Foreign Perceptions of American Identities
How do internationals perceive the United States citizens’ negotiation of their multiple identities? Directing an international office at a graduate school gave me ample opportunity to hear fascinating comments made about foreign students’ perceptions of U.S. citizens. ... I have a growing respect and loyalty for Africa. My experiences in Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan have improved my understanding of how their communities developed into strong, positive culture identities. I am thankful for the unforgettable opportunities with my sisters ... We love our boxes. They are handy compartments for our ideas and thoughts. They keep life simpler when we can put people into tidy categories that make sense to us. I traveled to half a dozen countries and lived in three outside my own before I really began to see just ... I sat at my laptop, thinking about the many ways I’ve changed by looking at the world through cultural lenses. One thing’s for sure: I couldn’t remain the same. I’ve experienced love from people who valued relationship ... A simple cheddar cheese sandwich on white bread, purchased from a cart on the street near our hotel — this was my first meal in England circa 1984. Simple, yet wholesome, and perfect for a hungry college student just off her first international flight.
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We’ve been invited to a church member’s home for a meal just three times in three years. As an accidental experiment in the Colorado city where we moved three years ago, we visited 17 churches, landing at 2 for about a year, 3 for a month each, and visited the others ... As faculty for a local university’s nursing program, I guide student nurses into the role of professional nurse. One of my greatest challenges is that today’s students are afraid to be seen as anything less than perfect—by their patients, their professors, ... I edged to the front of my folding chair, bobbing and weaving my head to find a view through the heads in front of me. “Do you have a child there?” an older woman sitting next to me asked with a slight accent as she ... Not long ago, I found myself walking with a small team of missionaries along the rubble-filled streets of Mathare, the second largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, with a population of more than half-million people. We stepped over ditches filled with raw sewage and held ... Sankofa is a word from the Akan people of West Africa (primarily Ghana and the Ivory Coast). It is both a word in the Twi language and one of over a hundred Adinkra symbols used by the Ashanti people (one of many Akan subgroups). ... When my family and I moved back home to America from South Africa, we were not prepared for what would greet us upon our return. The dead of winter in Boston with its frigid temperatures, gray skies, and snow were the least of them. We also noticed that the social climate had changed. Yes, our family ... We couldn’t understand but a few words of the mass but the beautiful, flowing Arabic was music to our ears, rising up to the heavens along with the sweet-smelling incense. Not only was the language new to our ears, having only studied it for a couple months, but this was the first mass we’d ever ... “I don’t deserve him.” Just 10 days ago, I said these words, watching my youngest son pedal away on his red bike, thick brown arms looped through his favorite safety green backpack. “I don’t know if I can marry you,” I tell my boyfriend as we snuggle on the couch in his parents’ living room. “If I do, you have to promise to let me go to Africa, alone if I have to. I don’t know when, and I don’t know why. But I know God has a plan ...
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Lessons from Africa
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People Are Worth Knowing
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Learning Gratitude
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Help Kids Become Culturally Aware
You’d Do the Same for Me
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Hospitality: Entertaining or Healing?
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Hospitality Flipped Upside Down
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Hope, Resolve, and Leading with Grace
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Was Blind, but Now I See: My Sankofa Story
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Healing from Race-Based Trauma
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How Contagious Is Our Faith?
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On Letting Go
A Promise, a Prayer, and an Irresistible Smile
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