These times are strange and getting stranger. Unidentified people in uniforms descending on Portland in the name of Trump. These people from the Department of Home security look to be a first, overt wave of actions. The DHS itself has been ransacked, it’s leadership unconfirmed by the gutless Congress.

Between this unfolding madness, the current awakening of discussion around racism in the USA,  the pandemic, and oh yes, did I mention the world is quickly getting past the tipping point of global warming, between all this, I feel stuck in the pages of a not very good and overly ambitious sci fi novel.

There. That’s off my chest.

Yesterday Eileen and I attended a cyber conference of the Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance (LEDA). There were the usual technical glitches of Zoom and other interfaces. There were two keynotes which were pretty lame and several break out sessions to choose from. One of these was quite good. It was titled: “Engaging in Anti Racism: Work through White Consciousness Raising.”

It was led by Marlene Kowalski-Braun and Deanna Rolffs. Kowalski-Braun works at Grand Valley State U and Rolffs is a consultant. Mostly I madly googled resources they mentioned while they were presenting.

Here’s my list of links

Phases Racial and Cultural Identity Model and White Racial Identity Model link

Stages of Racial and Cultural identity link to pdf

National Equity Project The Lense of Systemic Oppresson 

White privilege by Peggy  Mcintosh (1988) link to pdf

The Costs of Racism to White People by Paul Kivel link to pdf 

White Fragility author Robin D’Angelo has done synoptic 11 rules pdf

I have to go do the dishes but I wanted to share that I found a National Theater Production of Peter Schaeffer’s Amadeus which is brilliant and probably only available for a week.