Aboriginal Ritual Chant – Anonymous
The spirits of native people endures and lives on.
Heritage and human dignity passed on through centuries of sacrifice, resiliency and perseverance.
Nature – the land guarding its ancestral treasures.
With each chant we hear anguish turned to eloquence and forgiveness.
How human to include those who only knew how to plunder.
There are some commonalities among Americans. Some say that taxes and death are two.
My dad provided another that kept me humble – still does.
He simply said, “Just remember that your ‘mierda’ (poop) stinks just as much as anyone else’s.”
By the way, yours does too. But please, don’t make a pie out of it!
“Littlefingers and White Walkers”
One a human misogynistic, narcissist, charlatan always lying creating chaos.
Then the White Walkers scaring Ice and Fire out of us!
Both were extremists, fear mongering, bent on leaving ashes behind.
They were a threat to man, woman and child.
But only a fantasy in George R. R. Martin’s mind.
Exhale – It’s 2023 and we live in the real world of the 21st Century – right?
No need to fear political charlatans and extreme Domestic White Walkers – right?
Athletics and sports are part of our social-cultural matrix. They are our communal national passion. We love our sports and marvel at human athleticism.
Can we, connect our fanaticism with athletics to our responsibilities to our Democracy as citizens?
Can we turn March Madness to a daily passion to enhance the quality of life, inclusivity and equity for each fan and citizen?
History beckons us to do so.
Counter Voices is an augmentation of the website Diversity-Threads.com. The vision and mission is to provide awareness, insights and understanding of the dimensions of Diversity in order to engage in conversations without fear and apprehension. As with the website, the podcast provides language, references, research, stories, and strategies on how to approach with confidence challenging…
Alfonsina Storni wrote during a time of emerging “strong men” and authoritarianism. Among such forces and often standing alone among her peers, she had the courage to oppose machoism, chauvinism and the double standards suppressed on women. “Tú Me Quieres Blanca” (“You Who Want Me White”) reminds of the connections and intersectionalities of Diversity – then and now.
“Pretend Reading” differs from culture to culture. It was a tradition and intervention by mothers who did not have formal education but pretended to read to their child.
All it took was some crumbled papers and a mother who would not allow her past to become her child’s future.
Such a nurturer was my mother who never saw the inside of a school. So she pretended to read to me by way of the oral tradition sharing stories of ancestors, respect for elders, traditions, resiliency and perseverance – sometimes even without having to look at the crumbled papers.
“If we embrace the promise of diversity, of creative conflict, and of “losing” in order to “win,” we still face one final fear – the fear that a live encounter with otherness will challenge or even compel us to change our lives.
Otherness taken seriously, always invites transformation, calling us not only to new facts and theories and values but also to new ways of living our lives – and that is, the most daunting threat of all.” Parker J. Palmer
William Stafford had a quiet daily ritual of writing focusing on the ordinary. His poetic style seems to invite a conversation that is close to everyday speech to remain alert and awake for there is many a small betrayal in the wind.
In a peaceful and yet stark manner, he urges that to know what occurs but not recognize the fact is the root of all cruelty.