Menu

Opinion

Feature Image by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

Rhyme and reason – why a university professor uses poetry to teach math

,

Title of course:

The Ways Math and Poetry Can Open Your Eyes to the World

What prompted the idea for the course?

I have always enjoyed writing poetry. As a high school mathematics teacher, I recall telling my students that everything is and can be connected to math, even creative writing. Then, as a graduate student, I read about people using “I am” poem templates for young people to express who they are through a series of “I am” statements, and I thought to myself, where is the “I am” math poem template? So I created one.

I then started working on what I call problem-posing poetry, which are poems connected to a social issue and that can be used as alternatives to traditional math word problems. Working with Yousef Kara, who is a poet studying to become a teacher, we learned to see poetry as a way to understand the real world before connecting to math learning. We also began to use poetry to reflect on prior math learning. After using math poetry with high schoolers and teachers, it became apparent it should be a part of my math methods courses for future teachers.

What does the course explore?

The course explores the idea of poetry as a rich experience before, during and after math learning connected to real-world issues.

The “I am” math poem template is an example of poetry before math. The prompts used in the template allow the teacher to incorporate students’ interests when learning math in the future. For example, the last prompt shows what students are passionate about, and teachers should use that interest in their teaching of math.

Problem-posing poems like “Number Sense,” written by Ricardo Martinez, show how a poem can use actual data to become a math problem for students to solve. Poetry after math learning can best be captured by Yousef’s poem “The Wrong Bathroom, Continuously,” a reflection on trans identity related to functions that model relationships between two quantities.

This poem demonstrates concepts of math through exploring different types of continuous functions in calculus. Functions that oscillate, approach opposite infinities and disjointed functions, all of which make it impossible to find the exact value of a limit. Hence the line, “You cannot pin me down to a single point.”

Here is an excerpt from the poem:

I am a continuous function.

I oscillate My gender, in constant motion, And I don’t care if I am unrecognizable to you

I approach both infinities From the left and the right Expanding with each self discovery. Expanding far beyond your comprehension

I am disjointed Deconstructed and decolonized. I teleport between and beyond genders You cannot pin me down to a single point

It shows how learning more about math expands our vocabulary and understanding of what we experience.

Why is this course relevant now?

The beauty of using poetry is that it makes math more exciting and allows it to connect to any topic or idea. Math poetry becomes even more critical today as people need an outlet to communicate their truths about societal injustices like trans people’s rights, bans on Black history or Islamophobia. Math and poetry create new metaphors that allow people to better understand societal issues along with themselves and others.

What’s a critical lesson from the course?

A key takeaway from the course is that math is a vital part of each person, and poetry can help people see that math is all around us.

What will the course prepare students to do?

By exploring math and poetry, I believe they, as aspiring teachers, will begin to question how they were taught – for example, the use of timed tests and learning with no real-world connections. A lot of people say they don’t like math, when, in truth, they have never knowingly experienced math connected to their culture, values, desires and dreams. Math and poetry work to reclaim how we all see, experience and live with math every day.

^^^

Ricardo Martinez, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Penn State

This article originally appeared in The Conversation under a Creative Commons License

Feature Image by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels

Photo by Geri Tech via Pexels

The truth behind a successful social media platform

, ,

Nowadays, just about anyone can launch their own social media platform to the public— but its simplicity doesn’t come without its tribulations. More than half the world uses social media on a daily basis, averaging 2 hours daily on platforms like FaceBook and Instagram. Each year, sites are seeing a 3% increase in user signups, indicating that social media is solidifying its presence in society on a global scale. While these aspects may sound promising to the next social media entrepreneur, it reveals the competitive nature behind the ever-growing technology industry. 

Currently, there are 7 platforms that dominate the social media market, with 4 being owned by META corporation. It is estimated that 4.88 billion identities are registered online as of July 2023, making social media the largest international digital connection. Most users are active on 6 or 7 platforms, meaning that a registered account doesn’t guarantee usage. Unlike other forms of media, social media relies on its users to generate content and spur activity, and inactivity guarantees the death of the platform. 

META’s recent social media creation, Threads, shows how easy it is for a platform to die out despite its large user base. In an attempt to rival Twitter, META’s biggest competitor, Zuckerberg and team decided to create a platform eerily similar, except users must register using their Instagram credentials and identity, binding the two platforms to each other. At first, Threads saw great success with 27.8 million downloads during the first week in the USA alone. In less than a week, Threads managed to gain half as many users as Twitter, a platform created back in 2006. While these reports seemed promising for the future of Threads, 70% of accounts were reported as inactive by its third week of existence. 

