The Changing face of Politics by Culturs -- the Global Multicultural Magazine

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HOW TCKS ARE

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THE HISTORIC ELECTION OF

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FEATURES ON OUR COVER

20 The Changing Face of Politics in the United States

From the House to the Senate and the White House itself, we are at the beginnings of truly representing those we serve.

28 Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project

Some days COVID-19 seems like it’s stealing our collective soul; this historical project shows how we can take it back.

50 How TCKs are

Changing the Face of Politics Barack Obama, John McCain, Kamala Harris and more — Third Culture Kids truly are making their mark.

16 Are You the Consumer or the Product?

A new streaming video platform focuses on privacy as much as it does creatives.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Eugene Tapahe

CONTENTS

WINTER/SPRING 2021

86 Bias in our

Digital Democracy The fight for algorithmic justice discusses considerations in Artificial Intelligence.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

40 Drafting a New

Chilean Constitution In late 2019, people took to Chilean streets in droves, but the outcome may not solve the problem.

70 Book Review: Caste Is it racism or a racially based caste system?

Sunni Begay

69 Third Culture Kid Vocabulary Poster Series

Bet you didn’t know: There’s a word for that.

74 Pilgrims: A Poem 78 U.S. Immigration:

Flouting the Law? The second in a two-part series examining U.S. immigration policies tells the story of two sisters.

90 Global Patriotism

THE MUST LIST 58 Must Listen: Ghanian Musician Drops New Music 62 Must Know: The Lion King Musical on Clubhouse 64 Must Read: Dutch Art of Doing Nothing 66 Must Read: Weird Culture Kids

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 Contributors 10

Culturally Fluid Definitions

12 Publisher’s Letter 13 Cultural Connections 16 Technology 75 Life Mastery

Examining how the breadth of global citizenship fits into local politics. www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

CONTRIBUTORS Third Culture Adult EDITH ANDERSEN was born and raised in Reykjavik, Iceland. After spending a year in Great Britain to learn English, she came to the United States in the late sixties. She attended Eastern Michigan University and Oakland University in Mich., U.S.A. After teaching for thirty years, she turned her attention to writing, beginning with, “i am from iceland, a memoir,” along with several children’s books. Her blog at edithandersen.com, educates, informs and is sprinkled with humor. Andersen became a U.S. citizen in June of 2009. She now holds dual citizenship in Iceland and the U.S. She and her husband divide their time in the U.S. between Colorado and Florida.

ANDREA BAZOIN (pronounced “Bah-Zwah”) is a higher education professional turned entrepreneur. She is the founder of everHuman, LLC (www.everhuman.io), a company that provides tech support alongside coaching, project assistance and workshops delivered with both expertise and empathy. Her family ties span the globe and include Chile, Argentina, Australia and France. She currently lives in Fort Collins, Colo., with her French husband and culturally fluid son.

TODD CORNELL is a U.S.-born Chinese cultural scholar, linguist and business consultant who spent his formative years in China. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies and is the principal of Cultur668, a consulting service for U.S. companies doing business in China.

Third Culture Kid Expert MYRA DUMAPIAS is the Chief Executive Officer of TCKidNOW, which has been featured on the BBC, ABC News, The Telegraph, the U.S. Department of Defense and Education Week and helped thousands discover their TCK identity and find a sense of belonging long before mention of the term on social media. TCKidNow provides trauma-informed educational outreach about the lifetime impact of a transnational upbringing. While acknowledging the role healing plays in helping TCKs recognize and develop their skills, TCKidNOW fosters connections that help TCKs find a sense of belonging and give back to the world they grew up in. Dumapias holds a Bachelor’s in English and World Literature and a Master’s in Social Work. Born and raised in Canada, VALERIA FUGATE is the daughter of Chilean political refugees who fled the 1973 coup. Fugate comes from a long line of Spanish and Italian immigrants. Social and political issues played a substantial role in her life and upbringing. She speaks Spanish and French, and has traveled and worked internationally, which she loves. Fugate is a graduate of the College of Multimedia, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Her focus is broadcast journalism and international media with a minor in political science. This rising journalist hopes her work will help bring attention to such issues as immigration, women’s rights, social justice and the cultural and political conflicts that affect North Americans as well as the world.

REBEKAH HENDERSON is a filmmaker, podcaster and owner of Tan Tigress Productions LLC,. a small production company with focus on race and identity. Her identity as a mixed-race person greatly influences her work. The tagline, “What I lack in melanin, I make up in militant” is a nod to her strong Black identity that comes in a very light-skinned package. She hosts the “Off Color” podcast in its various formats and creates films that aim to educate and activate as well as highlight great work community members are doing. She is Co-founder of MTOB (More Than One Box) A Mixed Gathering, which is now an annual event that celebrates multiracial people and their families. She holds a Masters degree in Library and Information Sciences and lives in Denver, Colo., U.S.A. with her husband and son.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Adult Third Culture Kid, NGOC (BI) NGUYEN was born in Moscow, Russia, raised in Hanoi, Vietnam and educated in an International French school for twelve years before moving to Conn., U.S.A. for boarding school. She is the author of “Weird Culture Kids,” a memoir about identity and growing up TCK. She currently lives in France.

EUGENE TAPAHE, Diné (Navajo), is the owner, photographer and graphic designer at Tapahe Photography and Tapahe Inventive Design. His experience ranges from Managing Editor, Art Director, Senior Animator/Designer and Photographer for publications such as The Navajo Times, ESPN The Magazine, Communication Arts Magazine, and Photoshop User Magazine. He draws creative inspiration from his Navajo culture and credits his traditional upbringing for his continued success. His photography and work in his professional career have taken him to the NFL Super Bowl, MLB World Series and other major world events.

DIANA VEGA is a Third Culture Adult. Born in Mexico and passioned about design, they studied architecture and started a small a business after college. Interested in entrepreneurship, Vega moved to Colo., U.S.A. to earn an MBA at Colorado State University. Now repatriated to Mexico, they are a graphic designer and illustrator for Culturs magazine.

SHANTHI YOGINI, dressed traditionally, is authentic to her roots in more ways than appearance. She founded Yoga-for-Happiness Academy with a vision to “Actualize World Peace and Happiness through Authentic Yoga-Science.” HER STAND IS TWO-FOLD: To stop misappropriation of Ancient-Yoga-Science diluted as Mere-Physical-Practice & Inauthentic-Yoga-Branding; to reclaim its Authenticity as-a-Science-of-How-to-Live through Revolutionary Modern Movement, namely “Two-Yoga-Minutes to Happiness.” Shanthi, a former software engineer, comes from a lineage of Yoga-Masters. She trains YogaTeachers as Yoga-Scientists and Yoga-Leaders, NOT as mere Yoga-Instructors. Shanthi is International Yoga-Master, Yoga-Activist, Coach, #1 International Best-Selling Author, EyeOpening Speaker, Multicultural Workshop-Presenter, Healer, Dancer, Interactive-Storyteller and a highly sought-after TV, podcast and radio show guest. For a free download of Shanthi’s book, visit www.YogaforHappiness.com

Adult Third Culture Kid JENNA YOUNT was born in the United States and raised in Honduras. She moved to Illinois, U.S.A., where she got a Bachelor’s in Sociology before scattering once again to North Carolina. When not at work, Jenna spends time with her husband, Joseph, plays way too many video games, draws and attempts to craft things out of wood. Like most TCKs, she is on a journey to fully comprehend the nuances of having grown up cross-culturally and takes every opportunity she can to explore new crevices of the world.

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Winter / Spring 2021

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Connect with Culturs on social:

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"This is soooo beautiful! I love the choices of tone and color. The cover is popping!"

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"I subscribe to your magazine and love it as a TCK myself." — @amirah360

Winter/Spring 2021 www.CultursMag.com Volume III, Issue XI

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"This is so gorgeous!! Can’t wait to dive in." — Andrea B.

PUBLISHER & FOUNDER Doni Aldine

EDITORIAL WEB EDITOR Michelle Ancell SENIOR EDITOR Tammy Matthews

"You are a Cross Culture Kid and a Third Culture Adult, like me — just different cultures. There is a community for you @cultursmag." — @antoinetteleetoscano

"Thank you @cultursmag! Your issues makes me want to start an old fashion vision board. I think that I will craft one today. #GRAITFULL2021."

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— Patricia G. R.

COLUMNISTS Andrea Bazoin Todd Cornell Myra Dumapais Shanthi Yogini

CREATIVE ART DIRECTION Doni Aldine

Malik Carr Dave Davidson GRAPHIC DESIGN Natalia Reyes Escobar Diana Vega Carlos Figueroa ILLUSTRATION Kale & Flax Diana Vega photography PHOTOGRAPHERS Xavier Hadley Bach Bao Khuê Heather Hazzan Jay Berino, Jaybird Mikel Healey photography Janeb13 Precious Brooks

— @feellikebutter

"What a BEAUTIFULLY designed issue. LOVE LOVE LOVE. The cover is gorgeous, the colors are vibrant, the stories are culturally beautiful... AMAZING!!!!!!"

CONTRIBUTORS Edith Andersen Jenna Claire Valeria Fugate Rebekah Henderson Ngoc (Bi) Nguyen Eugene Tapahe

Hugo Morales Alvaro Navarro Gage Skidmore Eugene Tapahe WEB DESIGN Internet Growth Systems McMillion Multimedia

SUPPORTERS ADVISORY BOARD Chumba Limo Brooke Martellaro Gregory Moore Donna Musil

Linda Thomas Brooks Antionette Williams

SPECIAL THANKS: Eugene Tapahe Colorado State University Journalism and Media Communication

Connect with Culturs on social: @CultursMag @CultursGuruTCK Clubhouse: @CultursMag XOTV.me: @CultursMag SUBSCRIPTIONS: www.subscribe.Cultursmag.com. ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: Contact advertise@culturs.org. MEDIA INQUIRIES: Contact press@culturs.org. CULTURSTM magazine, Volume 2, Issue 3. Copyright Culturs Global Multicultural Philanthropic Lifestyle Network. All rights reserved. Published quarterly; Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, by Simply Alive, LLC, 1800 Wazee Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80525. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Culturs magazine, 1800 Wazee Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80525. Reproduction in whole or part without express written consent is strictly prohibited. Simply Alive LLC does not assume responsibility for the advertisements, nor any representation made therein, nor the quality or deliverability of the products themselves. No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited submissions, manuscripts, photographs, and other material submitted. Culturs makes every effort to provide accurate information in advertising and editorial content, however, does not make any claim as to the accuracy of information provided by advertisers or editorial contributors and accepts no responsibility or liability for inaccurate information. PRINTED IN THE USA

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Winter / Spring 2021

Culturally Fluid Definitions n the 21st century, assessing someone’s background from outward appearance isn’t enough as hidden, rather than visual, diversity means people increasingly bring more to the table than meets the eye.

Whether through nationality, travel, race or ethnicity, many straddle culture in myriad ways. From Cultural Fluidity, to Third Culture Kid, Expat, Third Culture Adult, Cross-Cultural Kid and more, the language to describe our in-between community is of

Cross-Cultural Kid (CCK) A term coined by author Ruth Van Reken in 2002, is a person who is living, has lived, or meaningfully interacted with two or more cultural environments for a significant period of time during the first 18 years of life. This includes minoritized individuals living within majority culture.

Adult Cross-Cultural Kid (ACCK)

utmost importance. Knowing the vocabulary creates understanding and deepens our sense of belonging and connections to others with similar experiences. Here’s a quick overview so you can follow along any of our articles with ease:

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) Coined by Sociologist Ruth Useem in the 1950s as a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. The first culture is considered an individual’s passport culture, while the second culture consists of the culture(s) in which the individual has lived. The third culture is a result of the person’s life experience; this is the culture to which they most belong. The third culture often is where individuals feel community with others of similar experience.

An adult who grew up as a Cross-Cultural Kid.

Domestic TCK Cultural Fluidity/Cultural Mobility A term coined by Culturs founder Donnyale Ambrosine to characterize hidden diversity created by people who don’t or didn’t grow up in a homo genous cultural environment. Culturally Fluid individuals may straddle nationalities, ethnicities, race or culture. The fluidity created allows understanding between or among their foundational areas of meaningful experience. It also may hinder

Illustration by Diana Vega

sense of belonging to any one area.

Missionary Kids Children of missionaries who travel to missions domestically or abroad. 10

Fall 2020 Winter / Spring | www.CultursMag.com 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Children who moved to various regions within the same country while growing up, often having to re-learn ways of being, especially as regional differences in dress, speech and action are heightened in formative years when it is important to be accepted.

Third Culture Adult (TCA) Coined in 2002 by Psychotherapist Paulette Bethel to signify individuals who travel extensively and are immersed in, or live in global locations after the age of 18 (after identity has been solidified).

Adult Third Culture Kid (ATCK) An adult who grew up as a TCK.

Refugees Internationally nomadic group not characterized by a parent’s occupation. Displaced from their homeland forcibly or by choice, often having fled for varied reasons — violence, politics, religion, environment, etc. Refugees typically do not return to their origin country.

Immigrants People who, for varied reasons, immigrate to a country different than their homeland to stay permanently. Many return to their home countries to visit, though some do not.

Expatriate (Expat) As defined by Merriam Webster — to leave one’s native country to live elsewhere; which also sometimes means to renounce allegiance to one’s native country.

Military B.R.A.T. Children of military who move with parents to different places within or outside of their home country. They often experience other cultures within the confines of a military installation or compound that possesses traits of the home country.

Non-Military Foreign Service Children traveling with their parents to various countries in non-military government roles, diplomatic corps, civil service, foreign service, etc.

Diplomat Kids Children whose parents are members of the home country’s political framework while living on foreign soil.

Traveler Those who travel expecting differences among intra-international or international culture, however, not immersed in these cultures for extended periods of time, or long enough to integrate local cultural norms as their own.

International Business Kids Children whose parents work with multi-national corporations takes them to far-away lands, often in professional fields surrounding oil, construction and pharmaceuticals.

Borderlanders Described by author Ruth Van Reken in the book “Third Culture Kids,” a borderlander is a citizen of one country that lives close to another. Often the norms, customs and traits of each country’s culture seeps into the other, creating a cultural experience separate from either original culture, while allowing inhabitants keen knowledge and insight into their own culture as well as the other.

Multiracial People whose family consists of two or more races to which the individual identifies. With race often come cultural norms, slang language and attitudes that can greatly differ. Many multiracial children, though not all, have the unique opportunity to learn norms of all the cultures they comprise.

