Today’s scheduled Conversation is cancelled due to bad weather and unreliable travel conditions to campus.  My apologies.

This week the SUNY New Paltz College Council meets to consider whether to rename buildings named for original Huguenot settlers who owned slaves.  The choice seems obvious to many of us: some in our community are in pain, let’s fix it – a moral wrong exists, let’s right it.  Yet for others, these arguments are not enough: there are more important issues facing our country – we shouldn’t let one historic evil erase all the subsequent good.  And no matter which side “wins” many are experiencing deep pain around the question.  Why is this so hard?  Care to discuss?

Conversation One is a weekly dialog on issues of inclusion and diversity, open to everyone, regardless of background – students, staff, faculty, members of the wider community are all welcome.  If you feel angry, scared, confused or just curious, you’re invited to come and work toward understanding, healing, and strengthening our community, even where we feel deeply divided.

Conversation One
Wednesday, Feb 20, @ 4:30 PM [Late arrivals/early departures are welcome!]
Sojourner Truth Library Conference Room (M39)

EVERYONE is welcome to join in the Conversation: staff/faculty, students, community members. Any religion, or no religion, any political affiliation, or none.  No special expertise needed.

Come prepared to listen generously and with a willingness to learn.  Our goal is to speak from our lived experience, and to be mindful of the feelings of others.  More detail in our Mission and Values.

To be sure to get all updates, join the mailing list.

Asked at last week’s wonderful panel discussion: “How can we make a conversation feel more open to those who feel unwelcome to the conversation?” Terrific discussion followed, with some particularly courageous and challenging comments. Do you feel unwelcome in the conversation on racism at New Paltz? Do you know others who do? Come, listen and be heard…

Conversation One
Wednesday, Feb 13, @ 4:30 PM [Late arrivals/early departures are welcome!]
Sojourner Truth Library Conference Room (M39)

EVERYONE is welcome to join in the Conversation: staff/faculty, students, community members. Any religion, or no religion, any political affiliation, or none.  No special expertise needed.

Come prepared to listen generously and with a willingness to learn.  Our goal is to speak from our lived experience, and to be mindful of the feelings of others.  More detail in our Mission and Values.

“Today’s Topic” is just a suggestion.  You are always welcome to bring whatever is challenging, or hurting, or encouraging you in your life.

To be sure to get all updates, join the mailing list.

Please Join Us!

“Continuing the Conversation: Talking Constructively About Race in the Classroom -A Panel Discussion for Students, Faculty & Staff”

Panelists Anthony Dandridge (Black Studies) Vanessa Plumly (German, WGSS and Jewish Studies) Reynolds Scott-Childress (History) Carolyn Corrado (Sociology, Latin American & Caribbean Studies) Mark Colvson (Sojourner Truth Library) will lead a panel discussion on ways  educators handle the topics of race and racism in the classroom environment.

Next week please come to a campus-wide event very much in the spirit of Conversation One.  It’s called  “Continuing the Conversation: Talking Constructively About Race in the Classroom -A Panel Discussion for Students, Faculty & Staff”

Panelists Anthony Dandridge (Black Studies) Vanessa Plumly (German, WGSS and Jewish Studies) Reynolds Scott-Childress (History) Carolyn Corrado (Sociology, Latin American & Caribbean Studies) Mark Colvson (Sojourner Truth Library) will lead a panel discussion on ways  educators handle the topics of race and racism in the classroom environment.

This will be an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to discuss what goes on in their classes and offices. Our focus will be on building a more inclusive and welcoming environment of all who claim, “we are SUNY New Paltz.” We will have a constructive and productive conversation in which the goal will be learning from each other and voicing many perspectives on the meaning of diversity and how this concept enriches classroom discussion.

Date:  Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Time:  3:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Location:  CSB Auditorium

More info from the website

Pretty often, when I describe an experience of racism that hit me hard to someone who isn’t black, they’ll say, “I know just how you feel.”