Photo by Julio Lopez via Pexels
Photo by Julio Lopez via Pexels

While there are various factors contributing to Threads’ decline, perhaps the most notable aspect was Threads dependence on its mother platform, Instagram. Forcing users to link their Instagram credentials to their Threads profile guarantees a lack of curated online identity, which often will lose users’ excitement as it provides nothing new. Content generation, curation, and maintenance is too similar to Instagram, leading to users disengaging. Why maintain another social media profile when Instagram already exists? 

This phenomena is certainly not new to the world of social media, yet it’s a cautionary tale about the trials and tribulations of a new social media platform. Even for well established companies like META, a new platform’s success is not guaranteed. It can be difficult to identify how the market will respond to a new social media platform as both technology and people’s desires seem to be changing at rapid rates. Therefore, one must go beyond the technical components in order to ensure their social media platform’s success, and maintain activity. 

One of the newest popular social media platforms, BeReal, has achieved enormous success due to its ability to target an aspect of the market missing on other platforms. Built upon “authentic use” , BeReal allows users to post one photo a day highlighting their lifestyle “in real time”. It is now the fastest growing social media app for Gen. Z users worldwide, with a 313% surge of signups this past year. The creators targeted those who felt that social media was “inauthentic”, which seems to be quite the lucrative market. In this instance, identifying a gap within the social media market for users has paid off greatly for BeReal. From its creation in 2020 to now, it seems BeReal is here to stay for many avid social media users. 

While social media’s fruitful rewards seem promising to a young entrepreneur, it takes a lot more than one may think to be successful. Take it from companies like META, a projected profit on paper is not always reality for the social media market. It takes great creativity, skill, and perhaps a bit of luck to crack into the ever-expanding world of social media. 

^^^

Katie Williams, Rome Design Agency

Feature Image by Geri Tech via Pexels

Photo by Anand Kulkarni. Courtesy of Pexels.

What’s Sustainable for Fashion is the Trend with a Future

, , , ,

Sustainable fashion has become quite the buzzword within the fashion industry — for good reason. While it’s not a new phenomena, growing awareness from consumers demands for brands to stress sustainability within their business models. Consumer consciousness grew from the 2013 Bangladesh textile factory collapse where 1,100 workers perished under hazardous conditions, which shed light on the reality behind the origins of our clothes. Sustainability is not just an environmental initiative, but also encompasses social justice for the labor force that fashion corporations currently exploit. 

 

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE FASHION?

The term “sustainable fashion” is an umbrella phrase used to describe the complete production process, from sourcing to manufacturing to consumption. Eco-friendly, ethical, and transparent practices compromise sustainable business methods the industry continues to integrate at increasing rates. Consumer desire for sustainable attributes only seems to grow, forcing brands to reconsider their previous practices under “fast fashion” business models. 

Within the last few decades, “fast fashion” was the industry norm, where brands prioritized cheap labor to manufacture inexpensive clothing at rapid rates to maintain “microtrends”. Cutting costs in sourcing and production greatly increases a brands’ profit margins, at the expense of individuals and the climate. As the “fast fashion” business model grew to popularity, consumer habits also shifted in accordance with demands for more garments at lower costs. On average, garments are discarded 50% faster than 15 years ago, meaning a substantial increase in production rates to maintain consumption habits.  

“Sustainable Fashion” movement aims to revitalize the fashion industry’s business model in various ways. Firstly, minimizing the environmental impact textile production has by using natural resources or existing garments is key to sustainability, as it reduces the industry’s carbon footprint and ecological waste. Another important aspect of sustainability that aims to change both consumer and production habits is respecting a garment’s true usage. Instead of disposing clothes that are “out of season”, sustainable fashion advocates for both consumers and brands alike to keep garments until it’s no longer feasible. One of the last, but arguably very important elements of sustainable fashion is fair and equal treatment of garment workers globally. This means better working conditions that advocate for workers’ safety and treatment while providing a liveable wage. The current labor practices under “fast fashion” already have devastated the lives of many, proving an unsustainable process long term. 

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio Courtesy of Pexels
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio. Courtesy of Pexels

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Already, the environmental consequences from “fast fashion” are evident in locations where textile manufacturing is prevalent. 20% of the world’s wastewater is attributed to textile dyeing, and the industry consumes around 93 cubic meters of water a year, leaving behind microplastics and toxic chemicals within the world’s water supply. Also, textile waste contributes significantly to microplastic pollution in Earth’s water and soil. In order to keep up with industry practices regarding “microtrends”, more and more garments are discarded in landfills, which has created an additional 1.92 million tons of textile waste yearly within our landfills. Unfortunately many of these garments cannot be properly disposed of due to the eco-toxic chemicals used, like microplastics, with the evidence being apparent in our oceans and landfills. 