Multiethnic; Multicultural People whose family consists of two or more cultures to which the individual identifies. Even when belonging to the same race, differences in culture may exist between ethnicities, tribes and other cultural contexts. www.CultursMag.com www.CultursMag.com 2021 | Winter / Spring | Fall 2020

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

Finally! We’re officially into 2021 — but will our fortunes change?

find myself wondering what the future looks like. These days, I hear

many of us embrace home gyms? What will become of blockbuster movie openings in a theater? Will gourmet meals at home be the new date night? Will the burgeoning interest in global travel continue? Chances are it will be an amalgamation of those rushing to get out into the world and those who now savor the warmth of home. But one thing I think is for sure: Our politics will never be the same. This issue examines the changing face of politics and the continued hope that politicians will increasingly phenotypically and ideologically represent the constituents they are voted to serve. In the U.S., from John McCain to Barack Obama to our newly elected Kamala Harris, global viewpoints and diverse backgrounds including Third Culture Kids are taking the stage and showing their worth. TCKs may not look like us, but

people ask, “when will things get back to normal?” One thing I think is almost guaranteed, however: Normal will not be a return to what was — not as we recall, anyway. Now that so many of us are used to staying at home, will we flock to gyms once it’s safe, or will

they have the adaptability and empathy to understand how we think, and to do their best to be as inclusive as possible. This issue also examines the politics of race, from the book Caste, which argues that our social foundation actually is built on a race-based caste system, and other types of democracy — including the politics of artificial intelligence. Our hope is this issue will make you think (out of your usual “box” perhaps), but more than anything, motivate you to do something about the world around you. To take the opportunity of this new year to make a difference in your world and the world of others. For that is the principle on which Culturs is built. Let us know on social which articles inspire you to make a difference, to make a change. We’d love to hear. All the best,

Doni (Dah-knee) Publisher and Founder ulturs — the Global C Multicultural Magazine Culturs.org Cultursmag.com

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

CULTURAL CONNECTIONS

Illustration by Diana Vega

By Todd Cornell

CONFUCIUS A Model of Political and Personal Success

onfucius (551-479 BCE) came from the State of Lu. The State of Lu was one of the many country-states that made up the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history, located around present-day Shan Dong province. Confucius worked in the government court and fought for all to receive equal and fair treatment. However, because he pursued social practices deemed liberal in his day, the high court banished him from his homeland. www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

CULTURAL CONNECTIONS

The story, interpreted in the 2008 Chinese film, “Confucius,” vividly depicts Confucius’ role portrayed by Chow Yun-Fat. After the pivotal relationship with the governing body soured over differing views, the high court magistrate sent a messenger to deliver a message to Confucius. The message was a jade piece; it was a traditionally round piece of jade, designed with a break down the middle. When Confucius removed the jade from its cloth wrapping, he saw the break in the jade and knew that he must leave immediately. He informed his wife, gathered his sparse belongings and departed with his horse pulling the wagon. It set into motion fourteen years of roaming the many nation-states of “The Spring and Autumn Period” of Chinese history, circa 771 to 476 BCE. As Confucius made his way out of the State of Lu, many of his devoted students joined him, eventually catching up with him to accompany him throughout the fourteen-year journey.

CONFUCIUS AND THE YI JING Scholars accredit Confucius for editing the Yi Jing — 易经 (I Ching), as we know it today. He made it more readily accessible to the populace by annotating and rearranging it for clarity. In my Summer 2020 article, “Balance Between Dark and Light, War and Peace,” I introduced the concept of flipping at the pinnacle — 物极必反, when something reaches a pinnacle, it must flip. Here, I present two more gua, both made up of the water trigram and the fire trigram. They are the last two gua of the Yi Jing. The 63rd is 既济卦 (Ji Ji Gua), and the 64th is 未济卦 (Wei Ji Gua).

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Ji Ji Gua

Wei Ji Gua

These two gua represent the cycle of balancing success. In the Ji Ji Gua — fire over water, when success pushes too far, we flip to the Wei Ji Gua — water over fire. The Wei Ji Gua forces us to temper the zeal and overbearing push of excessive aspirations. In recent American politics, the hard push for America First, Nationalism and prosperity surged to the point that it flipped and now cycles to the Wei Ji Gua. That brings us to a time of focus and introspection — an opportunity to foster change and regain balance from the previous Ji Ji Gua period. With water under fire, Ji Ji Gua creates a phenomenon where neither water nor fire can thrive. But the Wei Ji Gua maintains water above fire. Water above fire produces hot water, a rudimentary necessity to support daily life. In this arrangement, the two elements coexist in balance. These two gua cycle through Confucius’ life, from the Ji Ji Gua; success in government to his clash with the ideals of the time, and flip to the Wei Ji Gua; entering into a fourteen-year sojourn of introspection and growth.

CULTURAL CONNECTIONS

WISDOM OF CONFUCIUS Confucius is possibly one of the most renowned teachers of all of humanity. He wrote the Analects, including his teachings and discussions with his students, freezing in time some of the most consequential morals and values to shape the face of Chinese society. Even today, Confucius’ sayings, along with those of his students, roll off the tongues of most Chinese without a second thought. 三人行必有我师焉: When together with others, they are my teachers. That informs us that we can always learn from others if we are open. 己所不欲，勿施于人: That which I do not want, I should not bring to others. That calls us to consider that we should not treat others in ways we would not choose to be treated. 不患人之不己知，患不知人也: Don’t be concerned if others don’t understand you, be concerned that you don’t understand others. It reminds us that we should be more concerned that we are putting forth the effort to understand others rather than be understood. 君子求诸己小人求诸人: A respectable person relies on self; a scoundrel relies on others. That instructs us to know the importance of conducting ourselves in ways that support practical reliance on our skills and abilities to bolster success and respect. This points out that reliance on others is the practice of a scoundrel. 吾日三省吾身: I contemplate my thoughts and actions throughout the day. ~Zeng Zi, a student of Confucius. It reminds us of the importance to continually be mindful of words and actions and how they may affect us and those around us.

Perhaps much of Confucius’ wisdom in life spawned from the fourteen years he wandered the land with his students. His understanding of life certainly deepened after leaving his homeland, enduring the trials of a nomadic lifestyle, suffering harsh elements and losing his most beloved student. After fourteen years, on his death bed, the magistrate who delivered the broken jade to Confucius had a change of heart. He called a messenger to find Confucius and give a fully rounded piece of jade to him. Confucius was overcome with emotion. He was welcome to return home. Following the long trek back to Lu, Confucius fell to the ground weeping upon his return to the land of his father. Throughout his life, Confucius exercised wisdom and compassion by giving selflessly. His understanding permeated first the people of China and then traveled to the whole of humanity, nearly 2000 years later. Confucius’ family name was Kong. We know him as Confucius, Kong Fu Zi, or Master Kong. His real name was Kong Qiu. Today, you can still find his descendants of nearly 100 generations, who take great pride in their last name of Kong. Can we learn compassion and caring for one another in these difficult times? Can we learn to give and share? These are the practices that keep humanity alive. But only when we contemplate — that which I do not want, I should not bring to others.

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Winter / Spring 2021

TECHNOLOGY By Andrea Bazoin, M.Ed., Founder of everHuman

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

TECHNOLOGY

YOU ARE THE

PURPOSE PRODUCT

T Courtesy of XOTV

he saying, which has evolved over time, goes something like this — if you are not paying for it, you are not the customer. You are the product. In just over a decade, megaplatforms like Google, YouTube (owned by Google) and Facebook have conditioned us to pay for their software with our attention, personal behavior monitoring, and even our creative content. In exchange for the rights to track our every keystroke and mouse click and sell it to the highest corporate advertising or special interest bidder, we get to pay nothing for the “privilege” of using their platforms. Of course, you really can’t get something for nothing.

Franz Michael Ressel, COO.

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Winter / Spring 2021

TECHNOLOGY

We all know it’s a lousy setup. No one, given the choice, would volunteer to relinquish control over their own privacy or ownership of their creative content. And, yet, we do it every day. Because there seems to be no good alternatives. What else would we use? In 2017, Franz Michael Ressel, son of Austrian-born tech entrepreneur Franz Ressel, was an up-and-coming YouTuber living in the San Francisco Bay area. He worked for years to build a following of tens of thousands of subscribers, only to have his viewership plummet when YouTube abruptly altered their algorithm. Frustrated with the lack of options to address the loss of viewers and revenue, Franz Michael approached his father for help. “YouTube really doesn’t care about the individual creator, at the end of the day,” explains Franz Michael. “They don’t care about the communities that are on there. They are a data collection machine for Google. That’s what they do. And so Franz said, “Well, why don’t we actually build a platform that puts the creator first — the community first? And, you know, flip this whole thing on its head?” Less than a year later, that’s exactly what they did. Enter XOTV.me — a uniquely creator-centric platform that believes you are the purpose, not the product. As a privacy-focused content marketplace, XOTV.me allows hand-selected content creators to deliver the highest 18

Katie Michell, Director of Marketing and Engagement.

quality, intentional content to community members who want to engage and explore without being advertised to or watched. Rather than paying with their eyeballs, viewers have the ability to directly support their favorite content creators through onetime purchases, donations or modest subscription fees. This means creators can focus on producing the highest quality content, not just churning out marketing bait. In this way, everyone benefits. Videographers, musicians, bloggers and live-streamers from around the world are paid substantially and directly while community members retain their right to privacy and the ability to choose who they’d like to financially support.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Who doesn’t win? Advertisers, special interests and megacorporations looking to maximize shareholder dividends. “We are really privacy focused,” shares Franz. “So, we don’t track anything we don’t have to track, except for what we need to make the website run. We don’t do any data collection, we don’t build any profiles and we don’t use algorithms.” “We actually use one of the most complex algorithms,” adds Franz Michael, “which is the human algorithm. We use HI, not AI — human intelligence.” In other words, what you see on the front page of the site is handcurated by actual people, not machines. The result is a focus on quality, not quantity, and a more engaging, democratic relationship between creators and consumers. “We want to empower creators to follow their passions and tell their stories while giving them a way to make a living off their work,” Franz Michael explains. “We want the creator to get paid what they deserve.” When Culturs Magazine Editor-in-Chief Doni Aldine learned about XOTV from Katie Mitchell, a former student in Aldine’s Culturs Workshop, and later, her “Media and Global Culture Identity” class at Colorado State University. Now graduated and serving as XOTV Director of Marketing and Engagement, Mitchell knew Culturs and XOTV would be a great fit and presented the idea. Aldine immediately was

TECHNOLOGY

Franz Ressel, CEO.

intrigued. As a professional content creator with a mission to develop an engaging crosscultural global community, she saw an opportunity to give voice to Culturs community members through a platform that empowers and engages instead of exploits and distracts. Today, Aldine serves as an Advisor to XOTV and has curated a Culturs Global Multicultural TV channel on the platform. And it’s a perfect fit. XOTV Co-Founders Franz Ressel (father) and Franz Michael Ressel (son) both identify as cross-cultural. Franz emigrated from Austria to the United States at 21 years old. He enrolled at the University of Kansas to pursue both a degree in

Computer Science and a love interest — an American exchange student to Austria that he met because she had taken his place as first chair flutist in a local band while he was away serving in the army. The couple spent a decade in Kansas City, where they had a son, Franz Michael. The family moved to the San Francisco Bay area when Franz Michael was just one.

To accommodate their mobile lifestyle, including frequent trips to Europe, Franz Michael was homeschooled and raised biculturally, though identifies primarily as American. “XOTV has employees and creators around the world, as does Culturs Magazine. We saw working with Culturs as a really good fit.”

To learn more about XOTV, visit XOTV.me and check out Culturs TV, channel 312. Scan here or visit https://xotv.me/channels/312culturs-global-multicultural-tv www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

Heather Hazzan

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

THE CHANGING FACE

OF POLITICS

IN THE UNITED STATES By Rebekah Henderson

n Jan. 20, 2021, the United States will have its forty-fifth out of 46 white male presidents. Since the position of vice-president came into existence in 1789 there have been forty-eight vice presidents, all of them white men. If you lined all of their portraits up on a wall, it would be difficult to pick out the nation’s first multiracial vice president: Charles Curtis. According to the Kansas Historical Society, Curtis was the great-great grandson of White Plume, a Kansa-Kaw Chief. Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris is the first woman and the second multiracial vice president. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, there was talk of a post-racial America; a feeling that perhaps the injustices and inequities of the past were to truly become American history. The election of Donald Trump in 2016 (in spite of what often are viewed as appalling comments about women, racist comments, the subsequent rise of white supremacist groups during his presidency and increased anti-immigrant sentiments), has demonstrated there is considerable work to be done to dismantle systems of oppression in the U.S. Samhita Mukhopadhyay, a first generation Indian American, is Co-editor of the best-selling anthology “Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance and Revolution in Trump’s America.” She is currently Executive Editor at Teen Vogue. Growing up, Mukhopadhyay was the www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

target of racism and antiimmigrant attitudes in her small town located outside of New York City. Mukhopadhyay is feeling hopeful about an administration that includes Harris. She appreciates the historical significance of the first Black and South Asian vice president although, for Mukhopadhyay, this election was about more than the gender or race of any candidate; this election was about saving democracy. On the subject of feeling South Asian pride, Mukhopadhyay is more interested in the interrogation of anti-blackness in the South Asian community saying, “All racial politics in the U.S. is rooted in the oppression of Black people.” Anti-blackness and misogyny are not unique to the United States, they are worldwide phenomena born out European colonization, slavery and the white male patriarchal societies

For Mukhopadhyay, this election was about more than the gender or race of any candidate; this election was about saving

Courtesy of Leslie Herod

democracy.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

created by colonizers. Many women of color were activated to dismantle these systems of oppression after the election of Donald Trump. Saira Rao, a first generation Indian American ran for Congress in 2018 on an anti-racist platform. She attempted to unseat a powerful incumbent and due to the nature of her online antiracist rhetoric she ran afoul of the alt-right and became a target; forcing her family to leave Colorado for an extended period without disclosing their location. Rao’s run for office came with a heavy price, she is just one of many brave women of color who ran, including the, “The Squad,” four women elected in 2018 to

Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod

Courtesy of Saira Rao

the United States House of Representatives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Rao is impressed with the positive impact these four women have had on the nation and she attributes President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Harris to them as well. “I certainly think that they paved the way to make it a political imperative for Joe Biden to pick a woman of color as his running mate,” she says. Rao didn’t win her congressional race, but nothing is lost when community is created. Rao is hopeful that her new venture, Haven, “a collective of BIPOC womxn rooted towards abolition, liberation and healing through art and storytelling” will be part of creating a more just world. Both Rao and Mukhopadhyay are considered somewhat radical by conservatives and Harris is considered moderate by those on the far left. Mukhopadhyay and Rao both understand these critiques and find many of them valid. However, it doesn’t take away from the importance of having Harris in the second highest elected office in the nation. Says Mukhopadhyay, “this is a huge moment, a shattering of the glass ceiling of American politics, we’ve never had a woman in that role.”

