Monthly Archives: October 2019

Unions Board of Trustees Saturday affirmed the Colleges latest strategic plan, a sweeping and ambitious document that will guide the schools decision-making over the next five years.

Titled The Power of Union, the 17-page plan serves as a blueprint for the College to build upon its 225-year standing as an innovator in liberal education by developing every student to lead with wisdom, empathy and courage, in ways large and small, now and across multiple tomorrows.

In the works for more than a year, the plan commissioned by President David R. Harris shortly after he arrived in July 2018 involved hundreds of members of the Union community, including trustees, students, faculty, staff, alumni and other key stakeholders.

Offering a bold and enduring vision, the plan consists of three parts that touch on all aspects of campus life, from academic offerings and experiences outside the classroom to bolstering diversity and deepening relations with Unions hometown of Schenectady.

This includes an aspirational preview of Union in 2025, a look at where the College is today, and a vision and plan to achieve further success.

This plan is guided by what we have been and by where we need to go, Harris states in the introduction. It is guided by an appreciation for the programs and approaches that have served our community so well for decades and an acknowledgement of the changing experiences and needs of todays students, and the opportunities and challenges they will encounter in the coming decades.

Focusing on two main goals, the plan offers a series of key objectives and activities to achieve them.

The first goal aims for Union to strengthen its vibrant community of learners, scholars and teachers, so that we can more fully blend the liberal arts and engineering, transcend disciplinary boundaries, bridge classroom and immersive experiences, and engage and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives.

The second goal calls for Union to ensure that it has the resources required to thrive in a changing higher education landscape.

Across the plans pages are themes supported by the title, The Power of Union. These include the power of Union between tradition and innovation, the power between liberal arts and engineering, the power between classroom and experiential learning, and the power between town and gown.

Among the priorities outlined in the plan:

reimagine the curriculum and renew pedagogy to anticipate and respond to contemporary and emerging academic needs and opportunities

provide an intentional, invigorating and supportive student experience outside the classroom that is integrated with academic learning, develops critical competencies and prepares all students for healthy, fulfilling and joyful lives of purpose

cultivate respect and understanding for all members of the Union College and broader communities, and welcome, include and support a measurably more diverse college community

create a sustainable, diversified and achievable financial model that supports the highest priorities and goals of Union College

Increase support at all levels, and strengthen the culture of philanthropy at Union

The document acknowledges the challenges faced in higher education, including a historic enrollment decline nationwide, economic headwinds, and rapid technological and social change.

But The Power of Union makes certain the College is well-positioned to thrive in 2025 because of its synergistic use of classroom and discretionary time, the immersive experiences both inside and outside the classroom, the strengthening and deep integration of the traditional liberal arts and engineering, the expansion of connections across internal and external communities, and an intentionality that ensures the full power of Union is embraced and experienced by all students.

Now that the plan has been approved, work will begin to achieve its ambitious goals.

Union is not only our name, but also the key to our future success, Harris states. This plan is about the power of unions between ideas, approaches, individuals and groups that are often thought to be at odds with one another, and how bringing them together propels this school and its people to surpass the lofty goals we set for ourselves.

To read the full plan, visit the website.

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The Power of Union: New strategic plan offers an ambitious road map for the future - Union College

PG&E is considering shutting off power to some California customers to mitigate wildfire risk.

PG&E is considering shutting off power to some California customers to mitigate wildfire risk.

PG&E is considering shutting off power to some California customers to mitigate wildfire risk.

PG&E is considering shutting off power to some California customers to mitigate wildfire risk.

Latest: PG&E warns a wind event on Saturday may require more power shutoffs

LATEST, Oct. 24, 7 a.m.: To reduce the risk of wildfires sparking amid dry and windy weather, PG&E has shut off power to roughly 179,000 customers in 16 counties in the Sierra Foothills and North Bay Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Sierra, Sonoma, Tehama and Yuba.

About 1,000 customers in portions of San Mateo counties saw the lights go out around 1 a.m. Thursday.