“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” perhaps represents one of the worst environmental disasters which the fashion industry has contributed to. Between California and Hawaii, roughly 1.6 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean’s surface comprises plastic waste. The waste accumulates rapidly as the ocean’s currents collect waste into gyres, creating “garbage patches” such as that in the Pacific. Unlike other raw materials, plastic is not biodegradable, meaning it takes decades for plastic to dissipate from the environment into microplastics. Even then, these microplastics are toxic to wildlife and terrain, which drastically harms habitats like that of the Pacific Ocean. 

 

HUMANITARIAN IMPACT

About 12% of the global workforce has some formal employment within the fashion industry, with about 60 million people working in textile factories under varying conditions. It remains one of the most profitable industries worldwide, earning 1.53 trillion USD in 2022 alone. Yet on average, most garment workers do not earn enough to sustain themselves despite the industry’s extensive profits. In India, garment workers average 15 cents per hour, working 10 to 12 hour shifts to earn a few dollars a day. 85% of the workforce consists of women, where the global wage gaps are reflected as female garment workers average 60-70% income of male garment workers despite being the majority. 

While such exploitation of the labor force is not unique to the fashion industry, it’s clear that fashion companies’ labor practices exploit a large demographic of factory workers worldwide. A lack of transparency from company to consumer may explain why the humanitarian crisis of garment workers remains appalling still. It is essential to question how companies operate behind the scenes to ensure that ethical business practices are upheld. More brands are sharing their labor practices in attempts to mend the broken trust many customers have as companies’ questionable methods come to light. 

 

CONCLUSION

As consumers, we must hold brands accountable to ensure that ethical labor practices are maintained within the fashion industry to protect garment workers. We have great power over the fashion industry, so it’s essential we use our positions as customers to demand sustainability within fashion. The “sustainable fashion” movement is the future for the fashion industry, and it’s time we delve into eco-friendly business practices on a global scale.

^^^

Feature image by Anand Kulkarni.

Photo by Buro Millennial

Why ‘Intercultural Communications’ academia may just save the Internet

, ,

As the world delves further into a globalized society interdependent on one another economically, socially, and culturally, the age-old phenomena of intercultural conflict occurs, often on a global stage. 

Digitally, the world is connected to each other in virtually every corner, which has had both its successes and consequences within global society. Internet forums, social media pages, and other digital platforms allow people from Asia to communicate with those in North America in a matter of seconds, which seldom existed previous to this century. The level of awareness and education about different cultures, as well as the information flow between regions is at an all-time high, but this isn’t as positive as you may think. 

If you’ve ever surfed the worldwide web, you’re bound to come across a plethora of ignorance and cultural insensitivity posted from users regardless of the context. Regardless of the users’ intentions, it reveals a larger issue of intercultural communication clashes between populations— an issue that’ll only get worse with increased globalization. 

Intercultural Communications is a field of academia that grew to prominence around the 1950s that American scholar Edward T. Hall is credited for, advancing the field when he was a part of the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of States. Higher academic institutions across the world began to devise their own academia related to Intercultural Communications, where it remains a prominent field of study today worldwide. It combines a wide range of disciplines like psychology, semiotics, and philosophy to better understand how different cultures interact with each other based on their distinct cultural differences. 

Interesting theories such as Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions or Information flow and Contra-flow are among some research that could prove beneficial to improving cultural sensitivity online. These ideas present a new way of interpreting the global world, such as the Monochronic vs. Polychronic dimensions or collectivism vs. individualism; it allows us to rationalize the differences we see between populations in a way that minimizes judgment and prejudice. It’s human nature to perceive things that clash with our dominant understandings as negative, especially when it relates to our identities. But this doesn’t mean those initial judgements should be taken as truthful, and may in fact lead to further conflict between groups. 

Photo by Fauxels
Photo by Fauxels via Pexels.

For example, many Westerners may think it’s absurd to eat food primarily with their hands, whereas most nonwestern societies prefer not to use cutlery. Both groups may quickly assume one another is odd, and their way is better, yet these sentiments only further create intercultural conflict. While this example may seem harmless in itself, such predispositions have drastic consequences on intercultural communication, clearly visible within the digital world. 

In 2020, Twitter hate speech against China and the Chinese community increased 900% in part due to the ignorance about the pandemic. In general, internet traffic towards “hate sites” targeting Asians increased 200% in 2020 as well. Digital hate speech trends often reflect overall stereotypes, prejudices, and ignorance held by populations about one another that is echoed through forums and digital interactions. 