Saira Rao

Harris’ gender plus her racial and ethnic identity will undoubtedly continue to be a topic of discussion long after the inauguration. Harris is a tantalizing vision of what American politics could be without misogyny and a racial caste system that places Black people in the lowest position, even after eight years of having a Black president. Biden choosing Harris to be second in command gives anti-racist Americans something that has been in short supply since Obama left office and the onset of the global pandemic: hope. In his “The Atlantic” article “My President Was Black,” Author Ta-Nehisi Coates speculated that Obama’s upbringing gave him a faith and trust in white people that most Black Americans of that time did not experience. Author and professor Tressie McMillan

Cottom disagrees with this theory in her “The Atlantic” response, “The Problem With Obama’s Faith in White America.” She writes that, “It didn’t matter that Obama had faith in white people; they needed only to have faith in him: in his willingness to reflect their ideal selves back at them, to change the world without changing them, to change blackness for them without being Black to them.” The truth of his success likely falls somewhere in between Coates and McMillan Cottom’s theories. Obama didn’t win his election simply because he understood and knew love from white people, he also won because he’s brilliant, eloquent and perhaps most importantly, he’s cool.

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Caleb Alvarado

Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod

Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

If Obama gets his ability to stomach American politics from growing up with a loving white family, what is Harris’ secret? Her multiracial Black and Indian blend doesn’t include white, with the exception of slave-holding ancestors. Harris and Obama have a certain ease and control maneuvering in a political environment dominated by white men. They have a cultural fluidity that undoubtedly has assisted them both in ascending to the very top of the political American landscape. Third Culture Kid (TCK) and rising American political star Colorado State Senator Leslie Herod, served as Obama’s Deputy Political Director in Colorado during his 2012 Re-election Campaign and she co-chaired Harris’ Colorado primary presidential campaign. Her mother was an officer in the United States Army and Herod attributes her ability to work with conservative lawmakers to her upbringing as a Military B.R.A.T. having been exposed to so many cultures in her formative years. Herod is confident that Harris’ life experience will be a boon to her as vice president, “It just shows you

that people with diverse experiences and diverse backgrounds bring something very important to the table. She’s going to be there representing all of her backgrounds, all her experiences.” Herod is very clear however, on how Obama and Harris are racially categorized in the U.S., “Make no mistake, they are both perceived as Black.” Harris’ mother was a Tamil Brahmin, which means she was from the highest caste in India. For some South Asians this means she has caste privilege, however, due to their phenotypes both Harris and Obama are subject to the same racism and discrimination as any other person descended from the enslaved people that built America, regardless of their parents’ countries of origin. What has come undone in the U.S. over the past four years must now be rebuilt, but in a new image, and the new image doesn’t look like the 48 portraits that came before. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris represents the best of what the American dream can and will be going forward, a free country where girls and young women of all backgrounds will look at her, and think, one day, I too, can lead a nation.

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ART HEALS: THE JINGLE DRESS PROJECT By Eugene Tapahe

Photography: Eugene Tapahe, Tapahe Photography Models (L to R): JoAnni Begay Dion Tapahe Erin Tapahe Sunni Begay

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

COVID-19 HAS TAKEN

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POWER OF OJIBWE

JINGLE DANCE

TO HELP HEAL THOSE WOUNDS.

efore the COVID-19 pandemic started, this was supposed to be my year to make an impact in the art world. I had a successful art show at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz., U.S.A., and was excited because this year I was accepted into more art shows than ever before. A few months went by, one by one, art shows cancelled because of COVID-19. The self-distancing and quarantine made my partialhearing loss and depression even worse. I didn’t know what to do. I felt broken. Then I had a dream. I was sitting in a grass field at Yellowstone National Park watching the bison graze on the horizon as the sun set. And then, slowly in the distance, I heard the healing sound of jingles. One by one, beautiful jingle dress dancers appeared. It was as if they were dancing with the bison to the rhythm of a silent drum.

“MMIW: Strength in Unity,” Grand Tetons National Park, Wyo., U.S.A., native land of the Shoshone, Bannock, Gros Ventre and Nez Perce people.

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Winter / Spring 2021

“Sisters of One,” Yosemite National Park, Calif., U. S. A., in a traditional shelter of the Miwok people. Yosemite is native land of the Miwok and Bishop Paiute people.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Our dream is to take this healing power to the land, to travel and capture a series of images to document the spiritual places where our ancestors once walked. Our goal is to unite and give hope to the world through art, dance and culture to help us heal together. We will travel the land and capture a series of powerful images to document spiritual places where our ancestors once walked. — Eugene Tapahe

“Still Strength, Warrior Women.” Redwoods National and State Parks, Calif., U.S.A., native land of the Yurok, Tolowa, Karok, Chilula and Wiyot people.

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Winter / Spring 2021

“Whispers of Healing,” Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Ariz., U.S.A., native land of the Navajo people.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

It was beautiful and peaceful. When I awoke I felt it in my heart, this was more than a dream. I couldn’t deny it. I wanted to deny it because it seemed impossible to obtain, especially during this uncertain time of the COVID-19 pandemic and the turmoil of the racial and political differences in the world.

As I retold the dream to my family they could feel it too. We knew this had to happen. We started the project with little money and lots of faith and hope it would work. It had to. “Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project” was born. My dream was to take the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress to the land, to travel, to dance and

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Winter / Spring 2021

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capture a series of images to document the spiritual places our ancestors once walked. And to unite and give hope to the world through art, dance and culture to help us heal together. On the first photo shoot, Dion, Erin, JoAnni, Sunni and I learned how to work together. They weren’t models. I wasn’t a portrait photographer. It was awkward, frustrating and new. But, from the moment they started to jingle dance on the land, it all changed. I felt, what I felt in my dream: beauty and peace. I cried. I could feel myself healing from the uncertainties of the world — time slowed down. As I listened to the jingles, I knew I was where I was supposed to be. I was doing what I was supposed to do and no matter how difficult this project would be, it needed to be done.

This image was captured at the Grand Tetons National Park, Wyo., U.S.A., native land of the Shoshone, Bannock, Gros Ventre, and Nez Perce people.

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Winter / Spring 2021

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Tapahoe designed the red scarf the jingle dress dancers wear with their regalia in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), the color red symbolizes the loss of sacred lifeblood through violence. Red also represents the heart, the non-discriminate part of people which enables us to love everyone. The scarf has a silhouette of a jingle dress dancer, with text, words of Native American issues and slogans typed around the silhouette: “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” “Not Your Mascot,” “Protect the Sacred” and “Standing for Unity.”

Grand Tetons National Park, Wyo., U.S.A., native land of the Shoshone, Bannock, Gros Ventre and Nez Perce people.

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Winter / Spring 2021

Support the project by purchasing Jingle Dress tees, shown here.

Four months later, the project is bigger than I imagined. The support, the love and the encouragement from all over the world has been inspirational. It has motivated Dion, Erin, JoAnni, Sunni and me through our trials and difficulties while traveling on our photo shoots. It has been beautiful, emotional, empowering and most importantly, healing. It has changed our lives for the better. I don’t know where this project will go from here, but I know it will be beautiful –– because my family will always be a part of it. As my daughter so eloquently said, “Daddy, you’re not in this to make money or get rich, you’re in it to change the world.” I have, my world is so much happier and fulfilling because of this project –– keep dreaming because dreams do come true. To support the Jingle Dress project, visit tapahe.com 38

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Natalia Reyes Escobar

DRAFTING A NEW CHILEAN CONSTITUTION:

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

DISCONTENT AT THE GATES OF THE PROMISED LAND By Valeria Fugate

n Oct. 18, 2019, people took to Chilean streets in droves. They abandoned workplaces and schools to join demonstrations, chanting EVADE! Tension building since Oct. 7 had finally boiled over. Who knew this would affect the Chilean Constitution. It started because the Chilean subway system recently implemented a 30-peso increase (equivalent to 5 cents in the United States (U.S.)). On Oct. 6, a fare increase would go into effect. Not expecting the change, high school students could not afford the increase and decided to jump the turnstile to catch their school lift. The police came to arrest students. Soon after, Chile exploded as grass-root, faredodging campaigns sprung up. Authorities closed train stations to control the dodgers, leading to larger clashes, demonstrations and fires caused by fights between students and the police.

Chilean Protests 2019, Puerto Montt

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Winter / Spring 2021

CHILEAN CONSTITUTION: THE COST OF LIFE

Hugo Morales

This was the latest episode in a saga of ever-increasing costs of necessary living expenses. Most Chileans were living far beyond their means and barely getting by. Privatization of industries, specifically in education, roads, gas, pharmaceuticals, health care and pensions, had put the cost of living far outside the average Chilean income. Large loans placed by citizens against living expenses became commonplace and necessary; 10 to 30-year credit lines were borrowed at high-interest rates.

Lower and middle classes were feeling the pressure of making ends meet, with little reprieve in sight. This one extra cost took them over the edge. As demonstrations intensified, Republic of Chile President Sebastián Piñera Echenique declared, “we are at war with a powerful, implacable enemy,” referring to his citizens. More than one million Chileans demonstrated against Piñera five days later, demanding his resignation on Oct. 25. Riots led to armed police fighting off students and citizens with tear gas and water cannons. Demonstrators were met with

Biggest march on Chile, 2019. Plaza Baquedano

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

episode in a saga of ever-increasing costs of necessary living expenses. Most Chileans

Archivo General Histórico del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores

This was the latest

Pinochet and Kissinger

were living far beyond their means and barely getting by.

was willing to “put in their dues” to keep this momentum going. Yet, for the last five years, the financial noose around Chileans’ necks had tightened to the point of breathlessness and they were now demanding to breathe.

CHILEAN CONSTITUTION AND HISTORY rubber bullets, causing 2500 eye and face injuries, some people permanently blinded. Nineteen people died that day, 29 by the end of the year. Police arrested 2,840 people and some are still in jail awaiting their hearing one year later.

BOOM TO CRASH Until recently, the economy was booming for most Chileans. Before 2014, the promise of upward mobility was in sight. Neo-Liberal policies had reduced Chilean poverty from 40 percent to five percent. The working class

To understand Chile’s present, you have to understand the country’s past. Here’s a brief rundown: On Sept. 11, 1973, a “Golpe de Estado” overthrew President Salvador Allende, a democratically elected, socialist leader. Backed militarily and financially by then U.S. President Richard Nixon and facilitated by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the U.S. injected $10 million to prevent and unseat Allende from holding and maintaining power. Four hundred U.S. CIA experts assisted Allende’s army Commander-in-Chief, Augusto Pinochet, in creating a coup d’état. www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

TIMELINE CHILEAN CONSTITUTION AND A NEW RULER Pinochet went on to establish and implement a Neo-Liberal economic model assisted by the Chicago-Boys economists. Pinochet then began denationalizing industries. During this time, he committed massive human rights violations, “disappearing” and placing citizens in concentration camps. He prohibited any political opposition, controlled and limited the press, ended the elected Congress. He also dismantled unions and forced any person who resisted his will into exile or death. In 1980 Pinochet created a plebiscite to write a Neo-Liberal Chilean Constitution, and in 1981 he pushed through into “effect” the new Constitution, making Pinochet the “President” of Chile. In 1988 under another plebiscite, the “SI or NO” vote helped Chile decide whether Pinochet should remain as President (assuming he’d win) or open up voting to elect a new leader. He lost the election, ending a 17-year violent dictatorship. The vote in 1990 marked the first steps into a long-awaited democracy and a free market.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

1973 a “Golpe de Estado” overthrew President Salvador Allende

1980 Pinochet created a plebiscite to write a NeoLiberal Chilean Constitution

1981 Pinochet the “President” of Chile.

1988 under another plebiscite, Pinochet lost the election, ending a 17-year violent dictatorship.

1990 marked the first steps into democracy and free market.

THE GAME IS FIXED Nineteen-ninety was the first year the world’s markets opened to them, and Chileans bought their freedom. Chile’s economy exploded and copper was their ticket out of poverty and onto the world economic stage. The interest on personal loans to fund their middle-classed dreams sat at 21.5 percent and fluctuated heavily. The cost of living never kept pace with low Latin American salaries and work protections were scarce. People borrowed a lot, and banks and credit cards were happy to make up the difference.

“Thirty years later, you have the lower class and the middle class together against the system.” He says that the people agreed to pay their dues. Still, after a few decades of never moving forward individually, they’ve had enough. They feel as if, “I went through dictatorship and I’ve gone through democracy, now let’s stop,” Enriquez-Ominami, says.

Privatization, price-fixing and collusion became commonplace and included everything from supermarkets, gas, highway tolls, pharmaceuticals to toilet paper. This increased the cost of living further as Chileans held onto their middle-classed dream through gritted teeth. “The middle class is in debt at unacceptable levels,” says Marco Enriquez-Ominami, former congressman, former presidential candidate, Filmmaker and leader of the Progressive Party in Chile.

AT WHAT COST? The unsustainable price of living has caused many Chileans to wonder how to manage inequity. Although they have worked their way out of poverty, becoming one of Latin America’s economic powerhouses, there is still a gap between those who can afford to live and those who can’t. Neo-Liberal policies lifted the GDP, but the levels of inequality and inability to cross the chasm between HAVE versus HAVE-NOT has not changed for most, leading many to wonder why.

Using schooling in public versus private sectors, EnriquezOminami illustrates how inequity grows. Public schools and universities receive limited government funding. They are legally obliged to take all students (low-income, learning, or physical disabilities). Privatization dominates most fields. Touting “superior service and quality,” handpicking those they want to serve (with money, high grades, gifted students) while also receiving public money. After decades the advantages build up. Chilean median monthly wages sit at about $500 US. An average family with three children, ready to go into university, must come up with enough income to ensure they can all attend school. Education is the only way to ensure a decent

They feel as if, “I went through dictatorship and I’ve gone through democracy, now let’s stop,”

Carlos Figueroa

— Enriquez-Ominami

Protests 2019, Plaza Baquedano, Santiago, Chile

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Winter / Spring 2021

He states that reducing inequity has been impossible in Latin American countries because elites do not want to give up the powers that they already have.

salary and to escape the clutches of poverty. Universities, the good ones, are privatized and cost $700 US monthly per student. The parents may bring in $1000 collectively yet spend $2100 on schooling alone. This has led to a crisis of debt, Enriquez-Ominami believes. “You and your husband go to the bank and ask for credit for 10 years. But then, you have to pay this credit, and you pay the double ... the triple,” he explains. Unable to escape debt or gain wage-to-inflation parity, many feel powerless to elevate beyond their class, unable to break the cycles of inequity.