As soon as PG&E meteorologists say the winds have calmed, ground crews will begin inspecting equipment and the restoration will begin. The utility expects to get the all-clear around noon Thursday.

PG&E said in a statement issued Wednesday night it is "monitoring and preparing for an additional wind event starting Saturday, October 26, which may require further shutoffs. Early forecasts show that this has the potential to be widespread across PG&Es service area in Northern and Central California with significant winds."

UPDATE, Oct. 23, 10 p.m.: PG&E announced Wednesday evening that it has cut power in 15 counties in the Sierra Foothills and North Bay Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sierra, Sonoma, Tehama and Yuba impacting about 178,000 customers in those areas.

Power shut-offs are still planned for a small pocket of San Mateo County, impacting roughly 1,000 customers, and Kern County, where up to 30 customers could be affected. These are set to begin about 1 a.m. Thursday.

In total, the intentional blackout to mitigate wildfire risk amid dry, windy weather will affect about 179,000 customers in 17 counties. When you consider an average of three people per household, the event could affect more than a 500,000 residents.

UPDATE, Oct. 23, 6 p.m.: PG&E confirmed that a number of intentional outages in Northern California have already occurred, with plans to have theshut-off continue in San Mateo and Kern counties at 1 a.m., as stated earlier.

The utility company clarified a rumor that has been circulating stating that due to the high winds and elevated fire risk expected overnight and again on the weekend, electricity would remain off through the entirety of both weather events for affected counties.

PG&E officials stated that this is untrue, and that the company intends to fully restore power to customers once the winds have died down, which is expected to happen about noon Thursday.

Once equipment has been inspected for damage by employees and given the all clear, power will be restored to residents. Meteorologists will continue to look at upcoming weather patterns before officials decide whether the upcoming weather this weekend will warrant a second shut-off.

"We understand the hardship caused by these shut-offs and the safety issues that it brings with it, but we also understand the heartbreak and devastation of catastrophic wildfire. Those losses are forever, and we're determined to do everything in our power to prevent that," said Bill Johnson, the president and CEO of PG&E.

UPDATE, Oct. 23, 3 p.m.: PG&E began intentional blackouts Wednesday for 179,000 Northern California customers in 17 counties.

The Santa Rosa Fire Department shared on Twitter at 2:45 p.m. that customers in the Rincon Valley and Oakmont areas reported outages.

Shutoffs in the North Bay were scheduled to start around 3 p.m. Outages in affected areas of San Mateo County are planned for 1 a.m. Thursday.

In Napa County, a total of 7,488 customers will lose electricity in portions of Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Oakville, Pope Valley, Rutherford and St. Helena.

Sonoma County will see the power cut off to 26,845 customers in parts of Annapolis, Boyes Hot Springs, Cloverdale, Fulton, Geyserville, Glen Ellen, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Kenwood, Larkfield, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Windsor and Stewarts Point.

In San Mateo County, only a small pocket of 372 customers in La Honda, San Gregorio, Woodside and unincorporated ares will lose power.

Customers may lose power even though they are not experiencing critical fire weather in their specific location. "This is because the electric system relies on power lines working together to provide electricity across cities, counties and regions," PG&E explained.

Forecasts show the high winds subsiding by noon Thursday, and after the weather has calmed, PG&E will inspect equipment for damage. The utility company says it hopes to have power restored "48 hours after the weather event has passed."

UPDATE: Oct. 23, 10 a.m.:PG&E announced Wednesday morning it's moving forward with power shutoffs for 179,000 customers in 17 counties: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Kern, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Sierra, Sonoma, Tehama and Yuba.

Shutoffs will start Wednesday afternoon and continue into Thursday morning. "The shutoffs are expected to begin around 2 p.m. in the Sierra Foothills, 3 p.m. in the North Bay counties, and approximately 1 a.m. Thursday in affected areas of San Mateo and Kern counties," PG&E said.

The high winds are expected to subside at noon Thursday, and after the weather has calmed, PG&E will inspect equipment for damage. The utility company says it hopes to have power restored "48 hours after the weather event has passed."