44% of digital hate crimes reported in the UK contained Xenophobic or racist motivations in 2020, with most coming from popular social media platforms like Facebook. A further 27% of hate crimes involved religion, with both Islamophobia and Anti-semiticsm equally prevalent online. UK police believe that most digital hate crimes go unreported, meaning that any statistics gathered regarding the digital world often are unrepresentative of the issue at hand. Yet it’s clear from what little data available that most digital hate crimes are rooted in intercultural conflict, which will only get worse as globalization becomes the new normal.  

Most of us access the digital world everyday, whether it’s for personal, professional, or a combination of both purposes. It’s been a great tool for education, sharing the previous secrets of cultures with each other from the click of a button. But current conversations about cultural sensitivity and intercultural communication have yet to match with the digital society, proposing a threat to the progress of the world wide web. Intercultural communications academia may just be the solution to cleaning up our digital world in favor of a positive socio-cultural internet. 

^^^

Kathryn Williams, Rome Design Agency.

Feature Image by Buro Millenial via Pexels.

Photo by Fauxels

What is ‘ethical AI’ and how can companies achieve it?

, , , ,

The rush to deploy powerful new generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, has raised alarms about potential harm and misuse. The law’s glacial response to such threats has prompted demands that the companies developing these technologies implement AI “ethically.”

But what, exactly, does that mean?

The straightforward answer would be to align a business’s operations with one or more of the dozens of sets of AI ethics principles that governments, multistakeholder groups and academics have produced. But that is easier said than done.

We and our colleagues spent two years interviewing and surveying AI ethics professionals across a range of sectors to try to understand how they sought to achieve ethical AI – and what they might be missing. We learned that pursuing AI ethics on the ground is less about mapping ethical principles onto corporate actions than it is about implementing management structures and processes that enable an organization to spot and mitigate threats.

This is likely to be disappointing news for organizations looking for unambiguous guidance that avoids gray areas, and for consumers hoping for clear and protective standards. But it points to a better understanding of how companies can pursue ethical AI.

Grappling with ethical uncertainties

Our study, which is the basis for a forthcoming book, centered on those responsible for managing AI ethics issues at major companies that use AI. From late 2017 to early 2019, we interviewed 23 such managers. Their titles ranged from privacy officer and privacy counsel to one that was new at the time but increasingly common today: data ethics officer. Our conversations with these AI ethics managers produced four main takeaways.

First, along with its many benefits, business use of AI poses substantial risks, and the companies know it. AI ethics managers expressed concerns about privacy, manipulation, bias, opacity, inequality and labor displacement. In one well-known example, Amazon developed an AI tool to sort résumés and trained it to find candidates similar to those it had hired in the past. Male dominance in the tech industry meant that most of Amazon’s employees were men. The tool accordingly learned to reject female candidates. Unable to fix the problem, Amazon ultimately had to scrap the project.

Generative AI raises additional worries about misinformation and hate speech at large scale and misappropriation of intellectual property.

Second, companies that pursue ethical AI do so largely for strategic reasons. They want to sustain trust among customers, business partners and employees. And they want to preempt, or prepare for, emerging regulations. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Cambridge Analytica used Facebook user data, shared without consent, to infer the users’ psychological types and target them with manipulative political ads, showed that the unethical use of advanced analytics can eviscerate a company’s reputation or even, as in the case of Cambridge Analytica itself, bring it down. The companies we spoke to wanted instead to be viewed as responsible stewards of people’s data.

The challenge that AI ethics managers faced was figuring out how best to achieve “ethical AI.” They looked first to AI ethics principles, particularly those rooted in bioethics or human rights principles, but found them insufficient. It was not just that there are many competing sets of principles. It was that justice, fairness, beneficence, autonomy and other such principles are contested and subject to interpretation and can conflict with one another.

This led to our third takeaway: Managers needed more than high-level AI principles to decide what to do in specific situations. One AI ethics manager described trying to translate human rights principles into a set of questions that developers could ask themselves to produce more ethical AI software systems. “We stopped after 34 pages of questions,” the manager said.

Fourth, professionals grappling with ethical uncertainties turned to organizational structures and procedures to arrive at judgments about what to do. Some of these were clearly inadequate. But others, while still largely in development, were more helpful, such as:

  • Hiring an AI ethics officer to build and oversee the program.
  • Establishing an internal AI ethics committee to weigh and decide hard issues.
  • Crafting data ethics checklists and requiring front-line data scientists to fill them out.
  • Reaching out to academics, former regulators and advocates for alternative perspectives.
  • Conducting algorithmic impact assessments of the type already in use in environmental and privacy governance.

Ethics as responsible decision-making

The key idea that emerged from our study is this: Companies seeking to use AI ethically should not expect to discover a simple set of principles that delivers correct answers from an all-knowing, God’s-eye perspective. Instead, they should focus on the very human task of trying to make responsible decisions in a world of finite understanding and changing circumstances, even if some decisions end up being imperfect.