Chile boasts one of the strongest economies in the region. Chile’s President Piñera is worth $2.8 billion and gained attention amid allegations of banking fraud with Banco de Talca in the 1980s, before running for the presidency in 2005. Despite having some of the wealthiest families in Latin America, this country continues to have high inequity levels, within the region sitting at the eighth highest inequity rating in Latin America (Gini coefficient of 46.6.) Patricio Navia is a clinical professor of Liberal Studies and an affiliated faculty member with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University (NYU) and a political science professor at Universidad Diego Portales in Chile. He states that reducing inequity has been impossible in Latin American countries because elites do not want to give up the powers that they already have. So rather than creating structures that systematically reduce inequality gradually over time, elites in Latin America have told people they are reducing poverty. They claim that everyone will be better off, but it is not enough. “People tolerate inequality provided that everyone gets a fair chance. People will say, okay, inequality is not bad if it is the result of meritocracy,” says Navia. “But if it’s always the same people on top, if the American dream

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Alvaro Navarro

POVERTY VERSUS INEQUITY

CHILEAN CONSTITUTION- IS IT REAL?

doesn’t become a reality, people will say, ‘look, I’m playing by the rules, but I can never make it.’” He believes there is a societal bottleneck where the middle class cannot move up within Latin America. The wealthy retain their position as elites, isolated from the rest of the population. Navia defines this phenomenon as “discontent at the gates of the promised land.” Chile has successfully pulled itself out of poverty, decreased infant mortality, increased children’s access to education. The country has hit significant success markers. Yet as the middleclass comes to the “promised land,” waiting to sit on the other side of the gates with the elites, the elites have said “NO,” states Navia, and told them to wait a little longer. This discontent, he believes, is what triggered the riots in Chile in 2019.

This discontent created the argument, in political circles, for the current Chilean Constitutional plebiscite. Many feel these inequities are stitched into the current Constitutional fabric, and its questionable “introduction to Chilean law” delegitimizes it. This friction and the collective pressure felt by a global economic downturn spurred by COVID-19 compounds the lack and inequity rampant in modern-day Chile, highlighting the dire need for change. In a countrywide Chilean Constitutional referendum held on Oct. 25, 2020, an overwhelming 80 percent majority of 52 percent of the Chilean population voted to build a new “Democratic” Constitution. On April 11, 2021, Chileans will go to the polls and elect the 155-member Chilean Constitutional assembly to draft this new Constitution. A marked turn from previous Neoliberalism shows citizens hope this Chilean Constitution will level the playing field and bring about new perspectives on running the country. The Chilean Constitutional assembly will consist of a 50 percent female voting gender-parity and an Indigenous presence never seen in previous Chilean leadership.

The Chilean Constitutional assembly will consist of a 50 percent female voting gender-parity and an Indigenous presence never seen in previous Chilean leadership.

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Winter / Spring 2021

DEMOCRACY NOW The plebiscite is essential because it came as a direct consequence of last year’s mass protests, says Ximena Velasco Guachalla, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Essex Department of Government. The Chilean Constitution will be rewritten by a citizen assembly, elected by popular vote. It will have a more inclusive and legitimately elected creation. “Elections play a pivotal role in shaping people’s attitudes toward democracy as a political system,” says Velasco Guachalla. Adding that this is not only true in Latin America, but across democratic countries. Velasco Guachalla states that democratic erosion is coming from popularly elected governments. They are then consolidating their power by limiting opposition parties from organizing. They are also limiting civil liberties and changing institutions to allow for more consecutive terms and, in some cases doing away with term limits altogether. All of this undermines democracy at its core. She explains that open and fair elections support the legitimacy of the “state” and the democratic process. This is relevant to support representative political systems within Latin America, considering the hyper-cycle of elections the region has gone through in the last few years.

Elections play a pivotal role in shaping people’s attitudes toward democracy as a political system. — Velasco Guachalla

WHAT IS GOING TO CHANGE? Although many Chileans believe that rewriting the Chilean Constitution will solve inequities, critics wonder what will effectively change? Navia has his doubts, saying, “People think of constitutions as a miracle pill that will solve all the problems. If it were so easy, then Latin America would be the most developed region in the world. We have had more constitutions than any other region.”

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

Navia likened writing a constitution to Chileans tearing down an old house to build a new house and questioned whether they couldn’t salvage the old one instead. He recommended renovating to keep what is working and fix what is broken and outdated. Doing so prevents throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis. Considering the timing, starting from scratch may not be the wisest thing to do currently. Navia also states that the house may not be the “core problem” in people’s minds. “Pinochet’s Constitution is like the house built by an abusive father. Now that you are a grown-up, the house is OK, you can remodel it, but there is an issue with the house because it was built by the abusive father,” he explains. Healing the collective Chilean psyche won’t be fixed by a piece of legislation. Instead, keeping the things that work, like the regulations that helped Chile’s rapid economic expansion, and changing the things that don’t, by introducing reforms to reduce inequality, is best. But great constitutions are meaningless if there is no economic growth to enforce them.

Natalia Reyes Escobar

Sign Reads: All children have the right to a decent country.

CHILEAN CONSTITUTION- A CATCH 22 Chile’s problems echo a regional “Catch 22” every Latin American economic power has faced historically. “Chile has three problems: High levels of inequality; it depends too much on one commodity (copper), and it has an increasingly corrupt political and business elite,” says Navia. Venezuela faced the same issues in 1988. Cuba faced them in 1958, Argentina in the 1920s and Haiti in 1805. Latin America continually stumbles on its success to become industrialized countries because they have not found ways to reduce inequalities. Economic growth is constricted by maintaining inequity. Enriquez-Ominami thinks additional elements are missing in the solution. “Chile has to

come back to America Latina. We escaped during the ‘80s to go out of the continent with the United States, Europe and Asia. We need more integration with Argentina, Peru and Bolivia; to sell to Brazil, and we need to go to the Atlantic. If we don’t reform that strategy in Chile, we will be poor,” he says. “We need more integration within Latin America for geopolitical reasons. We need to be together, but the elite, the rich, the powerful people don’t agree with me.” Municipal and gubernatorial elections will happen in Chile on April 11, 2021 (if COVID-19 regulations allow) to elect the new constitutional group. Positions will be open to current and previous political party members and independents (if voted in). The third election to accept or deny the newly drafted constitution will be held in Aug., 2022. www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

THIRD CULTURE KIDS AND THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE: A Field Ripe with Possibility By Doni Aldine

Gage Skidmore

Senator Kamala Harris at a fundraiser hosted by the Iowa Asian and Latino Coalition at Jasper Winery in Des Moines, Iowa.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

s the term Third Culture Kid (TCK) becomes more well known in our global collective, with it also comes assumptions and revisions that often don’t speak to the complex and evolving nature of the actual TCK experience. This, along with restructuring of and sometimes omissions to the original definition of TCK, actually enhances confusion and limits understanding for an already complicated term.

John McCain to President Barack Obama and now Vice PresidentElect Kamala Harris — the cultural fluidity is prominent — and prominently displayed in how each of these individuals approach civic duty.

THE MAVERICK Those committed to the study of this eponymous lifestyle are keen to see how many TCKs are rising in prominence across the globe. In reality, they always have been there, but perhaps our digitally connected global citizens can now look for celebrated TCK traits and observe them in ways that never seemed quite so accessible in years past. This is especially true for the United States (U.S.), which, historically, has enjoyed isolationist status and upheld individualistic attitudes as argued in the History.com article, “Why the U.S. Has Spent 200 Years Flip-Flopping Between Isolationism and Engagement.” The author, Margaret Macmillan, writes, “From the moment of its creation out of the 13 colonies, the United States has swung between wanting to keep the rest of the world at bay and itching to set it straight, between economic self-sufficiency and engagement in trade and investment, or between welcoming the world’s immigrants — those huddled masses referenced on the Statue of Liberty’s inscription — and keeping them and their dangerous foreign ways out.” The U.S. “melting pot,” indeed has birthed notable TCKs in its political ranks. From Sen.

Most people would never guess McCain to be a TCK, but any TCK scholar who had the opportunity to observe his runoff against Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election could see each contender’s traits clearly. According to Author Robert Timberg’s Book ”John McCain, An American Odyssey,” McCain’s journey began in the Panama Canal Zone, late 1936. He was born at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station to parents Roberta and John Sydney McCain II, who was stationed at a local submarine facility. Young McCain’s grandfather was the base commander at the time. McCain III also soon would become the son and grandson of U.S. Navy admirals. Timberg cites McCain’s birth as auspicious since military families typically endure separation by long distances in geography among their members, “But for that brief period, Panama became the epicenter of three generations of a family whose distinguished naval service would eventually span the great national upheavals of the twentieth century.” Conversely, McCain also had “strong Southern roots — his great-great-grandfather, William A. McCain, owned a Mississippi plantation with more than 50 slaves and died fighting for the

Confederacy in 1863,” according to “Encyclopedia Britannica.” Britannica also emphasizes that the younger McCain always believed his heritage lay almost entirely inside the military. In a 2008 “Wall Street Journal” article by Douglas A. Blackmon, “Two Families Named McCain,” discusses the Black-and-white history of McCain’s lineage, which eerily paralleled how people viewed the run against his presidential opponent. “For the Black McCain family,” descended from their slaveholding and of no blood relation, “it is a story of triumph over the legacy of slavery. “For the white McCains,” Blackmon writes, “it is the evolution of a 19th-century cotton dynasty into one rooted in an ethic of military and national service.”

The U.S. “melting pot,” indeed has birthed notable TCKs in its

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political ranks.

Winter / Spring 2021

He notes that though McCain’s immediate family lived primarily on military installations around the world, young McCain spent long periods during childhood visiting the former family plantation at Teoc, Miss., U.S.A. Though McCain’s family contains an all-too-familiar historical past, the roots of his TCK nature showed a stronghold that developed into a “go-myown-way” outlook that shocked his mother (she previously had been used to a quiet, unassuming and well-behaved son), and earned him the name “Maverick,” during his political career.

Dave Davidson

CALM, COOL, COLLECTED

Joe Biden

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Obama’s international background, on the other hand, is well known. Born in Hawai’i, to an American mum and father from Kenya, he grew up in in Hawai’i, Indonesia and the mainland U.S. In a DailyBeast.com article titled “Obama’s Third Culture Team,” Author and Speaker Ruth E. Van Reken writes, “John Quincy Adams lived in France, and young Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Europe often enough to master French and German, but Barack Obama is the first modern American president to have spent some of his formative years outside the United States.” Van Reken is a third generation TCK and coauthor of “Third Culture Kids: Growing up Among Worlds,” which is in its third edition.

AND THEN CAME KAMALA She penned the “Daily Beast” article in 2008, citing research that suggests TCKs share common psychological traits that could have shaped Obama’s administration. Van Reken points out that a cross-cultural childhood was shared by Obama’s White House advisor, Valerie Jarrett, who was a child in Tehran and London; Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner — raised in east Africa, India, Thailand, China and Japan as the son of a Ford Foundation executive; National Security Advisor James L. Jones, who was raised in Paris; and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (who had been nominated for Secretary of Commerce, but stepped down), who grew up in Mexico City. “According to a body of sociological literature devoted to children who spend a portion of their developmental years outside their ‘passport country,’ the classic profile of a TCK is someone with a global perspective who is socially adaptable and intellectually flexible. He or she is quick to think outside the box and can appreciate and reconcile different points of view. Beyond whatever diversity in background or appearance a TCK may bring to the party, there is a diversity of thought as well,” Van Reken writes.

Barack Obama

In our email discussion, however, she pondered that one issue Obama may have had was surrounding himself with too many Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs). She wondered if they were so open for global interaction that they lost sight of those who felt forgotten. Those forgotten are the ones that vice presidential hopeful “Sarah Palin went to and said ‘I’m so glad to be back in the ‘real’ America...’ and the Tea Party was born, and the rest is history, as they say.” Van Reken cites that “TCKs’ identity struggles can be painful and difficult. The literature documents addictive behaviors, troubled marriages and fitful careers. But meeting this challenge can become a TCK’s greatest strength.” She points out that taking the positive from disparate experiences can create a strong sense of “This is who I am, no matter where I am,” and can provide steadiness in a chaotic world in flux — something most everyone can relate to having just closed out the most historic year so far this century.

The illustration on our cover of Harris amongst lotus flowers was drawn specifically to signify a partial meaning of the name Kamala. “In Samskrtam langage, or Sanskrit, a word has more than one meaning,” Shanthi Yogini explains. The International Best-Selling Author and Culturs columnist continues, “While the word ‘Kamala’ set as a masculine or neuter gender word, indicates ‘lotus’” it indicates many other things like water, copper, species of deer, wealth and so much more. Used as a feminine gender (with a long “a” at the end), interestingly it indicates ‘excellent woman’ and ‘orange.’” Many would agree, as the first woman to break the glass ceiling to reach the uppermost echelon of the U.S. government is an excellent woman indeed. And almost embodying the spirit of the hearty lotus flower plant, which can withstand harsh conditions on any end of the weather or environmental spectrum, Harris said at her vice president-elect acceptance speech: “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.” With parents who immigrated to the U.S. from India and Jamaica (Harris’ mother, Shyamala, was a cancer researcher and the daughter of an Indian diplomat; while her Stanford professor father hailed from the Caribbean island.) The two met in graduate school at the University of California, Berkley and shared a passion for civil rights.

