Exploring Classism

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

Just recently I attended a Class Action workshop. This was my first workshop ever dealing on the issues of classism. Heading into it, I didn’t know what to expect. I had an open mind and was willing to work with others I hadn’t met. It was definitely a big step to go outside my comfort zone and really engage. I learned a very valuable lesson that we all overlook at times, and that is to take the stereotypes out of class before you can get a deeper understanding of it.

Ubuntu and The Self-Made Myth

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

We’ve all heard rags-to-riches stories about successful individuals who “pulled themselves up by the bootstraps.”  Certainly, many successful business people owe their good fortune to hard work and innovative thinking. But, to describe those people as “self-made” would be to dismiss a big piece of reality—the role of the commons.

An interesting class culture question

Monday, January 30th, 2012

To what extent is a person’s class culture determined by the environment they are raised in, and to what extent is it determined by their parents’ class culture?

What about those hand signals?

Friday, November 25th, 2011

The same week that Steven Colbert pretended to mock Occupy Wall Street’s hand signals, I saw them used at an Occupy Boston General Assembly, and my Social Movements class studied the pitfalls of too much and too little “movement culture” – quite a serendipity!

Owning Class Folks – Let’s Explore Some Tough Questions

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

How can we owning class folks who care about enormous horrors going on today initiate a systemic difference by speaking up about the harm that continues in a drastically different manner? For some of us, the origins of today’s enormous inequities are from the source of our wealth. Will you join me in this conversation? Let’s get honest and face some questions and fears about our essential roles in the transformation this celebrating-its-birthday country needs. It’s time to think and act outside the box.