Find a list counties and cities were customers will be impacted on the PG&E website. (Note: The website has been crashing off-and-on. PG&E says it's working on this issue.)

Customers may lose power even though they are not experiencing critical fire weather in their specific location. "This is because the electric system relies on power lines working together to provide electricity across cities, counties and regions," PG&E explained.

Impacted customers can utilize one of the many Community Resource Centers scheduled to open at 8 a.m. Thursday and stay open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until the the shutoff has included. These are equipped with restrooms, electronic-device charging, bottled water and air-conditioning.

UPDATE: Oct. 23, 6 a.m.: If Pacific Gas & Electric shuts off the power to reduce wildfire risk in Napa and Sonoma counties, impacted customers will receive alerts via phone, text or email Wednesday morning.

High winds that can damage equipment are forecast to pick up at 5 p.m. and PG&E would begin to de-energize customers at roughly 2 p.m.

In Napa County, PG&E anticipates 7,488 customers could be impacted in parts of Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Oakville, Pope Valley, Rutherford, and St Helena, In Sonoma, 26,845 customers may be affected in portions of Annapolis, Boyes Hot Springs, Cloverdale, Fulton, Geyserville, Glen Ellen, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Kenwood, Larkfield, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Windsor, and Stewarts Point.

If the power goes out in a small pocket of San Mateo County, it's likely to begin at 1 a.m. Thursday based on the current weather forecast. A shut-off could affect 372 customers in La Honda, San Gregorio, Woodside, and Unincorporated San Mateo County.

The following centers are scheduled to open at 8 a.m. Thursday and stay open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the remainder of the shutoff:

UPDATE: Oct. 22, 6 p.m.: Pacific Gas & Electric officials said Tuesday night that the scope of the customers who may lose power Wednesday has been narrowed "due changing weather information and the company's ability to sectionalize certain lines."

PG&E previously anticipated 201,000 customers in 16 counties would be effected in a pre-emptive shut-off to mitigate wildfire risk. The new number is 184,000 in 17 counties.

The utility company will make a call on whether to move forward with a shutoff Wednesday morning.

"Were continuing to closely monitor the weather," PG&E President Bill Johnson said at the press conference. "No such event has formally been called. We expect to make that decision tomorrow morning."

PG&E expects the event could impact people in up to 17 counties in the Sierra Foothills and the North Bay including Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Kern, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo Sierra, Sonoma, Tehama and Yuba.

Mark Quinlan, senior director of emergency preparedness and response, said the current forecast shows the peak wind risk in the North Bay beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday and thede-energization sequence could begin at 3 p.m. If the power goes out in a small pocket of San Mateo County, it's likely to begin at 1 a.m. Thursday based on the current weather forecast.

"The all-clear is forecast for noon on Thursday," said Quinlan. "When we get the all-clear thats when we begin restoring activities."

PG&E will release outage maps closer to the event, and advises customers to visit a new sister site dedicated to providing shutoff information: psps.ss.pge.com.

On Tuesday night, PG&E updated its list of cities that could potentially be impacted on Wednesday.

If a shut-off occurs, PG&E will open Community Resource Centers in several communities, offering restrooms, bottled water, electronic-device charging and air-conditioning. These will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., until power is restored.

The potential for an outage comes at a time of year when the landscape is dry and fires spark and spread easily. Northerly winds are expected to pick up Wednesday evening into Thursday morning in the hills of the East Bay and North Bay, delivering critical fire risk. Winds between 35 and 45 mph with some 55 mph gusts in localized areas are forecast for Sonoma and Napa counties.

Amy Graff is a digital editor for SFGATE. Email her at agraff@sfgate.com.

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Latest: PG&E turns off power in portions of 15 counties in Northern California - SFGate

Haven is pleased to host In Conversation with Sonia Sanchez, a free post-show discussion with the esteemed writer, poet and activist. Sanchez's play 2 x 2 is featured as part of DIRECTORS HAVEN, the company's ever-growing initiative annually showcasing the talents of three rising directors. Hosted by Artistic Director Ian Damont Martin and the play's director, Aaron Mays, the conversation about Professor Sanchez's work, her life and the interplay between arts and activism will be held on Sunday, October 27 at 6 pm (following the 3 pm performance) at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Advance reservations are recommended by visiting Eventbrite.

