April 2 - 8, 2021

On June 19, 2020, I made a commitment to educate myself on the lingering effects of racism, discrimination, and bias in America. Every day through June 18, 2021, I will read an article or book chapter, listen to a podcast, watch a movie or documentary, view a webinar, or do something substantive to educate myself in these areas. As part of that commitment, I will post to this blog each Friday with a list of what I've done over the past week as well as any pertinent thoughts or reflections.

Today's post covers the week of April 2-8, 2021.

 

Unlimited Power: How Black Women Are Redefining Leadership in College Sports 

The Black AD Alliance sponsored this discussion, hosted by Maria Taylor of ESPN, featuring four current Division I ADs: Dr. Carla Williams of Virginia; Dr. Candice Storey Lee of Vanderbilt; Dr. Ingrid Wicker McCree of North Carolina Central; and Sherryta Freeman of Lafayette. These four women share their thoughts on college athletics, what they do to take care of themselves, and advice on how to navigate the industry as women of color.

 

Chef Omar Tate is Making Sure West Philadelphia is Well Nourished 

Howie Kahn profiles Omar Tate for the Wall Street Journal Magazine. Chef Tate founded the Honeysuckle brand as a pop-up dinner venture in 2017, but the pandemic caused him to shift priorities and move home to the Mantua neighborhood of West Philadelphia. Tate now envisions Honeysuckle as a food-centered destination for Black farmers, culture, and the arts. “Honeysuckle is what the neighborhood deserves,” Tate says. “It’s what it has deserved for a long time.”

 

Diane Von Furstenberg and Mindy Kaling Partner With Amazon to Support Female Founders

Women-owned businesses have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and celebrities Diane Von Furstenburg and Mindy Kaling are stepping in to help. By featuring women-owned companies through social media and Amazon, Von Furstenburg and Kaling are hoping to direct consumers to make more deliberate choices to shop with these businesses. Three founders are interviewed in this article about the adjustments they've had to make during COVID-19. 

 

Why Are We Here? 

The podcasters from Code Switch rebroadcast this episode of The Experiment which looks into the history of Filipino nurses in the U.S. and their service during COVID-19. In this country, 4% of nurses are Filipino, but they account for 31.5% all COVID-related nursing deaths. Nursing became a popular profession in the Philippines under American colonization, and a nursing shortage in the 1960s brought many Filipino nurses to the U.S. While researchers continue to study why Filipino nurses are over-represented in COVID-related deaths, one reason might be their willingness to serve in ER and ICU units.

 

‘Finally finding our babies’: How Richardson Schools Are Making Their Gifted Classes More Diverse 

The Dallas Morning News Education Lab covers this story about how Richardson ISD has made changes to the identification process for gifted and talented students. While the district is highly diverse - 39% of students are Hispanic and 22% are Black - the gifted programs underrepresent those populations. So rather than use referrals for selection to a gifted program, RISD is using across-the-board testing to identify gifted students, then factoring in environment and context to the scores. The new approach has significantly increased diverse representation in the gifted programs at RISD schools.

 

Decades of Failing to Recognize ADHD in Girls Has Created a "Lost Generation" of Women 

Jenny Anderson of Quartz writes on the differences in diagnoses and symptoms of ADHD in boys and girls, and how girls were previously thought to be at far less risk of the disorder. ADHD affects the brain structurally and chemically, as well as the ways in which various parts of the brain communicate with one another. While experts once thought girls didn't develop ADHD, they now believe the disorder can manifest itself in girls much later than in boys. The symptoms may be different in girls as well, which has led to under-diagnoses among women.  

 

How Important Is Passion? It Depends on Your Culture 

Stanford researchers have determined cultural differences in how passion and motivation are defined, according to this article from the Greater Good Magazine. Western cultures have a more individual definition of passion, while cultures from other parts of the world tend to a more collective definition. This misunderstanding of what constitutes passion and motivation leads gatekeepers (hiring managers, admissions officers, etc.) to overlook talented applicants from immigrant communities. The idea that passion best predicts achievement reflects a distinctly Western model of motivation.