Welcome + Happy Tuesday

Embrace others for their differences, for that makes you whole.
—Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Good morning and happy Tuesday. I serve as Coordinator for Inclusion Initiatives and LGBTQ+ Programs at a mid-sized land-grant university in the Upper Midwest, but I have been working-from-home since March 17, 2020, due to COVID-19. As all of my remaining Safe Zone trainings, Including U: Brown-Bag Conversations, Equity at the Intersections speaker series, and other programming (including Rainbow Prom and Lavender Graduation) have been canceled, I've been trying to find ways to stay occupied and somewhat productive. (Though to be honest, even when I was an academic, I balked at the Productivity Olympics of my fellow scholars and teachers.)

​In addition to training, programming, and general inclusion work and support for students, staff, and faculty, I am tasked with staying up-to-date with diversity, equity, and inclusion research. With social distancing, I now have the time to read some really great articles and books that I otherwise would have had to ignore. I am starting with Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, after several colleagues on the campus-wide Inclusion Committee I co-chair recommended the book. After White Fragility​, I plan to read Ibram X. Kendo's How to Be and Antiracist and Jennifer Brown's How to Be an Inclusive Leader: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive. Also, I plan to retroactively review Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele as well as A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson.

My goals for this blog are

• to chronicle my DEI reads
• to hold myself accountable
• to document my COVID-19 work-from-home life

Favorite online resources

• Association of American Colleges & Universities 
• Leading Equity Center
• Teaching Tolerance of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Favorite local bookshops and libraries

• The Dusty Bookshelf in Lawrence, KS
• Kansas City Public Library in Kansas City, MO
• Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, KS
• Zandbroz in Fargo, ND

I am on this adventure and would love to connect with diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals, particularly in Higher Ed. If y'all have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I am always open to feedback and tips. Please reach out, especially as we are all social distancing due to COVID-19. I wish you all health, safety, and food security.

Thank you very much for your time, patience, and consideration,

Happy + healthy Tuesday,

Creight