In the absence of explicit legal requirements, companies, like individuals, can only do their best to make themselves aware of how AI affects people and the environment and to stay abreast of public concerns and the latest research and expert ideas. They can also seek input from a large and diverse set of stakeholders and seriously engage with high-level ethical principles.

This simple idea changes the conversation in important ways. It encourages AI ethics professionals to focus their energies less on identifying and applying AI principles – though they remain part of the story – and more on adopting decision-making structures and processes to ensure that they consider the impacts, viewpoints and public expectations that should inform their business decisions.

Ultimately, we believe laws and regulations will need to provide substantive benchmarks for organizations to aim for. But the structures and processes of responsible decision-making are a place to start and should, over time, help to build the knowledge needed to craft protective and workable substantive legal standards.

Indeed, the emerging law and policy of AI focuses on process. New York City passed a law requiring companies to audit their AI systems for harmful bias before using these systems to make hiring decisions. Members of Congress have introduced bills that would require businesses to conduct algorithmic impact assessments before using AI for lending, employment, insurance and other such consequential decisions. These laws emphasize processes that address in advance AI’s many threats.

Some of the developers of generative AI have taken a very different approach. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, initially explained that, in releasing ChatGPT to the public, the company sought to give the chatbot “enough exposure to the real world that you find some of the misuse cases you wouldn’t have thought of so that you can build better tools.” To us, that is not responsible AI. It is treating human beings as guinea pigs in a risky experiment.

Altman’s call at a May 2023 Senate hearing for government regulation of AI shows greater awareness of the problem. But we believe he goes too far in shifting to government the responsibilities that the developers of generative AI must also bear. Maintaining public trust, and avoiding harm to society, will require companies more fully to face up to their responsibilities.

^^^

Dennis Hirsch, Professor of Law and Computer Science; Director, Program on Data and Governance; core faculty TDAI, The Ohio State University and Piers Norris Turner, Associate Professor of Philosophy & PPE Coordinator; Director, Center for Ethics and Human Values, The Ohio State University.

This article originally appeared in The Conversation under a Creative Commons License.

Feature image by Fauxels via Pexels.

Image by Pavel Danilyuk

Toxic work cultures start with incivility and mediocre leadership. What can you do about it?

, ,

You’re in a meeting, with something important to say. Just as you begin, a colleague sighs and shares an eye-roll with their buddy. And not for the first time.

Workplaces aren’t always harmonious. Whether it’s a cafe, factory or parliament, people do and say hurtful things. They may talk down to you, “call you out” in front of others, make jokes at your expense, gossip about you behind your back, or give you the silent treatment.

This type of incivility doesn’t quite rise to the level where you can complain to human resources and expect a satisfying resolution. Organisations typically have policies against racism, sexism, harassment and other overt forms of abuse. But incivility – being less severe and more difficult to prove – tends to fly under the radar.

Most of us will experience incivility at some point at work. More than 50% experience it weekly. According to a 2022 meta-analysis of 105 incivility studies, you’re more likely to cop it if you’re new, female, in a subordinate position, or from an ethnic minority.

Unkind and thoughtless words matter. As linguist Louise Banks says in the 2016 film Arrival: “Language is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.”

What people say and how they say it affects us deeply. One cruel remark can ruin your whole day. Left unchecked, incivility makes for a toxic workplace.

Why are people rude to each other?

It’s tempting to simply blame bad character. Certainly such behaviour is much more likely from people with dysfunctional personality traits, especially the “dark triad” of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.

The dark triad
Image by Wikimedia Commons.

Narcissists are self-obsessed and dominate social interactions. Psychopaths lack empathy and don’t understand social norms. Machiavellians are manipulative, self-interested and amoral.

But even “nice” people can be uncivil, with the three most common incivility triggers being because they feel let down by their leaders, are under more pressure than they can handle, or someone else was rude first – to them or others.

Incivility can therefore become a vicious spiral that turns victims and bystanders into perpetrators. That’s how toxic workplaces are born, develop, and perpetuate.

Incivility in the workplace

Leadership sets the tone. We’re social creatures and learn what’s expected and acceptable from those we look up to. Our leaders’ behaviour is infectious, and cascades down throughout and across organisations – for better or worse.

Incivility is most harmful when it comes from a supervisor: someone we’re supposed to trust, who’s supposed to look after us.

The power asymmetry means leaders’ inappropriate behaviour is less likely to be challenged. Take, for example, Harvey Weinstein, who for decades abused his position as one of Hollywood’s most successful film producers to sexually exploit women, before finally being held to account.

 

But managers can be derelict in their duty without being perpetrators. As in the case of sexual harassment, it may be easier to see and hear no evil, perhaps because the perpetrator is favoured as a high performer or a friend. With the capacity for one individual to make life a misery for many colleagues, this leadership failure can lead to a toxic workplace culture.