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WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

AN ADDED LAYER In a New York Times opinion Piece “For Obama, Estranged in a Strange Land, Aloha Had Its Limits,” Lawrence Downes writes about Obama’s first book “Dreams From My Father.” He notes, “The New York Times listed the ingredients of [Obama’s] young psyche as ‘racial confusion,’ ‘feelings of alienation’ and ‘disquietude.’ The Los Angeles Times suggested that it was not just angst, but boiling angst.” Downes continues, “So who was this brooding Barry, taking lessons in African-American swagger from a black high-school buddy, Ray, studying black nationalism and going to Black parties on Army bases?” What the writer didn’t realize is Obama’s global background has as much of an effect, if not more, than his perceived race. I spoke with Third Culture Adult (TCA) and mum to four TCKs, Paulette Bethel, Ph.D., who also is a licensed family therapist. We discussed how those lacking in knowledge of the TCK experience can conflate racial identity with identity issues as a whole. Barbara Schaetti is an ATCK and dual citizen of Switzerland and the U.S. who holds a Ph.D. in intercultural communication with a focus on intercultural identity development. In a blog post titled “TCKs Come of Age,” she addresses Downes’ observations: “Although a very good article and synopsis of [Obama’s] experiences, the Downes op-ed missed a wonderful opportunity to tie some of his observations about Sen. Obama to his lived TCK experience and how it 54

helped to inform his worldview. This lived TCK experience, most likely has contributed to Obama’s broad appeal and to his earning a reputation as an incredibly unifying figure.” Bethel concurs, “Obama clearly knew the emotional challenges of transitioning between cultures and growing up in strange lands and having experienced his own, at times painful, personal search for identity from the perspective of being a TCK, biracial and [from having] a perpetual lifestyle as an insider/outsider.”

the classic profile of a TCK is someone with a global perspective who is socially adaptable and intellectually flexible.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

While we’ve heard quite a bit about Obama’s struggle with identity, why is it that not much of that has been reported with Harris or McCain? One could argue that as a white man in the U.S., McCain had every privilege in his upbringing. TCKs know that geographic mobility and Military B.R.A.T.s can attest to pressures children feel being reared in mobile families with the weight of a parents’ work filling their psyches. But McCain clearly acted out, often got into trouble and was known for fighting. Timberg writes of McCain’s time at a spartan, old South Episcopal school, “Rives Richey, one of his closes friends back then, remembered McCain as rambunctious and combative, at times ‘just repelling,’ the type of kid who had a few good pals with a student body that either actively disliked him or gave him a wide berth. “Said another schoolmate, ‘He prided himself on being a tough guy. He was seemingly ready to fight at the drop of a hat. He was easily provoked, ready to be provoked.” Riley Deeble, an Episcopal master (the title for teacher at McCain’s school), “ascribed McCain’s behavior to his preEpiscopal years as a ‘Navy junior,’ trailing his father around the country and going to many different schools. ‘Most of these kids have a little bit of a shell,’ he said. ‘ They have to develop it to survive.’ Deeble describes kids like McCain as skeptical — that they

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don’t allow rules to be imposed on them and do as they please, ‘I think you could call it constructive irreverence.’” While Obama searched and McCain rebelled, how did Harris escape this scourge on identity and seemingly only absorb the gifts that come with the TCK lifestyle?

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY In a 2019 “Los Angeles Times” article, Shashank Bengali and Melanie Mason go in-depth about, “The progressive Indian grandfather who inspired Harris.” It describes 5-year-old Harris’ sojourn with her parents to visit her Indian grandparents in the African nation of Zambia. “My grandfather was really one of my favorite people in my world,” Harris has been known to say. According to the “Times” article, Harris and her younger sister also

often made extended trips to visit family in India during their formative years. Though her parents divorced before Harris was 10, her father reflected in an article he wrote for “Jamaica Global Online” that Harris accompanied him on “frequent visits to Jamaica” in her early years. During Black History Month 2020, Harris posted on her Instagram, “My mother was very intentional about raising my sister, Maya, and me as strong, Black women. She coupled her teachings of civic duty and fearlessness with actions, which included taking us on Thursday nights to Rainbow Sign, a Black cultural center near our home.” The post also served as a tribute, as Harris’ mother died of colon cancer in 2009. So, while McCain and Obama seemingly were left to fend for

themselves when it comes to identity solidification, Harris enjoyed strong role models on both sides of her family.

TRUE PERSPECTIVE The crux of all three, however, is the TCK perspective: Whether lucky enough to receive guidance, or not; resilience, tenacity and a strong sense of giving back made a difference for all three. With the current rise in citizen interest in social justice and politics, the field seems to be a hotbed suited for well-honed TCK traits. Van Reken ruminates, “In 1984, Michigan State University Professor Ted Ward called TCKs ‘the prototype citizens of the future’ anticipating a time when a childhood lived in various cultures would be the norm rather than the exception,” concluding, “It seems that time is now.”

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From shows to watch and songs to hear, to artistry, shopping and things to explore, know and do, here's a specially curated list of things we recommend as MUST experience items for the culturally fluid.

THEMUSTLIST

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Spring/Summer 2020

Xavier Hadley

GHANAIAN MUSICIAN PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS WITH NEW SINGLE “RED LIGHT”

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

MUST l LISTEN

“R Mawule

ed Light” is a warm pop song with an electronic flare that is complimented by an honest lyrical melody. It weaves a tale of self-consciousness and self preservation. “I’m tryna save you from me cause I’m not in a good place, to give you all of me,” sings Mawule in his heartfelt lyrics. “Red Light,” is a song that reminds us all to be honest with ourselves when we need time for reflection, self restoration and healing before sharing life with someone else. It is a proclamation of self awareness and self love. Written by Mawule and mixed and mastered by Glenn Sawyer and Rich Veltrop of The Spot Studio, it is uniquely produced backwards by Codakolor as a personal challenge, making this his most technical piece to date.

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MUST l LISTEN

Codakalor

ABOUT THE ARTISTS: Mawule: meaning “Only God Knows” in the Ewe language, was born and raised in Accra, Ghana. A Third Culture Kid, he moved to the U.S. as a pre-teen. Music has always been an integral part of Mawule’s life, but success as a music artist has 60

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

never been the only goal in mind for him. With his lifelong fascination with human relationships, Mawule’s music reflects passion for human connection. He is inspired by the truth within lived life experiences and publishes music cloaked in deep lyrics and catchy

MUST l LISTEN

Red Light Cover

rhythms that serves as a source of both comfort and empowerment for others. Codakalor: His exposure to electronic music started when his aunt took him to a rave when he was only five. Throughout his childhood, he’d hum electronic music tracks sparsely played on

the radio and at friends’ houses. He learned how to play the piano, violin, upright bass and drums. When he turned 12, his parents bought an iMac for the family computer, bundled with GarageBand. At 14, he sold his PS2 and games on Craigslist so he could get his first DJ mixer (which he still has to this day). Since then, he’s produced, published and played music live under the names Bluepulse, Buzzy and now Codakolor.

The single “Red Light” will be released on Jan 8. To be the first to know, visit https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ mawuleandcodakolar/red-light-2 www.CultursMag.com

Winter / Spring 2021

MUST l KNOW

LION KING ON CLUBHOUSE

Chris “Boogie” Glover

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com Myles Grier

MUST l KNOW

Noelle Chesnut Whitmore

Mir Harris

Kam DeLa

lubhouse, the most promising new social app that currently still is invite only, and exclusively available to iphone users, continues to awe its quickly growing audience. An audio app with chatrooms but no messaging capabilities other than connecting through Twitter or Instagram, it boasted a production of Lion King: The Musical on Clubhouse, a free virtual live concert event that took place Dec. 26, 2020, exclusively on Clubhouse. This event was created by marketing executive and event producer Noelle Chesnut Whitmore after being in a room with Bomani X & Myles Grier where she recognized Chris “Boogie” Glover, another user on Clubhouse, had a distinct voice and would be perfect to play Mufasa. Myles then started performing Simba’s lines and the idea took flight from there. It scaled to a full cast and crew of over forty actors, narrators, imagery, musicians and a choir. The event was audio-only and took place virtually with people of color across four different countries. Noelle Chesnut Whitmore is the director and executive producer. Bomani X, whose picture is the current icon for the Clubhouse app, is the musical director. Award-winning actor Myles Grier voiced Simba and Mir Harris, Nala. Other featured entertainers included actress and producer Gina Belafonte, Dr. Victor, Minh Do and many others. The event had over 10K listeners between two showtimes.

Bomani X

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Winter / Spring 2021

MUST l READ

NIKSEN BOOK The dutch art of doing nothing

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MUST l READ

he Dutch people are some of the happiest in the world. Why? Perhaps because they are masters of niksen, or the art of doing nothing. We all use varied forms of self-soothing to cope with the unresolved grief that comes with being cross-cultural. Research now shows that microagressions lessen the life expectancy for people of color and Third Culture Kids are well known for extreme busyness as a form of coping. Alas, overachivement may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Enter Niksen. Niksen is not a form of meditation, nor is it a state of laziness or boredom. It’s not scrolling through social media or wondering what you’re going to

cook for dinner. Rather, to niksen is to make a conscious choice to sit back, let go, and do nothing at all. Backed with advice from the world’s leading experts on happiness and productivity, this book examines the underlying science behind niksen and how doing less can often yield so much more. Perfect for anyone who feels overwhelmed, burnt out, or exhausted, NIKSEN does not tell you to work harder. Instead, it shows you how to take a break from all the busyness while giving you sincere, heartfelt permission to do nothing. “My book is about niksen, the Dutch art of doing nothing. But is doing nothing really typically Dutch?,” says author Olga Mecking. “Many Dutch people told me that they were too busy to really do nothing. But during my research, I found that while niksen is a Dutch word, the desire to do nothing is truly universal. From Swahili to Italian, almost every language on Earth had something positive to say about doing nothing, resting, relaxing and chilling out.” Mecking emphasizes that many feel guilty when not working and that the tension

between the desire to do nothing and cultural influences that make it difficult, is what connects us. This book shows how to do nothing in the most important areas of your life: AT HOME: Find a comfy nook and sit. No technology or other distractions. AT WORK: Stare at your computer. Take in the view from your office. Close your eyes. IN PUBLIC: Forget waiting for the bus, enjoy some relaxing niksen time. Mecking herself is a Third Culture Adult and mum to Third Culture Kids who blend multiple cultures and languages. Originally from Poland, she currently lives in Germany. The Niksen book will appear in 15 languages and will be published worldwide. $19.99 Available Jan. 2021, olgamecking.com to join the preorder list

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MUST l READ

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MUST l READ

goc (Bi) Nguyen was born in Moscow, Russia, raised in Hanoi, Vietnam and educated in an International French school for twelve years before moving to Conn., U.S.A. for boarding school. She is the author of “Weird Culture Kids,” a memoir about identity and growing up as a Third Culture Kid (TCK). She currently lives in France. Constantly asked “where are you from?,” she began an identity quest to find the answer. The result is a new book titled “Weird Culture Kids.” In true TCK fashion, she’s created her own term, rather than use the one made almost universal by decades of research. However, the memoir shares heartfelt stories of Third Culture Kids (TCK) and aims to demonstrate that beyond rootlessness, Third Culture individuals indeed belong to a tribe. Nguyen’s observations along interviews with other TCKs provide raw, insightful, poignant observations of the in-betweenness, grief and experiences many of our readers share. Here are some of her findings along the quest: Thanks to the publishing journey of “Weird Culture Kids,“ I have had the chance to speak to

more than a hundred weirdos about their experiences growing up between different places and cultures. And although each conversation is very unique and fascinating in its own right, I can’t help but also notice the many commonalities between all of them. Three different “characters” always appear in the stories of heartbreaks and laughters that my interviewees shared with me: They all speak to me about their varying degrees of nostalgia when reminiscing about their younger days. Many carry their nostalgia around, like a badge of honor, as if to remind themselves (and others around them) that their past was very well-lived and accessible to them at all times through their memories. Quite quickly, once the reminiscing process is done, pain comes along and plummets the ambiance. Different types of pain: The pain of leaving a city, a country or a continent. The pain of leaving people and things behind. Most importantly, the pain of leaving crumbles of themselves behind. Then, at a later stage, comes the pain of letting go and of becoming something different — first forcefully, then almost naturally — in order to adapt to their new environment. I’ve come to understand they rarely talk about this kind of pain because of the systematic sense of guilt they feel.

And just like that, guilt seamlessly enters our conversation. Without exception, all the interviewees feel guilty for voicing any type of sorrow regarding their weird culture life. Simply because it is of the privileged kind. Almost like a prerogative that only the luckiest kids get to experience, while the average ones get to skip. Sometimes, the presence of guilt is so strong that we just stop the interview all together. I believe that’s where the danger lies. That’s how, as a community, we’ve created a vicious circle of not speaking up because their pain looks a lot like an imagined one. One that is not deserving of sympathy in a world filled with more real and more urgent types of pain. So they minimize their sorrows and try to be normal — or at least, less culturally weird. As a result, nostalgia gets all the attention, While pain and guilt remain neglected. Listening to these stories made me feel a lot of compassion towards the issues and problems that they encountered through life. I realized that their problems weren’t too different from mine. I automatically felt a lot of compassion towards myself and my own journey, as well.

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MUST l READ

NEVER COMPARE PAIN Just as happiness is a personal and subjective matter, so is pain. It just is. The pain of losing a country is no smaller or bigger than the pain of losing a whole continent. There’s never enough time. Because,

how much time is enough time to love someone? To say goodbye? To take advantage of the present moment? To forget a lover? To understand a culture? To let go of a previous self? There’s a much bigger need to talk about sadness than about happiness because as a community we have bottled up the former in favor of the latter. That’s why it’s insanely easy to celebrate happiness but incredibly hard to embrace sadness. Find people with whom you can talk about your sadness and hang onto them. “The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.”

Happiest hellos cause the most painful goodbyes. That’s the natural state of things. If you’re constantly gaining newness, you’re continuously losing familiarity. You know what’s the best part, though? Despite the nostalgia, the pain and the guilt, there have never been any regrets. Everyone unanimously agreed that it was all worth it. And that’s the best conclusion I could ever ask for. Find “Weird Culture Kids” at Amazon.com, $19.99

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

THIRD CULTURE KID

VOCABULARY POSTER SERIES

Absquatulate ab·squat·u·late/abˈskwäCHəˌlāt Learn to pronounce (verb) HUMOROUS•NORTH AMERICAN

Illustration by Diana Vega

1. leave abruptly. ”some overthrown dictator who had absquatulated to the U.S.A.” Definitions from Oxford Languages www.CultursMag.com

Winter 2020

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THE POLITICS OF RACE IN THE U.S. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

— Book Review

By Edith ANDERSON

eading allows us to exit our microcosm and see the world through the eyes of those whose lives differ from our own. Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” is one such opportunity. Wilkerson makes a persuasive case that the United States is best understood not as a racist system but as a race-based caste system. Seen as such and experiencing the last four years in the U.S., enough puzzle pieces snap into place for white Americans to see for themselves a “United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for” some. Wilkerson explains “Caste” as the bones and race the visible characteristics and behavior. Impoverished Black and brown people have two strikes against them, bones and race. Poor whites have one, bones. The highest caste, predominantly whites, is the dominant caste which calls the balls and strikes. “Slavery in this land,” Wilkerson writes, “was not merely an unfortunate thing that happened to Black

The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality, Wilkerson writes. It is about power — which groups have it and which do not.

