Diverse Joy

In this episode we have a very special guest, Valeria Martinez, Esq., who is an immigration attorney and joins Drs. Cox and Nelson to talk about immigration issues! We share joy! Valeria's joy is that after recently graduating from law school, she has now "made it" and is employed her lifelong goal of being an immigration lawyer! Will's joy is his 40th birthday this month, and being named one of Madison, Wisconsin's "Forty Under 40" class of 2024 by InBusiness Magazine. Amber's joy is her "forty before 40" list of forty new grand experiences she is working on before she turns 40 next year! This episode's discussion topic involves immigration, especially legal issues related to immigration. With our guest, we talk through some an array of topics and history related to immigration in the United States, including the Chinese exclusion act, the "undesirable aliens act" of 1929, the State Department's Diversity Visa program, country caps on immigration, the role of the law in mandating fairness, asylum seekers, the definition of migrants as compared to refugees, and more! For story time, Valeria shares difficult stories related to her parents immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico, and more joyous stories related to immigration victories in her legal work today. In response to this month's audience question, Valeria gives you her best advice related to what people should look for in an immigration attorney. The habit-breaking skill in this episode is to Broaden Your Input via Contact. In other words, seeking more positive, genuine contact with people different from you. Make new friends! Although we often assume someone of a different race or other group status won't have much in common with us, the reality is that you likely share more in common than you think; all you need is one small thing in common as a foundation to build a genuine relationship. As we build positive connections with people from different groups, those connections and relationships push back against biases in our minds. Genuine relationships then also can serve as resources for helping us to learn more about the experiences and perspectives of people in other social groups. And we close out with Valeria's joyful recommendation of the wholesome and multifaceted K-Drama, "The King's Affection". It was so lovely to have Valeria as our guest this episode.

October means it's our Halloween episode! For the occasion, Amber is dressed up as Weird Barbie from Barbie (2023) and Will is dressed up as Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)! We share joy! Amber's joy is getting together with her family to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters; Will shares his joy about his friends' massive annual Halloween party, with a different theme each year! This episode's discussion topic involves the power of analogy in media representations. Although we talk about how media representation matters in terms of literal portrayals in each episode during our joyful recommendation segment, often the media can provide powerful analogies to teach meaningful lessons, and that's what we dig into during this main topic. This month's audience question asks why dressing in costumes of other cultures is often considered offensive, and we talk about the nuances around this topic. For story time, Will and Amber continue the thread from the question and share anecdotes related to costumes and culture and setting expectations for what costumes are or are not acceptable in a given context. The habit-breaking skill in this episode involves favoring mindfulness over blunt, ineffective approaches to bias reduction. Specifically, Don't Try to Bluntly Suppress Stereotypes! Bluntly pushing thoughts out of your mind actually makes those thoughts have a bigger influence on your subsequent thinking and behavior. And we close out with Amber's joyful recommendation of the heartwarming, insightful, and impactful Disney/Pixar movies Inside Out and Inside Out 2.

For this Labor Day month episode, Amber and Will are dressed up as Rosie (and Ross) the Riveter! We share joy! Will's joy is visiting Disney Parks, especially Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, which puts you on the immersive Star Wars planet of Batuu. Amber shares her joy about a recent project in which she reads fiction book series then watches their corresponding movies! This episode's discussion topic involves the concept of colonialism and decolonization, in which we seek to understand and examine personal or cultural practices that arise from colonial history. These practices can include things like leadership styles, decision-making procedures, and inherent hierarchies. The goal with this idea is not to necessarily reject "colonialist" ways of doing things, but to examine whether they are the way we want to move forward, or if we're just perpetuating the way "things have always been done" without critical examination. During story time, Will and Amber share stories related to people falsely adopting identities they do not hold, including the notion of "pretendians", which are people who pretend to have Native American Indian heritage. This month's audience question is about how to speak up for JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) work when you're a member of spaces that don't have much diversity. This episode’s habit-breaking skill is to Question Assumptions, and discussion of that skill taps into many areas, including how more assertive communication styles tend to dominate in science and academic domains. And we close out with Amber's joyful recommendation of Beyoncé's invigorating and revolutionary album, Cowboy Carter. Shout-outs this episode include Disney World and Disney Land, especially Galaxy's Edge. We also mentioned Nicole Byer's "Newcomers" podcast. Books we discussed include "The Education of Little Tree" by Asa Earl Carter under the pseudonym Forrest Carter and "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang. We also discuss the broadway musical "Hamilton." Amber also encourages you to check out the writing of her beloved and insightful friendtor Jude Bergkamp to learn more about decolonialism and decolonization! Will also wants to shout out the amazing Black country music star, Brittney Spencer, who was on the "Cowboy Carter" album. Check out her recent album, "My Stupid Life" (it's a bop!) and also her interview on The Daily Show with Dulcé Sloan, where they discuss many great topics related to Black women and country music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEb03tPe9eQ

This episode is the season premier of season 2! Will and Amber share their joy about people's responses to season 1 of the podcast, and also about their recent trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire! They discuss the core philosophy behind "diverse joy", and why joy is so crucial for diversity work. During story time, Amber's stories touch on the theme of "yucking someone's yum", which can rob joy from others. In response to our audience question, we discuss how to stay motivated in the face of events and movements that oppose justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) work. During the skills segment, we revisit the core idea of how to Approach Bias as a Habit to Be Broken, which involves Motivation, Awareness, Tools, and Effort. We also discuss why and how we focus on developing skills that empower people to make changes to their own behaviors, rather than prescribing or enforcing "rules" about what is or isn't acceptable. This episode's joyful recommendation is the suspenseful and exciting Star Wars TV show, "the Acolyte". Also check out these shout-outs from this episode! Will mentioned his and Eric Roman's favorite Star Trek podcast, "The Greatest Generation" which reviews old Star Trek episodes (also check out its sibling podcast, "The Greatest Trek", that reviews new Star Trek and also Battlestar Galactica), they are  @GreatestTrek  on YouTube and on social media, and special thanks to their producer Wynde Priddy for helping us out! Amber and Will also mentioned the Bristol Renaissance Faire @BristolRenaissance on Insta and https://renfair.com/bristol/, at which we saw amazing shows by Barely Balanced @barelybalanced and Adam Crack @winrichadam. Amber mentions her nonprofit For Us By Us: Kinship Coalition, and Chris Rock's Documentary "Hair". Will also mentioned a book he thought was called "Hair", but we couldn't find it! Maybe he misremembers the title. Apologies! Amber also discusses her Psychology Today piece, "Catching One's Breath in the age of "I Can't Breathe"" interview. Last but not least, we also mention Eric Roman's photography, which you can check out at https://www.erbeining.com.