 6 years of it. I suck at learning languages. No facility for it whatsoever.
Here's some of the comments I've heard from work colleagues in my lifetime.
"Well, Spain is great, but avoid France. They are rude."
"Had the worse time with the French, they make fun of you and won't speak English."
"Traitors and cowards. We had to save them during WWII. They wouldn't even support us in Iraq."
All are generalizations.
Or my uncle who is dead now, and I loved dearly, but made me wince and want to leave the room whenever he called basketball - "niggerball". Or commented on my sisterinlaw and niece's heritage - they run a little dark those cherokees, you might want to watch it.
Or the director at my workplace with his crude sex jokes and banter with the department secretary, who encourages him. Their off-color humor that I really wish I wasn't privy to and am not sure how to handle. Lovely people outside of that one thing.
People are so difficult. There are days I want to be a hermit. And other's that I can't bare not to be with people. And I keep hitting myself for my infractions and failings. I know I've made them. Or the times I failed to stop those who did.
The media does not make it easier. The mixed messages, the constant blast of misinformation.
Generalizations. Assumptions. Fired off in every commericial, headline, or billboard.
We are inundated with them. Told what to think, to feel, to want.
Whenever I take courses in diversity or discuss this topic, I have mixed feelings. I feel this odd sense of frustration. And hope. I know things are advancing, that I am advancing, and yet at times, I fear not far enough. I think the key if there is one is to not stop questioning, not stop asking questions, and to not assume there are answers. To try very hard not to put people into categories or pigeonholes, no matter how hard that may be.
At any rate, it's not an easy topic for me to discuss online or off. And I think that may well be the point. If it were easy...then there wouldn't be a problem.