In addition to Sonia Sanchez's lyrical drama 2 x 2, this year's DIRECTORS HAVEN also features Caryl Churchill's ambitious surrealist work THIS IS A CHAIR directed by Lauren Katz and Dan Giles' tender yet challenging one-actHOW YOU KISS ME IS NOT HOW I LIKE TO BE KISSED directed by AJ Schwartz. The three productions, which will have the support of a full production team, run back-to-back in one program through October 30, 2019 at The Den Theatre. Tickets ($10 suggested donation) are available at havenchi.org.

About Sonia Sanchez

Poet. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women's Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice. Sponsor of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Board Member of MADRE. Sonia Sanchez is the author of over 16 books including Homecoming, We a BaddDDD People, Love Poems, I've Been a Woman, A Sound Investment and Other Stories, Homegirls and Handgrenades, Under a Soprano Sky, Wounded in the House of a Friend (Beacon Press, 1995), Does Your House Have Lions? (Beacon Press, 1997), Like the Singing Coming off the Drums (Beacon Press, 1998), Shake Loose My Skin ( Beacon Press, 1999), and most recently, Morning Haiku( Beacon Press, 2010). In addition to being a contributing editor to Black Scholar and The Journal of African Studies, she has edited an anthology, We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans. BMA: The Sonia Sanchez Literary Review is the first African American Journal that discusses the work of Sonia Sanchez and the Black Arts Movement. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts, the Lucretia Mott Award for 1984, the Outstanding Arts Award from the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Community Service Award from the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, she is a winner of the 1985 American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades, the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Humanities for 1988, the Peace and Freedom Award from Women International League for Peace and Freedom (W.I.L.P.F.) for 1989, a PEW Fellowship in the Arts for 1992-1993 and the recipient of Langston Hughes Poetry Award for 1999. Does Your House Have Lions? was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the Poetry Society of America's 2001 Robert Frost Medalist and a Ford Freedom Scholar from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Her poetry also appeared in the movie Love Jones. Sonia Sanchez has lectured at over 500 universities and colleges in the United States and has traveled extensively, reading her poetry in Africa, Cuba, England, the Caribbean, Australia, Europe, Nicaragua, the People's Republic of China, Norway, and Canada. She was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University and she held the Laura Carnell Chair in English at Temple University. She is the recipient of the Harper Lee Award, 2004, Alabama Distinguished Writer, and the National Visionary Leadership Award for 2006. She is the recipient of the 2005 Leeway Foundation Transformational Award. Currently, Sonia Sanchez is one of 20 African American women featured in "Freedom Sisters," an interactive exhibition created by the Cincinnati Museum Center and Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition and she was the recipient of the Robert Creeley award in March of 2009.

DIRECTORS HAVEN 2019 includes:

THIS IS A CHAIR

By Caryl Churchill

Directed by Lauren Katz

Mentor: Devon de Mayo

Featuring Catherine Dvorak, Tamsen Glaser, Lakecia Harris, Isaac Snyder, Julian "Joolz" Stroop and Diego Zozaya

This is a Chair is composed of a series of individual vignettes, each including a headline that is meant to be clearly displayed or stated. Each title refers to a contemporary world issue, including "The War in Bosnia," "Genetic Engineering," and "Pornography and Censorship" titles that seemingly share no connection to the scene at hand. Caryl Churchill invites us to dig deep into our personal lives and relationships, exploring the depths of how we interact with the world around us.

2 x 2

By Sonia Sanchez

Directed by Aaron Mays

Mentor: Pemon Rami

Featuring Dionne Addai, Sheree Bynum, Simon Gebremedhin, Merrina Millsapp and Juwon Perry

Beverly Smith is watching her family fall apart. Her grandchildren are in need of her care while her daughter Ramona, once a fierce activist, struggles with addiction. When Beverly goes to take the kids home with her, she learns about Ramona's past passion for activism and what led to her decline. This lyrical drama set in North Philadelphia explores social activism, generational differences and the hardships facing urban black communities through the lens of a mother-daughter relationship.