This bugs the &$#% out of me. We’ve just met, or maybe chatted casually a couple times, and now you can understand how personally hurtful, enraging, etc. my experience was for me?!

I imagine a person who is female, East Asian, queer, or trans, feels something similar when the person who instantly “knows how they feel” is from the majority/mainstream. True statement? Unfair generalization? Care to discuss?

Conversation One

Wednesday, Jan 30, @ 4:30 PM [Late arrivals/early departures are welcome!]

Sojourner Truth Library Conference Room (M39)

EVERYONE is welcome to join in the Conversation: staff/faculty, students, community members. Any religion, or no religion, any political affiliation, or none.  No special expertise needed.

Come prepared to listen generously and with a willingness to learn.  Our goal is to speak from our lived experience, and to be mindful of the feelings of others.  More detail in our Mission and Values.

“Today’s Topic” is just a suggestion.  You are always welcome to bring whatever is challenging, or hurting, or encouraging you in your life.

To be sure to get all updates, join the mailing list.

It’s comforting to say we won’t tolerate bad behavior: sexual misconduct, “hate” speech, etc.  But what happens if we mess up?  Mistakes are a natural part of learning.  But if the price of a mistake in these most sensitive areas is too high, how do we sustain a learning community?  How can each of us contribute to the solution?

Care to discuss?

Conversation One

Wednesday, Jan 23, @ 4:30 PM [Late arrivals/early departures are welcome!]

Sojourner Truth Library Conference Room (M39)

EVERYONE is welcome to join in the Conversation: staff/faculty, students, community members. Any religion, or no religion, any political affiliation, or none.  No special expertise needed.

Come prepared to listen generously and with a willingness to learn.  Our goal is to speak from our lived experience, and to be mindful of the feelings of others.  More detail in our Mission and Values.

“Today’s Topic” is just a suggestion.  You are always welcome to bring whatever is challenging, or hurting, or encouraging you in your life.

To be sure to get all updates, join the mailing list.

It’s a question we often ask people we think of as “minorities.” “When did you first realize you were [queer/black/differently abled/atheist] different”? Of course, we’re all different.  We just forget how hard we worked when we were young to hide it.  Could sharing our stories – about realizing something that made us different or weird and how we hid it from the world – draw us all a little closer together?  (I promise to share at least one of my own 😉

Conversation One

Wednesday, Jan 16, @ 4:30 PM [Late arrivals/early departures are welcome!]

Soujourner Truth Library Conference Room (M39)

EVERYONE is welcome to join in the Conversation: staff/faculty, students, community members. Any religion, or no religion, any political affiliation, or none.  No special expertise needed.

Come prepared to listen generously and with a willingness to learn.  Our goal is to speak from our lived experience, and to be mindful of the feelings of others.  More detail in our Mission and Values.

“Today’s Topic” is just a suggestion.  You are always welcome to bring whatever is challenging, or hurting, or encouraging you in your life.

To be sure to get all updates, join the mailing list.

Happy New Year!  Hope to catch up with you next week.

Thanks for your understanding.

If beauty is the quality in a person that shines a light on the goodness of others, and looks always for the best in the people around it, then many beautiful people pass among us unnoticed and unremarked.  Could we use this last Conversation One of the year to refresh in ourselves this more healing definition of beauty? Would you share a story of someone you’ve known whose beauty wasn’t the magazine cover kind, but made those around them better and more beautiful in turn?

Conversation One
Wednesday, December 19 @ 4:30 PM
[Late arrivals/early departures are welcome!]
Sojourner Truth Library Conference Room (M39)

EVERYONE is welcome to join in the Conversation: staff/faculty, students, community members. Any religion, or no religion, any political affiliation, or none.  No special expertise needed.

Come prepared to listen generously and with a willingness to learn.  Our goal is to speak from our lived experience, and to be mindful of the feelings of others.  More detail in our Mission and Values.

Today’s topic is just a suggestion.  You are always welcome to bring whatever is challenging, or hurting, or encouraging you in your life.

To be sure to get all updates, join the mailing list.