April is Celebrate Diversity Month, started in 2004 to recognize and honor the diversity surrounding us all. By celebrating differences and similarities during this month, organizers hope that people will get a deeper understanding of each other. April is Autism Awareness Month, established to raise awareness about the developmental disorder that affects an individual's normal development of [...]
March is Women’s History Month. Started in 1987, Women’s History Month recognizes all women for their valuable contributions to history and society. March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, which was established to increase awareness and understanding of issues affecting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. March is National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month. [...]
Holocaust Remembrance Day Joyce Herman, Founder and former Director, NCBI Rochester January 27, was the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Red Army liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz and the death camp at Birkenau. The date is recognized by the UN and the European Union as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jews, Slavs, Romani [...]
The COVID-19 pandemic has fractured our complacency in terms of things we take for granted. The magnitude of disparity between communities of color and our dominant (white) culture gives us an opportunity to take a second look – at ourselves – and at the institutions that privilege some groups at the expense of others. We [...]
Why Do We Choose Servitude in the “Land of the Free?” It’s a controversial question, I know, but please hear me out. The most pressing issues of our time have a single common denominator- power. Who has it? How do they use (or, more often, abuse) it? What needs to be done to alleviate the suffering [...]
Healing the Great Divide As the U.S. Election draws close, COVID-19 cases flare in new hot spots. Coverage of police misconduct gets greater prominence. As we witness greater demands to restore law and order, so, too, come calls to join demonstrations in support of those who protest racial injustice. We cannot deny that we are [...]
Flattening the Pyramids Note: Excerpts of my manuscript, Flattening the Pyramids: A Treatise on Hierarchy and Community, have been posted on the Ideas and Commentary section of this site but readers may prefer to read the book in sequence without other posts breaking it up. The book is still a work in progress and I’ll continue to add [...]
Everyone wants to be heard. Everyone deserves to be heard. No one wants to listen. That's the gist of it. Hurts and fears are deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Those in power are defensive or immune to thoughts of losing power. Actions bear this out. Those who are targets of oppressive practices are tired [...]
This year's 4th of July came suddenly, like a boulder crashing down a mountain. The mountain stands as a symbol of the hierarchy of power and privilege built over centuries in the country we call the United States. The myths of meritocracy and equal opportunity are falling, much like the statues of one time heroes [...]
The excruciating death of George Floyd, captured on video and seen around the world has shocked people and institutions across the US. In Rochester and its surrounding suburbs come demands for police reform. We are face to face, however, with the reality that this is not just a police problem. Institutional racism is endemic in [...]