Authentic leadership ‘in the trenches’

It’s up to leaders to be the first movers against incivility and create positive work cultures with their own behaviour. What leaders will tolerate on their team sets the bar for how everyone else will behave.

With colleagues Stephen Teo and David Pick, I’ve surveyed 230 nurses across Australia about the leadership qualities that help reduce incivility.

Why ask nurses? Because their work is stressful and demanding. The strain of providing critical care for patients creates conditions conducive to conflict, from swearing to physical violence. Workplace incivility is frequent and these stressors increase the likelihood of medical mistakes. So there’s good reason to reduce incivility to improve health-care quality.

Our research shows that authentic leadership promotes workplace cultures with less incivility and better well-being. Such authentic leaders are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, act on their values even under pressure, and work to understand how their leadership affects others.

What can you do?

Incivility isn’t okay. It should never be excused as “just part of the job”.

If this is happening to you, or others in your workplace, avoiding it won’t help you or your colleagues. Putting up with incivility is emotionally taxing, entrenches feelings of resentment and will likely lead to bigger conflicts down the track.

Responding with more incivility of your own isn’t a good idea. Retaliation rarely deters a person who engages in such behaviour and instead effectively endorses it.

One approach recommended by psychologists when dealing with high-conflict personalities is known as the BIFF technique: be brief, informative, friendly and firm.

When someone says something mean, you might respond, as calmly as possible, along the lines of: “Your comments are hurtful and damage our working relationship. Please, let’s keep things professional.”

If the behaviour persists, approach your supervisor. Again, stay calm. Explain what’s happening and how it’s affecting you. You don’t have to go at it alone either: consider inviting colleagues who can support you, and your claims.

Will this fix the problem? Possibly not. Your manager might simply shrug their shoulders, or arrange a “mediation” that resolves nothing. But saying and doing nothing will almost certainly leave you unsatisfied.

If your manager is the perpetrator, contact your HR department first (if your organisation has one) or else your union. The union can offer advice on other avenues to seek redress.

Statutory agencies such as Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman, Employment New Zealand and the UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service have the power to investigate workplace complaints, and to intervene in disputes through formal conciliation or arbitration. But before embarking on such a process, it’s best to get expert advice. You might get justice, but also still need to find another job.

Incivility is unlikely to stop on its own, however. Your voice matters and can help break the cycle.

^^^

Andrei Lux, Lecturer of Leadership and Director of Academic Studies, Edith Cowan University.

This article originally appeared in The Conversation under a Creatives Commons License.

Feature image by Pavel Danilyuk.

IMG_0048

Two Cheers for Obscurity and Oblivion: What is Wrong With a Legacy-less Life?

,

A friend of mine told me recently that he wants to write a book, so that he will be remembered after he is gone.

“If I believe that my name will be carried forward somehow,” he said, “that is probably the most important thing.”

Why did he care? I wondered.

“Because I just do,” he replied.

Ah, legacy!

On Being Remembered in a Hundred Years

People think that if you write a book, you will be leave something permanent behind, and that people will remember you a hundred years from now.

Think of them, yesteryear’s authors of acclaim!

My friend seeks to join Ishbel Ross, for example, the first woman who worked fulltime for a daily American paper, and whose acclaimed and popular debut novel, Promenade Deck,sat on the bestseller lists for an entire year in 1932, spawning a film version that starred Zasu Pitts.

He yearns to be in the pantheon beside Joe David Brown, whose novels included Addie Pray, a bestseller turned into an Academy Award winning film starring Tatum O’Neal and a TV show that starred Jodie Foster.

How many people recognize the names Joe David Brown or Ishbel Ross today? Their books are long out of print. Promenade Deck warrants two reviews on Goodreads, one by me, one by someone to whom I recommended the book. The film version is so little remembered today, it doesn’t even appear in Rotten Tomatoes’ list of Zasu Pitts’ movies. Where can one watch it today? It may or may not be lost; no one cares. If you want to read the book, there is one copy for sale in the whole world. Some university libraries have archived copies. And this is a great book!

What about the famous movie stars of yesterday?

Remember Harrison Ford, a movie star quite popular in his heyday? He co-starred with Mary MacLaren in The Mysterious Mrs. M. He was a popular Jazz Age heartthrob who headlined around a hundred movies. No one remembers him today.

You’ve guessed that I don’t mean Harrison Ford, of Indiana Jones fame. I mean the other Harrison Ford, one of America’s first big movie stars. Our Harrison Ford originally billed himself as Harrison J. Ford to avoid confusion, but by 1970, a mere ten years after the silent star’s death, he quietly dropped the initial. No one would be confused, because no one would ever again remember the Harrison Ford who came before.

