A little over a week ago, Dove posted a follow-up video as part of its ongoing Campaign for Real Beauty. The most important conversation this new video fosters is not around individual physical beauty; rather, it seems that Dove has put its finger on the fact that understanding real beauty’s full scope isn’t just a… Read More The Dialogue on Beauty Continues: Another Dove Video
I often write about the importance of building communities in which inhabitants discuss, understand, and appreciate each other’s beliefs, however different they may be (here, here, and here). The touchier the topic, the clearer the need for an increasing number of people to develop these capacities, lest any attempts at a conversation on said matter… Read More Learning to Live with Diversity: Accepting Modesty in an Era of Everything But
Yesterday, a friend of mine suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. It was difficult news to receive, not just because it was unexpected, but mostly because this young man was an incredible source of joy to all those around him. He is the kind of person the world today needs more of. As his friends around… Read More The Joy of Being Part of a Strong Community in Times of Grief
Community building is a wonderfully complex process that contains many layers and elements. One of these elements are relationships, in all shapes and forms: between family members, between friends, between lovers, between coworkers, between store workers and customers, between people who regularly commute together, etc. There are many ways to reinforce each of these relationships… Read More Building a House (and a Community) With Cards
While I strongly believe and have been participating in “IRL” community building efforts, I am still relatively new to online community building efforts. I tried out NaNoWriMo in 2008, but other than meeting a few people and writing quite a lot, I didn’t really get into the NaNoWriMo community. When the show was live, I… Read More Learning to Use Online Communities Efficiently: My First Bloggiesta Blogging Experience
In recent weeks, there has been an increasing number of negative comments on my Tumblr dashboard, my Twitter and Facebook feeds, and in the various opinion blogs I follow about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s wedding choices, especially when it came to light that they are standing to make a lot of money off their… Read More We can also Profit from their Wedding: Why We Should not Talk Negatively about Kim and Kanye’s Big Day
Ever heard of the expression: “Jack of all trades, master of none”? It is an expression that hits a pretty resonant chord in a world moving at an ever increasing speed. Wanting to read everything, to attend everything, to fight every injustice, to back up every cause, we end up doing nothing, for the simple… Read More Jack of All Trades, No Master of Community-Building
Oftentimes since I first started blogging here I spoke of the concept of “The Other”. A couple of times, I attempted to broach the subject of racism, and how, although we say it’s gone, it’s actually still quite present. I also wrote many times about how puzzling I find it that we tend to venerate… Read More Reflection on the Definition of Modernity
I’m all about grassroots efforts, and I truly believe that we are reading a tipping point, when a large enough group of people are going to arise to serve humanity and make a difference. The need for accompanying though is high all the more that, as Dave Meslin explains in a recent TED talk, there… Read More Apathy, redefined