We Are the Weird Ones: Resources

 
 

In my keynote and book, I mention a number of different resources. Here are some of the books, podcasts and other diversity & inclusion resources mentioned, plus other resources you might find helpful:

Curiosity

  • The Bitter Southerner – A multimedia magazine publishing real stories of the American South.

  • Actually Curious - A card game and a movement to spread empathy and build connections through meaningful questions. They also host a free virtual event series called Empathy Workouts, gathering allies to spread empathy and raise funds for Black healing.

Compassion

Authenticity

  • Reality Testing - A psychological concept originally devised by Sigmund Freud, it's how we learn to evaluate our own emotions or thoughts against what is objectively true in the outside world. Check out this tip sheet to learn more about what it is and how to practice it.

  • StrengthsFinder – Stop trying to be more of who you’re not, and start focusing on what naturally makes you powerful and unique. HIGH5 is a similar, free strengths test. The Love Languages personality test and FourSight Creative Thinking Profile are also helpful for understanding your authentic needs and strengths.

Action & Allyship

  • Better Allies – Each week, Karen Catlin shares "5 Ally Actions" via a free, weekly newsletter to create inclusive, engaging workplaces. She's also written two books to help show you the way. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

  • Making The Transition from Ally to Co-conspirator - Written for white people, from a white person, this short article shares tips for taking effective actions and moving beyond allyship to becoming co-conspirators in the movements towards equity and justice for all.

  • Language is constantly evolving, and the words we use matter. Writer and editor Karen Yin created Conscious Style Guide, which is "a reference site for inclusive, compassionate, and empowering language."

 

I’ve learned so much over the years about diversity, equity, and inclusion from many different people, books, podcasts, and other resources. It would be impossible to create a totally comprehensive list of resources, but here are a few good places to start that have personally helped me become better informed:

Podcasts to listen to:

  • 1619 Podcast - This audio series from The New York Times explores how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.

  • Code Switch – A podcast from NPR, featuring journalists of color exploring issues of race and identity.

  • Unlocking Us - Brené Brown hosts "conversations that unlock the deeply human part of who we are, so that we can live, love, parent, and lead with more courage and heart." I highly recommend her interviews with Sonya Renee Taylor and Laverne Cox as well as her solo episode on Words, Actions, Dehumanization, and Accountability.

  • Conscious Roots Radio - Conscious Roots is New Orleans-based and globally recognized for their design and facilitation of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice-centered professional development. Conscious Roots Radio is your weekly place to go to hear Nady and Porscha, co-founders, co-hosts, and friends, give advice on how to live a more equitable and inclusive lifestyle.

Newsletters to subscribe to:

Folks to follow on Instagram:

  • @alokvmenon – Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them) is a gender non-conforming writer and performance artist. They are the creator of #DeGenderFashion: a movement to degender fashion and beauty industries.

  • @bethanycmeyers – Bethany is the founder & CEO of the be.come project, a body-neutral and inclusive approach to fitness.

  • @blairimani - Blair Imani is an award-winning educator, bestselling author of Read This to Get Smarter: about Race, Class, Gender, Disability & More, and creator of the social media series “Smarter in Seconds.”

  • @hellomynameiswednesday – Wednesday is a non-binary queer illustrator and artist.

  • @jocyofthedragons - Jocelyn Ricarda Mondragon is a first generation Mexican-American with a disability called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita. She’s a social media content creator, youtuber, activist, writer, speaker, and model whose work primarily centers on the intersectionality of disability.

  • @leesareneehall - Leesa Renée Hall is an author, playwright, and social historian who helps people go on an Inner Field Trip® to explore their unconscious biases by using expressive writing prompts. I attended one of her workshops in NYC, and it was SO GOOD. Back her on Patreon and get access to access to the multi-day reflective writing quests and small group virtual gatherings.

  • @lilnativeboy – Allen Salway is a 23-year-old Diné, Oglala Lakota, Tohono O’odham writer / community organizer from the eastern part of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Learn more and support his work via Patreon.

  • @mia.mingus – Mia Mingus is a writer, educator and community organizer for disability justice and transformative justice. I highly encourage you to read her blog essay titled, "You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths: COVID, Abled Supremacy & Interdependence.”

  • @minaa_b - Jessmina Archbold, better known as Minaa B., is an author, writer, licensed social worker, and mental health educator. In 2016, Minaa debuted her first book Rivers Are Coming, a compilation of essays and poems on healing from emotional wounds inflicted by depression and trauma.

  • @nativeapprops – Adrienne J. Keene is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who writes on the Internet about representations of Native peoples in popular culture, and has been writing her blog Native Appropriations since 2010.

  • @shooglet – Shoog McDaniel is a southern, queer, non-binary, fat photographer and artist whose work is about highlighting bodies and lives that are often overlooked by popular society.

  • @sonyareneetaylor - Sonya is an award-winning performance poet, activist, transformational leader, and the author of The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love.

  • @thejeffreymarsh - Jeffrey Marsh is the first openly nonbinary public figure to be interviewed on national television. Jeffrey has been a student and teacher of Zen Buddhism for over twenty years, and they are the bestselling author of How To Be You, an innovative, category-non-conforming work that combines memoir, workbook, and spiritual advice.

This list is by no means exhaustive. I’ll continue to add resources I recommend as I find them. Know of a resource that should be on this list? Let me know!

 

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