A few weeks back, I recorded an iTunes Podcast with Sarah Bragg, host of Surviving Sarah, a podcast focused on what it means to survive — survive life, yourself, your kids, your jobs, whatever! [I stole that from her site, btw!]
Before I jump in: if you don’t have iTunes, click HERE to listen to a streaming version. You’re WELCOME! Continue reading
Last year I read the book The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brayman and Rod A. Beckstrom. The 200-plus page book explores the concept of the “starfish” and the “spider,” two leadership models for organizations in any sector. Quickly, I’ll explain how both the starfish and the spider represent every organization you can think of:
The spider, according to Brayman and Beckstrom, is an insect that needs all of its parts to fully function. If a spider loses a leg, it will still live but will be severely handicapped, making it difficult for the spider to function as it should. If the spider loses its head, the entire body suffers and inevitably dies.
The starfish on the other hand, when it loses a limb, regenerates a new arm. What’s even more interesting, the separated arm will grow a brand new starfish out of that detached limb! What many people don’t know is that each arm of the starfish has everything it needs to regenerate and grow a new starfish — this means that even when a starfish’s arm is severed, the original body not only grows a new arm, but the new arm grows a new body! Continue reading
For the first time in a long time, I’ve given deep thought about the Fourth of July and what it symbolizes for me. While the nation celebrates its independence and freedom from Great Britain, millions of Black and Brown people still do not get to reap the benefits of said independence and live in a perpetual state of fear and oppression.
A speech by abolitionist Frederick Douglass has been circulating around the Internets today and I wanted to share it with my readers to remind us of what the Fourth of July really is for Black and Brown folk.
It is not a day of independence, freedom, or liberty.
It wasn’t in 1776 and it still isn’t in 2015. Continue reading
“God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more!”
We’ve all heard this church cliché spilled from the mouths of everybody from seasoned saints to new converts as a declaration that God does not change. God does not change his/her mind. God will always deliver the way God always does, not when you want ’em, but always right on time. Continue reading
I was recently reading a book by the author Parker Palmer called The Courage to Teach. In the opening chapters, he discusses the kinds of insidious fears teachers have that hinder their ability to teach effectively. To “avoid a live encounter,” as Palmer calls it, is to only deal objectively with people, places, and things as to not to have to either 1. reveal inadequacies about ourselves or 2. to alienate ourselves through carefully crafted fears so that we never have to truly dig deep into the the human experience — with others or even ourselves. Continue reading
Back in May of last year, my Spelman sister, Amena Brown Owen, sent me a Facebook message about connecting with Logan Wolfram, a woman who wanted to talk to a Christian blogger about ways she could better reach women of color who write about faith and culture. After a few exchanged messages, Logan told me that she and her boys would be making their way to Atlanta from Greenville, South Carolina for a pit stop on their way to a family vacation in Florida.
Rev. Alisha L. Gordon 