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Winter / Spring 2021

people. It was an American innovation, and American institution created by and for the benefit of the elites of the dominant caste.” The caste we are born into comes with rights — many or few. Every day of our life, our status in the hierarchy is subtly reinforced. The Hispanic women who clean my homes are viewed (consciously or subconsciously) as of a lower caste than me. Our relationship affords me more power because of my dominant caste status. Arriving in the United States in the late sixties, I slept in my beat-up Pontiac for a short period of time. Applying Wilkerson’s caste system theory, my cleaning women were probably above me, homeless vs. service workers. I say “probably” because I am an Icelandic woman and there is perceived value in the Nordic stock. The most common and quickest ways to climb the caste ladder is through education and marriage. According to the book, the universal knee-jerk characterization of Black Americans is a learned behavior reinforced by Hollywood. Wilkerson writes, “A Black woman, ample in frame and plain of face, wears a headscarf and servant’s uniform. Her arms are wrapped around a white woman, slender, cherubic and childlike, her golden hair and porcelain, air-brushed skin pops against the purposely unadorned darkness of the black woman.” Rhett Butler’s line from “Gone With the Wind,” 72

If the things that I have believed are not true, then might I not be who I thought I was?

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” is considered one of the most memorable movie quotations of all time. Television and movies validate the dominant cultural messages of hierarchy. “The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality,” Wilkerson writes. “It is about power — which groups have it and which do not.” Like the bully in the schoolyard who decides who gets to swing and who can only watch. The dominant caste’s assumptions of beauty and competence determine our standing and access to resources. Caste and race coexist and reinforce each other.

Winter / Spring 2021 | www.CultursMag.com

The election of Donald Trump saw the white working-class caste vote against the policies that would improve their lives. Democrats threw up their hands, “What’s wrong with these people?” President Lyndon B. Johnson understood this fact. “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” Seen through the lens of hierarchy, those voters believed that the other party’s election would help those they deemed beneath them and diminish their perceived power. “If the things that I have believed are not true, then might I not be who I thought I was?” Trump’s economically impoverished followers are fighting for their rung on the ladder of caste hierarchy. Indigenous people who were violently forced off their land, Wilkerson explains, exist outside the caste system. African Americans joined the caste system at the bottom as enslaved people fighting for the most basic of human rights. On the other hand, the middle castes, Latinos and Asians, depending on immigrants’ influx, continually maneuver the pre-existing ranking. Meeting with a group of white women of the dominant caste to discuss Wilkerson’s book, we focused on how the book impacted our thinking. We agreed that “Caste: The Origins of Our

Discovering that the Nazis praised “the American commitment to legislating racial purity” but considered parts as too harsh left us silent.

Discontents” was a difficult book to bite and chew. It demanded we face our racism and the advantages we enjoy as a part of the dominant culture. Learning that Nazi Germany studied Jim Crow laws of the South as a guide to becoming a full-fledged racist regime spoke to our lack of awareness. Discovering that the Nazis praised “the American commitment to legislating racial purity” but considered parts as too harsh left us silent. We are of the Carole King Tapestry generation, “Where the birth and the death of unseen generations are interdependent in vast orchestration.” Wilkerson’s encounters with racism in firstclass air traveling, Homeland Security Officers and restaurants

demonstrated how the undertow of bigotry resurfaces in places we couldn’t imagine. “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” speaks to Ida B. Wells’ words. Wells was a groundbreaking late 19th century journalist who fought against lynching in the South. “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth on them,” she wrote. Wilkerson’s book shines a light on the past, the present and our long-overdue reckoning of racial injustice.

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PILGRIMS POEM Quipped the grey pilgrim famously, “not all those who wander are lost.” * But does not “lostness” imply former belonging? Can you be lost from something That never claimed you as their own to begin with? The existence of “halfness” cannot preceed “wholeness.” We stumble, wander, transgress the face of this planet, Aching hunger for the wholeness that must exist somewhere. Wisps of smoke eluding my frantic grasp. I am Tantalus. I am wandering. I am lost. Yet, again, does not “lostness” imply former belonging? Fractals of eternal splinters, shards of my soul shattered, scattered, Webs of “selfness,” slivers of fragile steel, connecting seemingly incompatible realities Question of belonging and identify — waves eternally chasing the shores of humanity… But at some point, the musings must stop. The screeching din of reality crashes over you, and my asynchronous chorus continues.

*Taken from J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Fellowship of The Ring.

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Illustration by Diana Vega

—Jenna Claire

YOGA-SCIENCE FOR LIFE MASTERY by Shanthi Yogini

C.H.A.N.G.E.

ost of us resist change. We resist change in situations; we resist change in people. Even if we want them to change, we still resist change instead of embracing change. But, change is the very nature of life. It is the only constant factor in life. Change is inevitable. Do you ever ask yourself why you resist change?

RESIST REASON ONE: Is it because you are questioning the very need for any change?

RESIST REASON TWO: Is it because you feel a loss of control over life?

RESIST REASON THREE: Is it self-doubt about your competence to meet the new demands of change?

RESIST REASON FOUR: Is it fear of the unknown?

RESIST REASON FIVE:

Illustration by Diana Vega

Is it annoying because it is disrupting your routine making your life harder?

RESIST REASON SIX: Is it a threat to your social interactions and relationships? www.CultursMag.com

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YOGA-SCIENCE FOR LIFE MASTERY

REASON #1 C:

Let us take each of the above six reasons you might have for resisting change and change them to six reasons to NOT resist change using the acronym C.H.A.N.G.E. where each alphabet represents one reason. Below are the six solid reasons to NOT resist change: C — CONSTANT APPRECIATION FLOWS H — HIGHEST POSSIBILITY UNVEILS A — AWAKENING TO LIFE HAPPENS N — NON-STOP ADVENTURE FILLS G — GROWTH OF SELF ACCELERATES E — ENHANCED RELATIONSHIPS BLOSSOM Let us discuss the six reasons in detail and also see how the tools in Yoga-Science support them further. By tools, we are not talking of fitness exercises, but the entire science of how to live. Just simple twoMinute practices work wonders to NOT resist change but to embrace change and reap benefits from it.

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CONSTANT APPRECIATION FLOWS: Instead of questioning the need for change (Resist-Reason-1), if you embrace change, you can see that constant appreciation flows in your heart for the changing nature of the world. Isn’t amazing that everything in the world is constantly changing? A seed planted in the soil becomes a sapling; then it becomes a plant bearing buds that bloom to become flowers; then it might bear a vegetable or a fruit; or the flower may just wither away; Are all these not changes worthy of appreciation? Each one of us is changing. Our body, mind, thoughts, attitudes, behavior, values etc. are changing continuously. How marvelous! Everything in the cosmos is changing. The constant movement of the planets, stars and galaxies indicates change. That is the very fabric of the universe. How wonderful! Every tool in Yoga-Science helps us enhance our awareness of everything around and within us, making it easy to NOT resist change but to constantly appreciate it.

REASON #2 H: HIGHEST POSSIBILITY UNVEILS: Instead of thinking that change makes you feel a loss of control over life (Resist-Reason-2), if you embrace change, you can see that your highest possibility unveils itself. If a caterpillar never changes, its highest possibility of becoming a butterfly will not unveil. If a plant never changes, its highest possibility of becoming a tree will not unveil. Similarly if changes outside don’t motivate us to change within, highest possibility in our life will not unveil itself. Every tool in Yoga-Science helps us to change within so as to live to our full potential and highest possibility physically, mentally, intellectually and socially.

YOGA-SCIENCE FOR LIFE MASTERY

REASON #5 G:

REASON #3 A: AWAKENING TO LIFE HAPPENS: Instead of having self-doubt about your competence to meet the new demands of change (Resist-Reason-3), if you embrace change, you can see that awakening to life happens. You may think that you are already alive because you are still breathing. But embracing change is what makes you truly awaken to life. How? Only that which is alive ever undergoes change and is conscious of change happening outside or inside. When you embrace the dynamic part of life, then you are truly awakening to life and going with the flow of life. You are embracing life itself. On the contrary, if something is dead, then it can neither change nor be conscious of change. It is no more dynamic. It becomes static. When you resist change, then you are going against the flow of life. You are resisting life itself. Every tool in Yoga-Science helps us to stay in the present and thus awakening to life happens.

REASON #4 N: NON-STOP ADVENTURE FILLS: Instead of suffering the fear of the unknown (Resist-Reason-4), if you embrace change, you can see that non-stop adventure fills your life. If nothing changes, it means life presents nothing new or exciting. Everything is the predictable same old, making life boring. Our response to changes in life makes our personality unique and interesting. It is because planetary positions change that we have day, night, seasons and much to explore in this world. Every tool in Yoga-Science helps us to change within so that we do NOT resist change.

GROWTH OF SELF ACCELERATES: Instead of considering the change to be annoying, disrupting your routine and making your life harder (ResistReason-5), if you embrace change, self-growth accelerates in your life. It is possible that change made you leave your home to escape war, violence or persecution. Maybe change made you feel lonely, scared or depressed. Maybe you felt pain and sorrow. But since you have survived it, notice how strong, resilient and adaptable you have become! Thus, even the seemingly bad changes result in personal growth. Every tool in Yoga-Science helps us to become strong, resilient and flexible physically and mentally for personal growth.

REASON #6 E: ENHANCED RELATIONSHIPS BLOSSOM: Instead of considering change as a threat to your social interactions and relationships (Resist-Reason-6), if you embrace change, enhanced relationships blossom in your life. How? If nothing changes, bitter relationships stay bitter and good ones stay good. Changes cause attitudinal shift, making you open-minded and understanding. Thus enhanced relationships blossom forth. Every tool in Yoga-Science helps us to become more aware and changes our outlook on life and people. To conclude, change is good. Let us welcome it, embrace it and celebrate it!

Join our revolutionary modern movement “twoYoga-Minutes to Happiness” and practice Yoga-Science! Which of the above six reasons will you adopt to embrace change? Please share!

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Winter / Spring 2021

FLOUTING THE LAW? PART 2

IMMIGRATION 101 THE VETTING PROCESS

ost U.S. citizens didn’t suspect immigration would be such a volatile topic at the beginning of the U.S. government’s Trump administration. Yet

In this second article, we will examine changing immigration policies and backlog, Narco politics, and the cartel.

increases in global tariffs, combined with Narco politics and the ensuing economic destabilization of a few Central American countries, have caused one of the largest transmigrations in years. With many left wondering why this has happened, explanations to the national legalities and history of immigration policy and our duty to immigrants can be referenced in article one of this two-part series featured in Culturs’ Fall 2019 print edition.

This is the story of two sisters we’ll call Elizabeth and Laura. Originally from El Salvador, Elizabeth was abandoned by her husband shortly after they had children. Elizabeth’s sister, Laura, also found herself in a similar situation. To better support each other, the two decided to cohabitate in the same house. One day Elizabeth’s niece fell ill. Laura, a teacher, couldn’t take her daughter to the doctor that day, so Elizabeth

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TWO SISTERS

filled in. While waiting at the doctor’s office for their appointment, a local gang member threw a grenade in from the street and blew up the office, killing the niece and seriously maiming Elizabeth. The doctor had failed to pay extortion money to the local gang in time and this was the consequence. Elizabeth applied for asylum to the U.S. shortly after that, and Laura stayed behind. After Elizabeth settled in the U.S., she received word her sister had been shot down in the streets. Laura had become a vocal activist and started a campaign to prevent school children from being recruited by these same gangs. Elizabeth’s oldest daughter, who was still living with her aunt Laura while finishing school, witnessed the murder. She left for the U.S. the very next day. Elizabeth now lives in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A., with her children. She works at a local deli, ineligible to access the social system for additional assistance or medical aid, as her asylum case processes. Immigration lawyer Ian McKinley relayed this story of one of his clients to demonstrate the dire situation some refugees face. “There is a complete breakdown in the rule of law. When they tried to report it to the police, there was never any arrest made, there was no justice done,” McKinley says. “Gang members just murdered with impunity, the police don’t care.” He punctuates this statement by saying the tactics used by the Trump administration to deter refugees from obtaining asylum is a “despicable and cynical move

meant to scare families into not coming to the U.S.” Faced with situations like Elizabeth’s, McKinley suggests many U.S. citizens would make the same decisions as the refugees: Make the trek; even if it is “illegal.” The risk of leaving their country to enter into the U.S. still offers a better prospect of life than what is currently at home.

REFUGEES GET TO STAY On April 8, 2019, U.S. District Judge Richard S eeborg blocked the Trump administration’s recent change to U.S. immigration policy. This new policy required asylum seekers to wait out their case hearing times in Mexico as their cases processed through the U.S. immigration court system. Under the old protocol, immigrants were paroled into the U.S. as per the United States Immigration Law, to await their hearings. Under this new policy, several hundred refugees have been sent back to

Mexico after already claiming asylum on U.S. soil. Seeborg’s injunction temporarily disabled the current administration’s policy, a deterrent aimed at Central Americans entering the U.S., adding to the list of recent tactics the government has employed to turn back refugees at the border. The U.S. border saw a jump of more than 103,000 migrants into the U.S. in March 2019. This is the highest one-month total in 12 years according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse center (TRAC), which compiles immigration court data. Following this, the Trump administration sought to institute charging asylees fees for refuge, requiring asylum seekers to pay to enter the country along with filing their “credible fear” claims after escaping violence, lawlessness and abject poverty in their own countries.

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IMMIGRATION ADMISSION “Genuine asylum seekers, by definition, leave in the most urgent of circumstances. As a group, they tend to be very short on resources,” says David A. Martin, former Homeland Security deputy general counsel,“If you’re going to leave the possibility of refuge for people who legally qualify truly open, you wouldn’t impose a barrier of a fee.” Not only do these deterrents seek to block new asylum requests by imposing fees, it also restricts their ability to qualify for work permits or social assistance programs if refugees attempt to enter illegally, or while waiting for their claims to be heard. It seems the administration hopes this will stop immigrants from filing “fraudulent asylum claims,” and “gaming the system.” According to Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), in Washington D.C., “further deterrents must be initiated such as detaining families, making the initial asylum screening stricter and fast-tracking court cases to be more effective.” If separating family and children isn’t enough, more significant sanctions will be imposed, she suggests.

The U.S. is the country that has historically refuged more immigrants than all other countries combined. Yet most recently, for the first time in 30 years, according to PEW Research Center, in 1999, the U.S. had taken the least amount of immigrants of any country. The Trump administration had less than quartered the allowed number of immigrants in the U.S. since the 2017 target of 110,000 immigrants, admitting 45,000 people fewer than the average allowed throughout the last decade and resettling only 21,292 refugees in the 2018 fiscal year, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). In a FOX News interview with Maria Bartiromo and U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. Commander-in-Chief seemed to show increasing frustration with immigration, stating that immigration courts might not be “necessary.” Critics say this shows a lack of understanding between the difference between the judicial branch and the justice department. “We don’t need a court system,” President Trump told Bartiromo. “We have a court system that has 900,000 cases behind it. In other words, they have a court that needs to hear 900,000 cases. How ridiculous is this? What we need is new laws that don’t allow this, so when somebody comes in we say, ‘Sorry, you got to go out.’” Critics warn these words and actions demonstrate the president’s lack of understanding of the

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fundamental rule of law that protects and governs U.S. immigration policy, as well as, a complete disregard for its necessity. President Trump’s suggested protocol also demonstrates an indifference toward the international humanitarian standard code of ethics that the U.S. signed decades preceding this administration. This Illustrates a conflict toward U.S. ethical and democratic standards, which many would say is foundational to the country.