HOW YOU KISS ME IS NOT HOW I LIKE TO BE KISSED

By Dan Giles

Directed by AJ Schwartz

Mentor: Monty Cole

Featuring Morgan Lavenstein and Rolando Serrano

It's a love story that transcends labels. Two people meet, they fall in love, they U-Haul, life happens. A couple just like any other well, almost. How You Kiss Me Is Not How I Like To Be Kissed innovatively addresses the urgent contemporary issue of straight representation in the arts. This groundbreaking and oh-so-needed play brings important visibility to the sorrows and joys and even the inherent flaws of the heterosexual lifestyle.

Comments Artistic Director Ian Damont Martin, "This cohort of directors is more than ready to bring their work to the Chicago community, and Haven couldn't be more excited to facilitate and support them in this fifth year of our Directors Haven program. Each of these early-career directors have interests and visions that are specific, intelligent and downright exciting. The pieces they have individually selected are glimpses of the kind of work we need to be seeing and making right now work that asks us the difficult questions work that makes space for the marginal and the marginalized. This is met with an articulated interest and commitment in intentional processes, which is becoming increasingly important at Haven. We are very much looking forward to bringing you this necessary work from the next generation of artists helping to find and define the future of our practice."

PRODUCTION DETAILS:

Title: DIRECTOR'S HAVEN 2019

Location: The Den Theatre (2A), 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago

Previews: Monday, October 14 at 7:30 pm and Tuesday, October 15 at 7:30 pm

Regular Run: Wednesday, October 16 Wednesday, October 30, 2018

Curtain Times: Sundays at 3 pm; Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm

Tickets: $10 suggested donation. Tickets are currently available at havenchi.org.

About the Directors

Lauren Katz (This is a Chair) is a freelance director, dramaturg, and teaching artist. She served as the 2016-17 Artistic Apprentice at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and as a fellow in the 2018-19 Directors Inclusion Initiative at Victory Gardens. Recent directing projects include: Subjective is Beauty (Prop Thtr), Toni and Marcus: From Village Life to Urban Stress (Illinois Holocaust Museum) and Salena's Story (iO Theater). As an assistant director and dramaturg in Chicago, Lauren has worked with various companies including About Face Theatre, Firebrand Theatre, Theater Wit, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Writers Theatre and Windy City Playhouse. As a teaching artist, Lauren works with Lookingglass Theatre and Mudlark Theatre.

Aaron Mays (2 x 2) is an emerging director and playwright in Chicago with a passion for stories of the African diaspora and the narratives of marginalized voices. Aaron's most recent directing credits include Waiting for Godot(Tympanic Theatre) with an all-Latinx cast and Tug of War (CIRCA Pintig), a series of short plays on war, trauma and immigration. In addition, he has worked with Chicago's top directors, serving as the assistant director for such productions as Sweat (Goodman Theatre), Mosque Alert (Silk Road Rising), Two Trains Running (Goodman Theatre) and Seven Guitars (Court Theatre).

AJ Schwartz (How You Kissed Me is Not How I Like to be Kissed) is a director living and making art in Chicago since 2013. As a theatremaker, they aim to use performance to explore the world through a radical, iconoclastic and undeniably queer lens. Their recent credits include Mike Pence Sex Dream, Refrigerator (assistant director, First Floor Theater), This Bitter Earth (dramaturg), Time Is on Our Side (assistant director, About Face Theatre), Zurich (assistant director, Steep Theatre Co.), and The Henry V Project (director, Loyola University Chicago).

About Haven:

NEXT GENERATION. NEW CANON. SOCIAL PROFIT.

We exist to be a Haven for The Future. We achieve this through championing the next generation of playwrights, directors and actors by producing and promoting plays and performances that are staking their claim as the immediate future of this art form, and by investing in those at the very beginning of their professional journeys. Through this inspiration, we seek to ignite in each audience member a hope for the Future - the Future of theatre and performance, the Future of each other, the Future of our community.