These were giants of their era; less than two generations later, they have vanished without a trace from public consciousness.

Why Do We Care About Legacy?

While many people aspire to leave a lasting legacy that will be remembered by future generations, the reality is that most of us will be forgotten in less than two generations, or even one, even by our families. What can you tell me about your great-grandfather? Maybe a little bit. What can you tell me about your great-great-grandmother? Her name? Maybe not even that.

I disabused my friend, the would-be-author, of the notion that writing a book will give him any kind of immortality. Even if you achieve some renown in the here-and-now, people will almost certainly not remember you.

How can we come to terms with this and still find meaning in our lives?

Why Do We Seek to Leave a Legacy?

There are many psychological reasons why you might seek to leave a legacy, including a desire for immortality, a need for purpose and a fear of death. Many cultural and societal influences reinforce the idea of legacy, such as the importance placed on famous historical figures, the emphasis on accomplishments and achievements, and tributes paid to those who have died. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing,” and Shannon Adler opined, “A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” How many times have we heard this kind of thing: Whenever someone tells a joke, people will remember Jack Benny’s humor and wit. But this kind of thing is never true. I wish it were so; at the turn of the next century, people should still listen to Jack Benny’s old comedy radio shows, which dominated the 8 pm Sunday time slot for decades. But they won’t.

For many years, Jack Benny had a radio feud with a comedian named Fred Allen, who is today even more obscure than Benny. Fred Allen, one of the most popular stars at the time, a titan of vaudeville, radio and movies, saw it all coming; he titled his autobiography, Treadmill to Oblivion. It’s a really excellent book, by the way, acclaimed and wildly popular in its time. It’s out of print.

The Limits of Legacy

There are many historical and cultural factors that can determine who is remembered and who is forgotten. Wealth, power and social status are some of the factors that can influence how someone is remembered. For example, people who have held positions of power or influence, such as political leaders or wealthy individuals, are often remembered for their accomplishments or contributions to society. Julius Caesar killed a lot of people and was himself murdered, although his military strategies were ingenious and are still studied today. He leaves a legacy.

However, it’s important to note that the process of remembering and forgetting is not always fair or equitable. The selection of what is worthy of being preserved for future generations can be influenced by cultural and political reasons. Some people may be forgotten despite their contributions or accomplishments.

And some people may be remembered in ways that no one would especially desire. In 1974, Tom Stoppard wrote a play called “Travesties,” which centers on the figure of Henry Carr, an elderly man who reminisces about Zurich in 1917 during the First World War and his interactions with James Joyce when he was writing Ulysses, Tristan Tzara during the rise of Dada, and Lenin leading up to the Russian Revolution. Stoppard chose to feature Carr, a real-life figure whose main claim to fame was a little-known dispute with Joyce, because of Carr’s comical obscurity; Carr’s legacy, today, is that of a hapless fellow who inadvertently inspired a great play.

Similarly, Lisa Gherardini and Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga are remembered today, hundreds of years after their respective deaths, not for their own accomplishments, but as the inspiration for great works of art. You don’t even know their names, but you know their faces. The latter lived only to the age of eight, but his legacy has inspired the world for hundreds of years; he would doubtless have preferred a full life to an artistic legacy. Emmett Till’s murder helped bring about the civil rights movement; he inspired Rosa Parks to remain seated. “I thought of Emmett Till and when the bus driver ordered me to move to the back,” she later said. “I just couldn’t move.”

Emmett Till’s legacy is famous and impactful.

Still, he would have preferred a quiet childhood and a long life of obscurity.

Finding Meaning in a Legacy-less Life

Is there “meaning” in a forgotten life? A process known as “meaning-making” has arisen to address specifically that quandary.

Meaning-making is not a concept that was created by one person, but rather a term that has been used by various thinkers and researchers from different fields and disciplines, including Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist and holocaust survivor,  who wrote about the importance of finding meaning in life, especially in the face of suffering and adversity, Robert Kegan, the  developmental psychologist who used the term “meaning-making” as a key concept in his theories of human development and counseling, and Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner, educational critics and promoters of inquiry education who published a chapter called “Meaning Making” in their book Teaching as a Subversive Activity.

Meaning-making is a process by which you can construe, understand or make sense of life events, relationships and the self. Widely used in constructivist approaches to counseling psychology and psychotherapy as a way of learning that involves identities and emotions, meaning-making can help you find purpose and fulfillment in life, even if you are not remembered by future generations, and to develop more nuanced, complex and useful beliefs to live a better, more whole and happy life, to value life in this moment and to live and love fully, knowing that you may not get another chance.