BACKLOGGED “Almost a decade ago, asylum cases started to pile up again, and the government failed to invest enough in the immigration courts to keep up,” says Martin. “Now the court backlog exceeds 850,000 cases, including asylum, with approximately 400 judges to handle them.”

MULTINATIONALS

With only 58 immigration courts available to handle all of the backlogged “pending” cases nationwide, it would take 5.1 years to work through these cases at the current pace, not including new cases. This leaves experts to claim the backlog number may more realistically be over one million cases pending, according to a Terrirism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC) analysis. Further, the Trump administration’s request to build a wall for $5.7 billion, which was denied by Congress, lead to a 35-day government shutdown on Dec. 22 to Jan. 25, 2018. It’s estimated during this time over 42, 000 immigration court hearings were canceled. At the time of this writing since the Trump administration has taken office, the backlog has grown an additional 200,000 cases, averaging immigration case

hearing to 736 days, slightly over two years. As a result, Attorney General William P. Barr and the EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review), have decided to hire more immigration judges recently than it has in the last seven years combined. “We now employ the largest number of immigration judges in history,” Barr says. “That is having an impact on immigration cases.” For asylees who wait in overcrowded detention centers, on or across the border, the adjudications can not come soon enough.

Watching Central Americans leave their countries in droves, to make a two-thousand-mile trek north, leaves many wondering, what could have caused this? Citizens are fleeing crumbling economic infrastructure, due in part to historical U.S. political interests and economic interventions. They are also moving away because of the effects of multinational corporations, which bring in foreign business but lower livable wages and work standards. Add to this a drug cartel that is pushing further south, and countries are left with a recipe for disaster, according to David Brown, Ph.D., University of Colorado- Boulder, divisional dean of social sciences and professor of political science. Multinational corporations provide consistent jobs for unskilled labor, while simultaneously bringing down wages and choke holding economic expansion. By extracting the most profit for their companies worldwide, they also help simultaneously creating cyclical debt and financial instability. Overseas-based factories are given “extraterritoriality” rights, which exempts these operations from having to follow local or international laws, human rights, or labor standards, which creates a further degradation of civilization. The poverty is further exacerbated by a corrupt government, military and police, and growing domestic, sexual and gang violence in these countries caused by the drug cartel. Honduras also has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and one of the lowest livable

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wages, making even the most basic costs of living, unsustainable. “I think it’s fair to say, a number of countries in Latin America were in a period of a lot of turmoil,” Brown says. The problems in Latin America stem back to the 1940s through the 1990s states Brown. Latin America (consisting of 33 countries from Mexico to Chile) has gone through many periods of turbulence, as it’s navigated its way through many authoritarian regimes and budding democracies. The U.S. government was tied, both economically and politically, to all of these. “A lot of it had to do with the fear of not having complete control over the hemisphere,” Brown says. The economic benefit of cheap labor, cheap agriculture, and ties with these countries’ elite spurred tensions. This, coupled 82

with concerns of spreading socialist tendencies through a growing “Red Tide” push beyond Cuba. This gave several U.S. presidents the excuse of being able to put resources in the hands of people willing to crush any insurgency seen as a threat to the U.S. political agenda of “business as usual.” The U.S.’ long history of intervention made things much worse in these countries. “A lot of the lack of development of institutions and many of the economic conditions that exist today have resulted from that political climate and the U.S.’ involvement,” Brown says. “The U.S. was involved in each of those countries in very different ways.” Multinational corporations in the ’40s to the ’80s were seen by Latin Americans as working handin-glove with the U.S. government, controlling the country’s resources and the

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political arena. Brown cites an example from a book called “Bitter Fruit.” It shows how the American United Fruit Company, which owned a business monopoly in the region, tried to protect their land rights, in spite of growing demand by citizens for financial equity in their own country. This would later become interpreted as a communist threat by the U.S. The ensuing U.S./ Latin American interventions helped create the Guatemalan Coup of the 1950s. As a result of this conflict, 200,000 people died. “Basically, authoritarian governments were there to help protect the profits of multinational corporations,” Brown says, quoting the book’s theory. Although things are still bad in these countries, Brown believes that these corporations have improved over the last 50 years. “[It’s] not to the degree where the corporations are in league with the most powerful people in the country, to subjugate their populations systematically, quite like they were in the ’60s and ’70s,” Brown says. “The corporations needed cheap labor.” The best way to keep labor cheap was not to allow unions to flourish, and the way to not allow unions to thrive is to “crack people’s heads,” Brown says. “So, there’s a lot of evidence that what was going on. The Multinationals in the ’60s and ’70s (eventually) were sent packing, but what you find now is that a lot of countries actively engaged in trying to get multinational companies to invest.”

MULTINATIONALS, CORRUPTION AND DRUGS… OH MY Currently, “Maquiladoras” (mak-E-la-doras) are the latest multinational. Typically textile factories, these companies provide the “better-paying jobs” in Latin America. Still, critics state these jobs ultimately bring down wages and the economy. Worker rights are again being disregarded, and labor standards are trampled, in spite of anti-corruption laws. “There is still a lot of exploitation that goes on. But it’s not an extension of the U.S.’ national interest or the national interests of a group of countries, trying to subjugate the developing south,” Brown says. Brown goes on to state how many necessary things have not been done, to provide public goods, helping governments become more transparent. These things that ultimately help stave off a crisis so that people don’t feel they have to leave their country to survive. Critics of multinationals argue that governments receive kickbacks directly for these contracts, and these funds never get re-integrated into an economic benefit for their people. These corporations find ways to skirt anti-corruption laws, exploiting government incentives, for themselves, and the individuals who help them. According to Brown, when extremely corrupt administrations, are coupled with the transshipment of drugs and increased gang activity by the Mexican cartels, it degrades the social construct. Brown lands part

of the blame in U.S. hands for allowing these countries to flounder from the U.S.’ vested interest, interventions and neglect. This then raises the question as to whether the U.S. does own these countries a debt of responsibility? Or could this dilemma then move into the territory of “moral hazard” in that the U.S.’ support and interventions could ultimately be used against us? During his studies, Brown created a historical study that looked at what happened when the U.S. tried to “correct” volatile foreign political situation on its own, by placing sanctions and interventions on authoritarian regimes. What he found was that in most cases, it only prolonged the shelf life of those dictators to stay in office, making things worse for their own people. These forceful attempts gave the leaders the ability to say, “Hey look, we’re being attacked by the U.S., and we’re here to protect you from them.” Brown found ultimately, Latin American countries do better when they collectively say “NO”

to coups of their neighboring countries and fight oppressive regimes amongst themselves. This was made evident through the collective efforts of the “Cartagena Declaration,” which created a multilateral agreement amongst mostly Central American countries. This agreement set out to take in asylum-seekers and fleeing refugees from political persecution and oppressive regimes, as was seen in the exodus of Colombians in the early ’80s into Venezuela. Another way some countries have been able to stave off economic instability, mass exodus and debilitating corruption in countries like Brazil or Chile, Brown states, is size, diversified economies, and distance from the U.S. Smaller countries are more dependent on their proximity to the U.S. and the business of international investors. Poverty makes them more willing to forego standard contracts prerequisites, making them more easily manipulated in negotiations with multinationals. Whereas larger countries with more substantial economic clout do not have to jump at the first offer given. They are then able to negotiate better deals, to help build supportive infrastructures, to move their populations to work. “In some respects, it’s creating the whole debt cycle all over again,” Brown says. “These are not self-sustaining. They are not creating a flourishing economy around them. As a result, the countries are not developing the rest of the economy as much as it

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could, and therefore are not able to pay back the big loans. I think it’s paying the price now.” In the end, Brown likens Latin America to a neighborhood that, while once a beautiful place to live, hasn’t received the necessary care and support by its inhabitants and has slowly turned to pot. “It’s never too late to start caring about the neighborhood, but a lot of these things you’ve just let fester for far too long.”

DRUGS AND THE CARTEL According to Peter Smith, Ph.D., Political Science Professor at the University of Colorado -Boulder, Author of “Democracy in Latin America,” “Talons of the Eagle: Latin America and The United States,” and former Staff Director of a U.S./Mexico commission with Robert S. McNamara (ref. Vietnam & Bay of Pigs), the U.S.’ interest in Latin American politics was best illustrated in two different historical periods. One during the Cold War and the second post Cold War. During the cold war, U.S. overt interventions in Latin American politics sought to displace or overthrow leftist or center-leftist governments, even if they were not in any serious way, a threat to U.S. sovereignty. Smith claims the Cold War “madness” showed itself in U.S. policy, especially in the number of

interventions placed in Latin America. This was widespread during the cold war because of what was misperceived as a threat. “They claimed there were communist threats, where really there were not,” Smith says. “To say that Fidel’s government in and of itself, by itself, was a threat to the U.S., and its sovereignty is nonsense,” although Cuba sought to meddle in the politics of other countries, especially Venezuela. Venezuela provided a stark contrast and bitter medicine to Cuba at the time. Venezuela was an internationally respected democracy, had a strong economy and was Pro-U.S. If it had been a democracy and left-wing, it would have been an easier pill for Cuba to swallow. After the Cold War era, the whole rationale for the anticommunist policy disappeared, according to Smith. Raising the question of what should the new U.S. policy towards Latin America be? During the Clinton and Bush administrations, policy fell silent. Obama, on the other hand, made diplomatic and sympathetic gestures to governments that had

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strenuous relations with the U.S. in the past, especially in Colombia, Chile, Brazil and even Mexico. The U.S. also managed to reach a “Cuban Thaw” agreement for the first time in 50 years. Obama reasonably dealt with these changing realities, then Donald Trump was elected, and everything changed. “I mean, he uses the worst kind of denunciation to characterize Mexico. Which of course, says in some ways the United States is the most important country in the region,” Smith says. “[Mexico] had just elected a social justice President who is willing to try to work with the United States. It couldn’t be better for the U.S. if the U.S. were only reasonable, which of course we’re not.” According to Smith, Trump is not a scholar of international relations. Trump is answering to his base, continuing anti-Cuba, and anti-immigrant sentiment from his mostly conservative political stronghold states like Florida and Texas. “So yes, there is a policy towards Mexico that is incredibly stupid. There is a negative policy toward Cuba that is relatively harmless at the moment and there is a zero policy for the rest of Latin America from Venezuela to Chile,” Smith said. “Now Venezuela is beginning to come on the agenda, and whether there is something to be done about Maduro. I don’t like Nicolas Maduro, I like U.S. interventions less.” Smith suggested that the increasing political upheaval coming from Venezuela could fix itself if the region would come

together to solve their own problems through diplomatic relations, which Brazil, Chile and Peru have already begun with Venezuela. Yet according to Smith, the most significant threat facing Central Americans today isn’t political relations or upheaval, its drug trafficking. “There are gangs that make deals with the government. But they are gangs from below and outside [their host country], and they’re wreaking havoc and threatening citizens with all kinds of mayhem,” Smith says. Citizens are heavily pressured to join the cartel or face execution. The Honduran government isn’t equipped to deal with this situation that is close to being out of control. When asked about the multinationals’ role in Central America, Smith says these companies are choosing to pick safer locales to do business. “They themselves are prime targets for any self-respecting gang. Indirectly, yes, they perpetuate the social injustice, economic unfairness and lack of opportunity that most young citizens have,” Smith says. “The economic strategies they follow contribute to the frustration and poverty that assails the isthmus, particularly countries south of Mexico, North of Panama and North of Costa Rica.” Yet the growing problem of drug trafficking, mass violence, and chaos it spawns in Central and South America can be attributed to the north and not the south, according to Smith. Drug traffickers in the southern

hemisphere only supply the problem; they don’t create it. This growing need for an everincreasing narcotic supply has jumped in the last few decades. “Drug Trafficking a few decades ago was a relatively modest and joint operation,” Smith says. “As the market continued to grow, Mexico became a less ‘safe haven’ for drug traffickers. The traffickers tend to stay more in Central America, where they are safe.” As a result, the main reason for the immigrant caravan and tensions in Central America is a problem of consumption, not of supply. Smith states, if the U.S. really wanted to fix the issue directly, it must address the origin of the drug problem, addiction in the U.S. and the rules that make it illegal to consume.

“You could either legalize it, or you could become so effective with public health programs, that you cut down consumption by a substantial margin,” Smith says. “The latter course seems more sympathetic. In this indirect sense, the United States is a major participant in the drug trafficking chain. If you made it legal for all drugs, the problem in Central America would just go away.” Considering the domino effect this could have in the region, Smith says countries could easily topple and become victims of drug violence and gang mayhem. El Salvador and Honduras are especially prone to falling because of their weak government policies, and it’s close proximity to the U.S., which enables traffickers to ship drugs. Away from gangs and the drug cartel, Elizabeth lives in Colorado with her children in peace. All she wants is to live a happy, safe life in the U.S.

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Winter / Spring 2021

BIAS IN OUR DIGITAL

DEMOCRACY: The fight for Algorithmic Justice By Andrea Bazoin, M.Ed.

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emocracy, as we’ve known it, is dead. And, perhaps this is good news. Because, if democracy is the

will of the people, then widespread access to digital tools may allow more of us to be heard. Of course, this is a gross oversimplification. Democracy, like most social institutions, is a highly complicated and nuanced blend of ideas and practices. When it comes to our representative democracy, we the people often have more questions than answers. • •

Do our votes really count? Whose voices actually get heard and by whom? • Who gets the opportunity to run for office, and which special interests have a vested financial interest in their success? • How can we remain well-informed citizens, when the search for credible information has become a moving target? We’ve asked these questions for hundreds of years. So, what makes today’s digital democracy so different?

TWO WORDS: CODED BIAS. We may have the impression that the ones and zeros of computer code are neutral. Factual. Devoid of bias. But, who creates the countless lines of code used for everything from political polling chatbots, to social media feeds, to biometric identity verification tools that may be used in voting machines? Human beings — people who carry subconscious ideas, preferences and biases.

