You are shaped by the stories that you hear and the storytellers that share them. This week, I had the privilege or speaking a the Joshua Wilderness Institute at Hume Lake. It was such a great time. I got to … Continue reading
Cultural Programming
Tag Archives: culture
Confession and Identity
I don’t know what you think about when you hear the word Confession. Maybe you picture something that happens in church with a priest. Maybe it’s just a tough conversation with your friend. Maybe you write it down. Confession though … Continue reading
The High Five
I was watching a show - Dhani Tackles the Globe. Have you ever seen it? He travels the world and he thinks that in order to really get to know the culture, you have to learn about the games that they … Continue reading
Hofstede Framework
Geert Hofstede analyzed culture and came up with this framework to help describe basic cultural dimensions. We are currently talking about this in a course that I am teaching – Intercultural Communication. Whenever you read about this framework, you will … Continue reading
Just How American You Are
Seeing as this is suppose to be a blog about Identity, I figured I’d write something about my identity.
You don’t really know just how American you are – until you leave the US. It’s been pretty interesting to be in Israel and intentionally process through just how American I am.
I have enjoyed learning about their culture and I’m realizing that I am really interested in learning more about it – especially since I get the chance to teach the Bible. I value different things. I feel compassion to different things. My sense of fairness and “right”ness is very much American.
On this trip, I have been called out and I’ve been the one that gets stopped. When we were leaving our layover in Turkey on our way to Israel, I got called out from my seat. Someone had confirmed that 24A was my seat. They then came back and asked me to deboard the plane – kinda intimidating. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I had to walk down the stairs – there wasn’t a little jetway to the terminal. My luggage was in the middle of the tarmac. I was surrounded by airline representatives and few cops. They needed me to open my bag.
It ended up being nothing.
When I got to Israel, off the jet way on the way to customs – all the guys that I’m with walk right pass the security. I get stopped and hassled a bit.
What does this have to do with being American – well, all I could think was – why are they hassling me? I’m American. Oh, and I kept my thought to myself – but it really surprised me to think of some of these things. I really am so American. It’s much easier to see when I’m somewhere else.
You are Culturally Bound
We are all culturally bound. When thinking about identity – you cannot be something that you are not. That’s not to say that eventually you can’t become that, but I guess that’s what I’m saying – it’s a process. You … Continue reading
Creating Culture
……..is never about one person. Don’t get me wrong, I think one person can start it. One person can be the impetus for creating culture, but it takes more than one person to create it. It’s about a bunch of … Continue reading
Your Name
…..doesn’t define your destiny, but it might definitely shape the way people perceive you. You will be judged by your name – especially if it’s ethnic sounding. My name is a hebrew name, and I’m filipino. Go figure. But my … Continue reading
Humanize to Understand
I was listening to an interview this am of a guy that infiltrated or maybe immersed himself in a culture that he wanted to learn about. It was something that he did to learn about this culture with which he … Continue reading
Idea to Experience Culture
Ideas – good ideas can bring about amazing things. But the experience of that idea is so much better. Ideas live in minds. Ideas live in words. The realization of ideas brings about the experience of those ideas. Developing a … Continue reading
The Culture of the Bored
I don’t remember who’s comment it was, but they had put that what they were watching was boring. I responded that they were just bored.
In a culture filled with entertainment and distraction, we can still get so bored. I can’t tell you how many channels I have on tv, and still sometimes I can’t find something to watch. Or as my friend says, it’s boring.
We are bored because we have so many choices. We are bored because we are no longer easily fascinated. We are bored because we have shorter attentions spans. We are bored because we choose to be. It might be boring, but check to see that you’re not bored.
InterculturalistIQ.com
A few weeks ago, I posted about my friend Scott Reitz. It was a post entitled Smell Like Jesus. I had been talking to him about his ideas and setting up a blog. Please check it out. Here’s the shortcut for you lazy people that can’t type it in http://interculturalistiq.com.
Scott has got a ton of experience in world work – how else can I describe it? He loves people. He’s done stuff with NGO’s and non-profits. He’s been all over the world. I heard someone describe Scott as having had – way to many stories about almost dying – for his age.
Give him some love and check it out.
Sidenote: I helped him set it up. If you need help setting a blog up-let me know.