Continue reading here:

Haven Hosts In Conversation with Sonia Sanchez - Patch.com

White people find my halo of gravity-defying hair irresistible to the touch. I dont mind as long as they ask before they cop a feel, but they usually dont. So after years of enduring this overfamiliarity from everyone from the stranger behind me in the checkout lane to a middle-aged male dental hygienist, I came up with a strategy.

Now when that unbidden White hand starts creeping toward my head, mine starts creeping toward theirs. I go as far as they go. They usually flinch back, and then resignedly lean into my touch, laughing with recognition as their faux pastheir microaggressionsinks in. I laugh along with thembecause lets keep it light, right?and with a little thrill of victory. Teachable moment, for the win!

Unfortunately, unsanctioned hair touching is the only microaggression that I have an effective, emotionally non-burdensome response for. Im not the only one with such a limited repertoire. I tried tapping my social network to see how other people effectively dealt with microaggressive interactions and got precisely zero feedbackthough, admittedly, just tweeting about them seems to work for some people. Many of the ideas I found online seemed to be intended for use in a fantasyland, where White people are eager learners, unafraid of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and need actual reasons to call the cops on us. Other tips violated a seminal rule of BIPOC-ness: thou shalt not waste emotional labor educating White people about stuff they should already know or can Google.

Finally, I turned to the experts.

Microaggression is classically defined as, brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. The term was coined around the late 1960s, early 1970s, after the Civil Rights era, when visible and violent expressions of racism were eclipsed by subtler incarnations. Now broadened to include all marginalized groups and their many intersections, microaggression has become something of a buzzword within the social justice arena.

And as with most buzzwords, the meaning gets diluted at best and ignored at worse. But that doesnt erase the harmful impact. In his new book, How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi stridently insists that microaggressions are nothing but racial abuse and should be called that.

Most experts agree on the frequency and continual fallout of microaggressions for the astoundingly high number of BIPOC who endure them.

Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University and scholar in the field, writes that microaggressions cause frustration, self-doubt, anxiety, and cumulative emotional, psychic, and spiritual burden. Unlike macroaggressions, large-scale, overt aggressions that mostly occur at the systems level, Sue writes, microaggressions are interpersonal, and often occur in academic and professional settings.

Joy Petaway, a licensed social worker in Maryland, has witnessed these responses in some of her Black female clients.

Workplace microaggressions are common, Petaway says.

And because of that, there is increased anxiety over-trying to perfect what one is producing, being on [and] internalizing negative messaging, she says. Untangling these messages while also trying to find motivation to go into places of work that often aren't feeding mind, body, soul, becomes a very difficult thing to maneuver.

Despite the evidence, there are nonbelievers who contend that the notion of microaggressions is simply out-of-control political correctness. This argument itself is a microinvalidationone of three categories of microaggressions identified by Sue. Microinvalidation, basically ignores the lived experiences of historically marginalized groups. That perennial favorite, I dont see colorsomething well-meaning White folks say, often defensively when they are called out on a prior microaggressionalso falls into this category.

What theyre in essence saying is that they dont want to judge people on the color of their skin, Sue says. What they dont realize [is] recognizing me as an Asian American is important, because its an intimate aspect of my racial, cultural identity.

It can be difficult to distinguish microaggressions from typical rudeness using empirical methods. This is because BIPOC are enculturated to anticipate microaggressions from White people, because according to Sue, they do not view themselves as racist or capable of racist behavior, and lived experience is hard to prove with empirical methods.

The question therefore is, whose reality is the most accurate reality? Sue says. Social psychologists have provided research to indicate that the reality of people who are most marginalized or oppressed is most accurate as to the oppression that is going on.

This makes sense, he continues, because people from marginalized communities are in a position where they must understand the people who have the power and privilege to succeed socially, academically, and professionally. White peoplein particular cis-gendered, heterosexual White mensimply do not. The implication is clear to me that people who most have their voices oppressed and silenced are the ones who have to be heard. ... So it would be incumbent upon White individuals to really be nondefensive and listen and try to understand [the impact their behavior has on people of color].