Twenty years after your death, that editorial assistant who worked for you for six months at Novelty Press will occasionally recall that you were boring but OK and that guy who moved into the apartment on the 4th floor of your co-op in Park Slope will tell his grandkids what an asshole you were. And they will both be right. And twenty years after that, they will both be dead, and no one will know that the guy on the 4th floor of your co-op hated you, or that the editorial assistant at Novelty Press would have disagreed.

Finding meaning in life is a personal and subjective process that can vary from person to person, but there are a few easy rules of thumb: Focus on your relationships, pursue your passions and embrace the present moment.

Focus on relationships

Relationships with family, friends, partners, pets or community members can provide a sense of belonging, support, love and purpose. They can also enrich your lives with joy, laughter and shared experiences. To cultivate meaningful relationships, be present, attentive, empathetic and respectful of others — although you will not always succeed! (Accept your flaws, friend.) You can also express your gratitude, appreciation and affection for them. You can seek out people who share your values, interests and goals, and who inspire you to grow and learn.

Pursue your passions

Activities or causes in which you feel deeply interested or excited, or to which you are deeply committed, can provide you with a sense of fulfillment, creativity and self-expression. They can also challenge you to develop new skills, knowledge or perspectives. Identify what you enjoy doing, what you are good at or what you care about. Set realistic and attainable goals for yourself and celebrate your progress and achievements. Seek out opportunities to share your passions with others who appreciate them or benefit from them. It may be birdwatching, something that no one will note a hundred years from now. OK, then; pursue your passion for birdwatching and let future generations pay no attention.

Embrace the present moment

The present moment is the only moment over which you have control and that you can experience fully. It is also the moment that contains the most potential for meaning and happiness. To embrace the present moment, be mindful of your thoughts, feelings, sensations and surroundings. Practice gratitude for what you have and acceptance of what you cannot change. Seek out moments of beauty, wonder and awe in nature, art, music or spirituality.

How Was Your Day, Today?

While the desire to leave a legacy is understandable, consider the possibility that it’s not necessary, that it’s not even desirable. Embrace the present, focus on living a meaningful life now and find ways to make a positive impact in your own way. How was today? No one will remember it in a year’s time, you won’t even remember it a year from now, but you are experiencing it now, and how was it?

Shakespeare wrote that the evil people do will live on; but the good that people do will be utterly forgotten, “interred with their bones.” If you have done something terrible, people will really remember you. If you do something good … eh, not so much, as the kids say.

How many diners enjoyed the Sumptuary Restaurant during the 35 years that it graced the second floor of its 3rd Avenue storefront in Manhattan? Many many many! Yet who will speak of it in a hundred years? Who speaks of it today? Still, I had many great meals there. It was worthwhile, it was beautiful, during every single moment that it lasted and not a moment longer.

So what’s so bad about not being remembered a hundred years from now?

Not Even the Universe is a Forever-Thing

As I wrote back in 2012,

[A]m I the only person alive today who has read all Ishbel Ross’s novels? Are my daughters the only modern children who have read Peggy and Paul and Laddy? Including the authors’ families? I think I take a little strange pride in being a huge fan of something no one else remembers. Don’t even get me started on the Cleek books, the unfinished version of The Thief and the Cobbler, and the late Randy VanWarmer’s Terraform album. (Really. If you bump into me at a party, don’t get me started.)

…. We think that literary and commercial success brings us immortality of a certain sort. But it’s immortality of the most transient kind, which is to say, not immortality at all – it just seems like immortality while it’s happening. The same way everyone always insists that we will live on in the hearts of those who knew us, it’s the beauty of a firefly’s light. But a writer, musician or artist can still always dream that someday, seventy or eighty or a hundred years from now, we’ll entertain someone again, someone wandering through a dusty bookstore or looking on a shelf at a ramshackle vacation rental. So there’s always hope, I guess.

Till the human race goes extinct, that is, or the universe collapses.

There are two trillion galaxies in the universe, and around two million quintillion planets. There are only seven and a half quintillion grains of sand on Earth, which means that there are 267,000 times more planets out there than grains of sand on Earth. We are living our silly and insignificant little lives on just one of them. As I noted in 2017, our whole planet is less significant than a grain of sand on the beach. Our most famous and significant Earthling ever (Barack Obama? David Bowie? Cleopatra?) is less than a gnat in the whole scheme of things, because Earth is less than a gnat in the whole scheme of things.

It’

s all beyond your comprehension; you will drive yourself crazy trying to make sense of any of it.

So: Enjoy the here and now, on this grain of sand, if you can. Don’t worry about your legacy. Don’t even think about it.

Don’t.

^^^

Written by Steven S. Drachman; content and illustration © Oblivioni

Load More