Diversity, Equity and InclusionvsMerit, Experience and Attitude. If you needed to choose a doctor and you had data, would your criteria be more DEI or more MEA? How about when you were choosing a lawyer, a restaurant manager or a football coach? I rest my case. It is not popular to say but in our personal decision making we are mostly MEA. In the long run only natural monopolies can hire based on DEI and survive in the marketplace.
Leitmotif Noun: A leitmotif is a “short, recurring musical phrase” associated with a particular person, place, or idea. Leitmotif is also used in movies to create a sense continuity. Example: “In the TV show Law and Order the piano chord leitmotif always precedes a court session.” Another of the February sunsets in Phoenix.
“What could we have done better tonight?” This is what a restaurant manager should be asking instead of the usual “How is your food? A small change might elicit some useful information and some goodwill. “How is your food tasting?” usually doesn’t do that. Photo is of one of the postcards I send that is most often liked in Postcrossing.
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” Herman Melville Melville who wrote Moby Dick among other classics also made this cryptic comment. I was impressed that he ended the sentence with a verb. The map is from the cover of The Mapping of California as an Island. it was part of the Border Map collection that I donated to the ASU School of Transborder Studies about ten years ago.
“If we’re treading on thin ice then we might as well dance.” Jesse Winchester A recycling bin reflected in a puddle in Phoenix. Why ask why?
Last April we were on a Glass Trip to Pittsburgh. During the trip we bought a lampwork glass piece that evoked an early, now extinct, jellyfish. Last week while I was organizing our taxes I found a credit card charge for Radiolaria, Carpocanium Irregulare. It took me a few steps to figure out what it was and that it was a legitimate charge. I hadn’t been ripped off by a Latin speaking internet scammer. I need to get more regular at reviewing my credit card… Read More »Radiolaria, Carpocanium Irregulare
Homonym Noun: Words that have the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings. Example one: “A pair of pears.” Example two: “The hot (stolen) jewelry looked hot (very nice) in the hot (temperature) sun.” One of the most commonly mistaken homonyms is: there, they’re and their. The photo with the printing demonstrates my new skill set.
“If you want to know America–if you want to see it for what it was and what it is–you need to look at Indian history and at the Indian present.” “It has always bothered me that the very idea of paying attention to or knowing Indian history is tinged with the soft compassion of the do-gooder, as a kind of voluntary public service.” David Treuer in The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Both of these quotes are from the epilogue of this very good book. Can… Read More »Do-Gooders
On June 2, 1924 American Indians were granted full citizenship by an act of the US Congress.It wasn’t until 1948 that Arizona allowed Indians to vote. From The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer An embarrassed “no comment” is all I can muster. For 24 years Arizona delayed and obfuscated. Shame. The question we need to ask is: What are we doing today that a hundred years from now will appear so awful? The photo is of some petroglyphs on Shaw Butte in north… Read More »Shame on Arizona
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer If you care about fairness and justice this is a disturbing book. It is also a book about hope. The Native Americans were totally defeated by 1900 their number were down to about 300,000 people. Now 120 years later there are over 3 million Native Americans and they have lots of success stories. The book includes a very good short history of the Native American experience. It is eye opening. That story about deliberately spreading smallpox did… Read More »Worth Reading