And this is where the influence of power, privilege, and oppression really works against individuals. So it would be incumbent upon White individuals to really be nondefensive and listen to try to understand what is going on. Because people of color know that microaggressions are occurring, but its completely invisible to those individuals who are what we call perpetrators.

So how does one disarm microaggressions without exceeding their emotional bandwidth?

Denise Evans, a certified facilitator of implicit bias and cultural intelligence workshops in West Michigan, uses wittiness to disarm microaggressions, of which she has experienced many. For example, when a White person compliments Evans, who is Black, for being well-spoken or articulate, she responds in kind.

I have said, Thank you very much, so are you, says Evans. She then asks, with a smile, why they felt the need to say anything, including a list of possible reasons in her question: Is it because shes a native New Yorker? A woman? Black?

And I literally wait for [an] answer, she says. I give people their microaggression and their implicit biases back in a pretty box with a nice bow on it. I hand it to you, and I wait for you to open it and tell me what you see.

Evans is at heart an educator and uses these teachable moments, she says, to expose the unconscious associations people have. For example, linking African American and uneducated or women and assistant. This is an approach rooted in the hidden-bias research of Harvard University psychologist, Mahzarin Rustum Banaji. Human brains may instinctively make associations for survival, Evans says, but we can choose to dismantle them.

All the research tells us that our brains are malleable and that we can form new synapses. I feel like its my responsibility to help disrupt whats happening in your amygdala, Evans says, tongue in cheek. Let me just help you separate some of these thoughts real quick.

Her approach typically results in White bewilderment, not fragility or combativeness, she explains.

I know that I would feel uncomfortable responding to microaggressions so directly. Avoidance is a legit strategy in the case of possible physical harm, but my silence usually stems from my being too stunned to generate a snappy comeback or not being entirely convinced that I was actually microaggressed.

And Im not alone.

This is apparently common among targets of microaggressions, and this confusion is a significant part of why they are so damaging. The power of racial microaggressions lies in their invisibility to the perpetrator and oftentimes to the recipient, Sue, and colleagues, wrote in a 2007 article. And this is why a key strategy for dealing with microaggressions is making the invisible visible.

By naming a microaggression, a concept Sue borrows from Paulo Freires seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, we are able to undercut its power and expose metacommunication behind it.

For example, pointing out that where are you from? is really code for you arent American enough or I have Black friends really means what I just said isnt racist and neither am I social worker Petaway says. And doing this doesnt have to be educational or immediate, she adds.

Sometimes its as simple as saying, your bias is showing and walking away, a response Evans often has to microaggressions, especially those from women.

But the burden of responding shouldnt solely rest with the target of the microagression.

Writer Leslie C. Aguilars suggests targets or bystanders can just say Ouch! Interrupting and redirecting conversations heading toward biased territory with, Whoa! Lets not go there! can also do the trick, particularly when delivered by allies who share commonalities with the speaker.

Aguilars suggestion resonates most with me. Unlike Evans, who is an ordained minister and educator, I dont feel a calling to educate perpetrators. I already manage depression and anxiety, and now theyve just said something that hurts. Why should I have to sink more emotional labor into an already fraught situation?

But research indicates that avoidance, when there is no threat of bodily harm, may not be the best course of action and that eschewing resignation brings rewards, including feelings of bravery, dignity, and self-efficacy.

Theres also the bonus that Im less likely to mull over the situation ad infinitum.

However, Petaway assures me, I can respond when I want, how I want. Theres no statute of limitations on addressing microaggressions.

It's really taking back our time and focusing on our boundaries, she explains.

If its not addressed in the moment, that doesnt mean it cant be addressed later.

There is no one asking you to give beyond the wellspring that you have, Petaway says. So if you dont have it to give, then do not give [it].

Original post:

Racial Microaggressions Are Real. Here's How to Navigate Them - YES! Magazine