Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Taking the Casting Conversations from personal to structural
The focus on specific producing theatres, plays, artists, and management staff keeps our conversations about racism and white supremacy culture in the theatre industry on the “personal” level instead looking to the “systemic.” If we make it about whether we can/not cast one particular play a specific way, whether these artists made a bad…
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Waiting to Exhale (and retain)
The summer solstice is this week. Hooray! The summer solstice is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight (except in the polar regions). On June 21, 2018, the Earth’s axis (on either the Northern or Southern Hemispheres) is inclined the most toward the Sun as it rotates around it. It’s balanced…
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TCG EDI Institute vs. ATM Me Too Response
I’m a Lucky One I consider myself to be truly, unbelievably lucky that I haven’t been the victim of sexual assault. A person is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds in the U.S. (that’s 570 experiencers of sexual violence daily). The chances of me being a possible target were strong. But, so far, I haven’t. I…
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Dive into make believe, don’t act like you are
I recent supported San Diego REP in developing the first ever adaption (by an independent playwright) of dog & pony dc’s signature show Beertown. This was a “letter from the rehearsal room” I wrote for an email to the REP’s subscribers. Learn about REP’s Beachtown here and here. Suspension of disbelief vs. Investment in make believe At first…
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College-age Cultural Appropriation Tattoo
I now have three tattoos. I refer to my tattoo #1 as my “college-age cultural appropriation tattoo.” Yes, I’m one of the hordes of Americans to get foreign-language characters permanently inked on their bodies. In my case, Chinese. I am not Chinese nor is anyone in my immediately family. I didn’t study Chinese, and I…
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Don’t Worry, Start Growing
When I started working closely with artists and audiences who were Deaf, I was confronted head-on with my identity as Hearing. I also was confronted with a world that is auditory-centered. I then realised I carried a boat-load of prejudices, misunderstandings, or simply lies about people who audiologically speaking do not hear. Like anyone who comes…
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Dear My Fellow White People
Given the appropriate outpouring of condemnation that’s overflowed my social media newsfeeds since White Nationalists, Nazis, Far Right, and other all-White racist hate groups converged on Charlottesville, VA last weekend, I wanted to highlight two maneuvers of mental gymnastics which help White people protect themselves. Racists are Evil I saw this image on FaceBook a…
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How to become the Americans we’d always been deep within our heARTs
By their actions, they did not dream the American Dream, they willed it into being by a definition of their own choosing. They did not ask to be accepted but declared themselves the Americans that perhaps few others recognized but that they had always been deep within their hearts. Minutes ago I finished the wonderful…
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Speaking of things that aren’t easy: defining, exercising, and building values
Before I started writing this blog post, I did the following: Read the newspaper Check Facebook Check Twitter Think about the other blog post I had to write Check personal email account Text Start writing the other blog post Check Facebook Text Read a few online articles Make a cup of tea Text Have a…
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Go Set a Watchman in Your Home
Looking back, it was hardly coincidental that I picked up Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman shortly after DJT was elected to office. It was clearly the catalyst for my first steps of in-the-home activism. Watchman takes place in the 1950s, 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout—now called Jean Louise—returns to her hometown…
Got any book recommendations?
Rachel Grossman - A Big Eyed Fish 