These coded biases have real-world, unpredictable consequences that give rise to brand new questions that reach well beyond politics: •

What kind of information is being gathered about us when we use technology? Who is gathering it? And, what are they doing with it? • Can we trust what we see or hear online? What is real and what is created digitally? • If tech companies feed us only the predicted and curated information that fits our historical preferences, will we lose our ability for critical thinking and empathy? • Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) fallible? In other words, can it predict, filter, rank or match incorrectly? If so, what are the consequences? Joy Buolamwini is a Ph.D. student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and poet of code. She faced many of these questions while creating a fun AI-based class project called the Aspire Mirror. The idea of the mirror was to allow her to project an inspiring image onto her face for a boost of confidence. This idea required facial detection software.

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Winter / Spring 2021

Two of the essential pillars of democracy are liberty and equality. AI erodes both these principles. — Sukhayl Niyazov in The Future of Democracy in the AI Era

algorithmic bias in areas like law enforcement, citizen surveillance, housing, healthcare, employability, credit-worthiness and more. “Coded Bias” premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is now playing at more than 70 virtual cinemas. Along with Buolamwini, other global researchers like United States (U.S.)-based author and mathematician Dr. Cathy O’Neil, United Kingdom (U.K.)-based director and activist Silkie Carlo and international data rights legal expert Ravi Naik appeared in the film. Each to give testimony to their findings of algorithmic injustice. Today, the list of organizations and people engaged in fighting against algorithmic bias is growing steadily. At the same time, this work is not always supported — especially by those in a position to profit from the unregulated use of AI. For example, as of the writing of this column, there is public controversy surrounding the allegedly

While the software worked to detect the faces of her lighter-skinned colleagues, it didn’t work to detect her darker-skinned visage. To use the software, she had to cover her face with a cheap, white craft-store mask. In her 2016 TED Talk, she coined the term “coded gaze” to describe the algorithmic bias she experienced. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time Buolamwini experienced algorithmic bias.

THE FIGHT FOR ALGORITHMIC JUSTICE Eventually, Buolamwini founded the Algorithmic Justice League, “an organization that combines art and research to illuminate the social implications and harms of artificial intelligence.” Buolamwini’s story was also featured in a documentary called “Coded Bias,” directed and produced by Shalini Kantayya, which shines a light on the issue of widespread

Joy Buolamwini in mask, Courtesy of Coded Bias Media Kit

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forced resignation of Timnit Gebru, Ph. D. former staff research scientist and co-lead of ethical artificial intelligence team at Google. She was prevented from presenting a research paper that detailed the potential risks related to an AI-generated language model thought to encode privilege to the language patterns of wealthy nations.

ALGORITHMIC BIAS AND DEMOCRACY Algorithmic bias has a direct impact on so many aspects of our society — replicating years of historic bias already experienced by minoritized citizens. The more people feel they are not being represented fairly, the greater the risk of eroding the foundations of our representative democracy. Unfortunately, algorithmic bias is just one of the many factors threatening our democracy. Other factors include:

Joy Buolamwini, Courtesy of Coded Bias Media Kit

•

Synthetic data such as fake videos (deepfakes) are able to show us photorealistic fake videos of people synced to the audio. Hyper-customized search results feed us a distorted view of the world where everyone shares our perspective (i.e. filter bubbles). Election interference from foreign and domestic extremists use social media as a vehicle to manipulate and deceive voters.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CULTURALLY FLUID CITIZENS? It seems the answers are just as complex and unpredictable as democracy itself. As tech companies build AI-based tools to collect and filter data to share with political candidates and elected officials, our unique, culturally fluid perspectives may be lost. Worse, we may experience algorithmic bias in our own lives. The disruption of the digital age extends to every aspect of our lives, including the foundations of civil society as we know it. Now, more than ever, we must find real-world, concrete ways to participate in democracy — beyond digital. Pick up the phone and call your elected official. Volunteer to get out the vote. Write letters. Join community organizations. Don’t let your beautiful, unique perspective be reduced to ones and zeros.

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Winter / Spring 2021

GLOBAL PATRIOTISM: How Global Citizens Fit in the U.S. Electoral Process

By Myra Dumapias

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o a Third Culture Kid (TCK) who grew up among nations and cultures, national

patriotism and duty may seem foreign concepts to some tied to only one country. At a 2016 Tory Party Conference, former United Kingdom (U.K.) Prime Minister Theresa May said, “If you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere,” according to IntelligenceSquared.com. In opposition to this statement, Novelist and Commentator Elif Shafak defended her identity as a global soul and world citizen defined by having “multiple belongings at the same time,” describing it as a type of “patriotism without being nationalistic.”

And we think TCKs can relate. I spoke with three TCKs: Viru Agrawal, Precious Brooks and Vahid Mockon to shed light on the process of how they, as global souls and world citizens, practiced the patriotic duty of local civic engagement during the U.S. electoral process. Agrawal, Brooks and Mockon shared experiences that were in line with the type patriotism referenced by Shafak: “When it comes to patriotism, I’m still hesitant to claim, ‘Oh yes, U.S. identity, that’s me,’” Brooks says. “I have a lot of different parts that’s in me from having lived abroad during my formative years.” The avenue through which Brooks found her identity as an American was through her lens of seeing the global impact the U.S. has, which prompts her involvement in civic participation and economic empowerment. “I think my sense of self has accepted part of the identity that comes with being a Black American and the complexity around that,” a process she says she is still working through.

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This year Brooks reports reaching “a point where I now feel more ‘American,’ whatever that means, than ever before.” Her first move was to Java, Indonesia at the age of six months, then to Papua, New Guinea. After four or five years, her family moved to Nairobi, Kenya then back to Indonesia where she graduated from high school. Agrawal illustrates what it looks like: “You find yourself keeping up with the news channels in five different countries and talking to the people you know there or your family who still lives there.” Agrawal uses the example of underground land mines in Frankfurt, a story he has been following with his sister, to explain that although he is invested in the situation, for others who did not grow up in different countries, “you don’t really have an emotional investment in something that’s halfway across the globe.” For TCKs, by contrast, according to Agrawal, “You do genuinely care about what’s happening in all these different countries, regardless of how a person who lives there would

perceive your connection should be to the country.” Agrawal was born in India, then moved to New York for some years. After moving back to India, Agrawal’s family moved to Frankfurt, Germany, then Nairobi, Kenya; Arusha, Tanzania and back to India. Mockon, on the other hand, applies his patriotism to the world as a whole. “The world is but one country and mankind its citizens, so I am a citizen of the world,” he states. “I am a steward of this planet, therefore I participate in the life of the country I currently live in. So whatever that country may be, participating in the civic life of that country is the most important thing for me as well.” While Mockon stopped counting the number countries he has links to, Mockton’s ties capture his allegiance. “I am a person of the world. I am a citizen of the world and that’s where my links and my ties are.” Mockon was born in Hong Kong, then moved back to Philippines for a few years, then moved to Nouakchott, Mauritania, then to Orange County in Calif., U.S.A. He also travelled as a youth to other countries including Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Canada to name a few.

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The avenue through which Brooks found her identity as an American was through her lens of seeing the global impact the U.S. has, which prompts her involvement in civic participation and economic empowerment.

Courtesy of Precious Brooks

While globally invested, these TCKs became committed to civic participation. When in St. Louis, Mo.,U.S.A., Agrawal committed to having conversations with his friends, reminding them of the important issues that were on the ballot during the 2020 U.S. general election, encouraging them “to do what they can do to make their voice heard, if anything, on behalf of those of us who can’t,” and break away from what he calls “inherited” party loyalty based on familial tradition. Washington, D.C.-based Brooks drew on her TCK background as a chameleon to successfully canvass for former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. She talked to Iowans, discovering the roots of what mattered to them and really could see their humanity even though she recognized vast political differences, was able to find “shared understanding and common ground.” Mockon, in Louisville, Ky., U.S.A., dedicated time to promote the importance of participating in the life of the community where he reminds his friends, coworkers and relatives to vote regardless of whether he agreed with their candidate. He encouraged others to practice their right to vote and go by the dictates of their conscience, as well as be an

Precious Brooks

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Malik Carr

example to other people. These and other TCKs whose global upbringing likely have a similar impact, provide valuable lessons for a nation that has seen its polarization more than double since 1994. According to a late 2017 Pew Research Center Study “The Partisan Divide on Political Values Grows Even Wider,” fewer than 20 percent of either the Democratic or Republican parties viewed the opposing party “very unfavorably,” in 1994; currently that number has risen to 44 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners and 45 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners. Brooks poses the rhetorical question, “How can we make sure we are coming together to still voice our differences and recognize we have different perspectives,” but find common ground? Brooks’ focus is to build bridges to address the growing polarity. As a millennial, she points out, “my generation is going to be in a precarious situation where we have to make a lot of decisions. We have climate change, wealth and equality, a whole range of issues.” Agrawal brings up the importance of having a global interconnectivity lens. He urges that in making electoral or political choices, we should not forget the value of not only TCK experience of having lived globally, but the value in allowing

Virupaksh Agrawal

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The world is but one country and mankind its citizens, so I am a citizen of the world. — Vahid Mockon

anyone to have a global experience. Agrawal points out that in 2020, as connectivity has become more digital, “It really cannot be over-stated how valuable it is that we keep enabling anyone and everyone to interact, to learn from and to impact things that might be geographically tens of thousands of miles away.” While Mockon sees that in addition to politics, there are spiritual and personal transformation dimensions for being civically engaged, he emphasizes the implication of local civic engagement for other countries, explaining, “I feel that

by being a responsible citizen, I’m also a responsible citizen of the world. If I was living in another country and a citizen of that country and I was eligible to vote, I would do the same.” Guided by his Baháʼí faith’s focus on unity, Mockon does not get involved in partisan politics, but focuses on conversations and civic duty, the highest form of which for him is voting. Based on the experiences these TCKs have in common, it seems that the area of messaging and community engagement, especially if it were beyond merely the few months leading up to an election but more year-round, is indeed where TCKs can be most useful. Agrawal and Brooks expressed how they can understand the validity of opinions different from their own. Addressing the “implied polarity” that Agrawal sees in political marketing, he states, “being a TCK really helps me to realize where all this political marketing is going wrong and failing with all those connections, and how [TCKs] can fill that gap.” Brooks emphasizes the power of active listening, “I don’t want to call out people that are Conservative because I can see where they’re coming from and their perspectives are valid as my own.” She partly credits her upbringing in a Christian household, “I am never going to be so far on either end of the spectrum where I can’t understand where [others] are

coming from. I can use that to learn other people’s perspective and continue to also strengthen my own argument to try to meet in the middle.” Mockon’s faith-based practice of not engaging in debate, yet encouraging people to use their power to vote, demonstrates the higher focus on the common duty to vote regardless of differences — the practice of which was also informed by his exposure to different cultures and peoples. Mockon likens this process of forging ones own path of critical thinking and independent investigation to the process of deciding on which country to move to or visit next, using the illustration of levers. “I investigate for myself independently and obviously I have to listen to others’ opinion but that doesn’t necessarily shape how I perceive, how I go forward with a certain action. The electoral process are like levers for me.” Because Mockon is involved in the electoral process in a non-partisan way, the way he switches his levers is a very personal process.

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Kale & Flax photography

Perhaps the biggest contribution TCKs can share in the process of civic engagement is the value of humility, as demonstrated by accounts from each TCK in this discussion about having gone through a transformation process, out of which they share messages for our readers. Both Mockon and Brooks mentioned that we all have blind spots. Brooks adds, “Don’t get caught up in your own head because at the end of the day, we have each other and our community, and I want to be as good of a world citizen as I can be.” Brooks cautions avoiding conversing with people for various fear-based reasons, saying, “if we let fear get in the way, we miss building community.” Brooks’ transformation was evolving out of a place of what she considered passively “going with the flow,” to a place of using her TCK background of being comfortable in uncertain settings to engage with diverse people. Brooks also discovered the values she did not realize she had while growing up from being exposed to her parents’ career in grassroots development work. This exposure led to the strengthening of her commitment to social justice in 2020.

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Vahid Mockon

Agrawal strongly encourages talking to people one would never talk to and having uncomfortable conversations. “Whether you’re a Third Culture Kid or anyone with diverse experiences, just get out there and have those conversations,” he says. “At the end of the day, everyone’s a good person. The barriers to doing so might vary from person to person inevitably but everyone’s a good person, everyone wants to get to know a new person and learn something new at the end of the day.” Agrawal’s personal transformation was pushing himself to talk to people in a city where he “literally knew nobody” when he first arrived. He is now known as the one who organizes the gatherings for his circle of friends. In 2020 especially, Agrawal observed the impact of the routine of party loyalty “inherited” as a family tradition and encourages evolving to form ones’ own genuine opinion. Mockon speaks of the humbly honorable process of giving back to the community with a mindset of how the world can be impacted by the leadership of the country you currently reside in. “Whether you’re in transit and still moving around or have decided to settle in one country and love it there, find ways to really partake in the benefits of that country, which includes giving back. Part of giving back is taking part in its elections,” he says. Mockon discussed

transformations that come out of realizing everyone has blind spots and biases. Being able to transform his exposure to multiple cultures while growing up to being able to give impromptu speeches, including two-minute elevator speeches and speaking effectively to an audience of hundreds of people. “You and I were raised to be okay in an environment where everything in the beginning was not certain, but we can be sure that it will be fine.” Mockon changed his levers again in 2020 and will wait to see how the next four years will be. In his book, “The Global Soul: Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home,” Author Pico Iyer presents some questions that can arise along with the uncertainties, mobility and uprootedness faced by TCKs: “A lack of affiliation may mean a lack of accountability, and forming a sense of commitment can be hard without a sense of community. Displacement can encourage the wrong kinds of distance, and if the nationalism we see sparking up around the globe arises from too narrow and fixed a sense of loyalty, the internationalism that’s coming to birth may reflect too roaming and undefined a sense of belonging. ” On the contrary, it seems that these three TCKs living in the U.S. have forged a path where

I don’t want to call out people that are Conservative because I can see where they’re coming from and their perspectives are valid as my own. — Precious Brooks

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A lack of affiliation may mean a lack of accountability, and forming a sense of commitment can be hard without a sense of community.

internationalism was defined enough through a lens of responsibility and duty that the fellow global citizen TCKs also share a belonging. Individual TCKs living in the U.S. as adults who grew up with the uncertainty of global mobility forged this path towards the national duty of civic engagement and voting during an election year. The sense of duty demonstrated by these TCKs dispels concerns that having global ties and affiliations negates a sense of accountability or commitment, even in places TCKs don’t feel a sense of community or belonging. Displacement, for these TCKs did not result in distance from a type of loyalty to serve others locally. Rather, the distance of the

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global impact of their local civic participation is a measurement of how immense a TCK’s love for and desire to give back to the world they grew up in. The hunger for belonging is so deep that even in towns and cities where a TCK may not typically fit in, that love is still practiced to the point that TCKs would own and create belonging for themselves through civic action.

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