Archive

Hi. Here I am again. Gently working after some troubled times.

And I am back with a story that is tying my recent complicated housing situation to our regular conversation: an othering experience I had in the dorm that was my temporary home until I found a permanent one. I believe this was a good – albeit subtle – illustration of how unconscious bias and excluding behaviour by a dominant group mislead folks to think that “minorities just won’t integrate”…

“But they’re self-segregating!” – Clearing The Way

We are othering people not only because of race or gender, also because of cultural backgrounds and cognitive profiles.

Hello everyone.

I suppose you have never been so puzzled/excited to open one of my blog posts. Because I do not talk about sex at work unless I am talking about how to avoid sexual harassment and other forms of power abuse. To those of you who have attended one of my professional conduct trainings (a.k.a. “code of conduct trainings”) in the past, this title may hence sound familiar.

In that case, you’ll have an inkling of where this one is going. And so, now everyone has. Ha!

So, here is the deal: under no circumstances it is a good idea to use your professional environment as a flirting playground and casual dating pool if you are committed to contribute to more gender diversity in your field. If you care about it and still go about flirting and making sexual advances to anyone you find attractive, you are actively working against diversity. How so? Keep reading… 😊

Dear readers,

The classic journalistic principle applies here: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

But then again, I am not sure about this one:

I am only in the first year of my (part-time) Alexander Technique Teacher apprenticeship - beside my Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work - so I am new to "controversies" and "debates" in the field. And my thoughts about whether the Alexander Technique (AT) is a form of therapy or not are not fully formed yet. What I already know is that what I am learning during that training about improving the use of the self is indirectly reshaping my approach to DEI work. DEI efforts are meant to help communities heal and thrive. So the idea that my Alexander Technique skills are having overall therapeutic effects is intriguing to me.

Dear readers,

It's me again. I don't think I will be sharing insights every week, but today I have something for you already and I do not want to artificially postpone its publication:

This week, one of my Alexander Technique Teacher trainer shared a metaphor about the Alexander Technique that I found useful in the diversity, equity and inclusion context. So here it is:

I think inclusion and equity are like a fridge. If it's not obvious to you why - and I'd be surprised it were - you may find this interesting:

Dear readers,

Today I am bringing to you something that may be more in line with what you'd expect from me if you've been following my work for a while. Today I am talking about agility (again), as well as career paths (sure!), and occupational identity (err... yes, I... maybe). Enjoy!

https://clearingtheway.eu/2022/09/30/agility-identityi-am-a-software-engineer-or-am-i/

Best,