by Marsha Rakestraw It’s the holiday season. Which of these better describes your state of mind: Joyous, meaningful, balanced? Or, exhausted, stressed, conflicted? The winter holidays have gained a reputation for reaching the epitome of the “overs”: overspending, overbooking, overstressing, overconsuming. And more people are expressing a desire to simplify their holidays and bring more…
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by Marsha Rakestraw In November 2017 California announced that it is adopting “LGBT-inclusive” history textbooks for grades K-8. It is the first state in the US to do so. Some schools may try to ban or discourage talk about homosexuality or about families with gay parents, but the fact is that there are a growing…
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by Marsha Rakestraw A friend of mine is a technology early adopter. He wants the latest version of his favorite gadgets, and sometimes he’ll buy two. He tries to resell or give away the older (or extra) models, but that’s still a lot of electronics to dispose of. And while more people are deciding to…
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by Marsha Rakestraw This year people in the U.S. plan to spend about $2.7 billion just on Halloween candy. And that’s a whole lot of opportunity to buy chocolate and other goodies that reflect our values of doing the most good and least harm for all. Unfortunately there’s no one-stop resource for finding Halloween candy…
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by Marsha Rakestraw Updated January 2023 We hear about forced and child labor, reading about specific instances in the news, and we may wonder whether the sugar, cookies, or bananas we bought last week, or the cellphone we’re using, or the fireworks we enjoy are made with the hands of children or slaves; it can…
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by Marsha Rakestraw We all have biases. We’ve heard many times that those biases are an evolutionary adaptation that helped us survive, but even after these thousands of years, we haven’t yet learned to recognize and overcome many of our unconscious (and conscious) biases related to race, gender, disability, age, geography, and even species. Research…
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by Marsha Rakestraw All of us have a variety of characteristics that contribute to who we are: our gender and ethnicity. Our income level and beliefs about religion/spirituality. Our sexual orientation and level of able-bodiedness. Our geographic location and age. And so much more. Each of these characteristics can influence both our level of privilege…
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by Marsha Rakestraw Right at the start of the school year is a great time to encourage students to think about the world they live in, the choices they make, what a humane world looks like, and the power they have to help bring such a world to reality. What does it mean to become…
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by Marsha Rakestraw Less than two months ago, Justine Damond was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer for an unknown reason. Her story has repeatedly made international headlines. Many people are now familiar with her name and her tragic story. Justine was a white woman. Many people also recognize these names: Eric Garner….
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by Marsha Rakestraw Over the weekend, hatred and violence descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, as white nationalists amassed to “take America back,” and opponents gathered to protest white supremacy and oppression. On Friday night white supremacists marched on the University of Virginia campus, carrying torches, chanting, and surrounding a small group of counterprotesters. On Saturday, people…
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