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Intercultural Credibility at The Seattle School

Culture & Identity Conversations

In December 2023, the Intercultural Credibility Committee (ICC) launched monthly Culture & Identity Conversations (CIC) aligned with the committee’s purpose of resourcing and equipping employees to cultivate safety, inclusion, representation, and advocacy to enable all members of The Seattle School community to thrive across all cultures and identities.

At each month’s All Employee meeting, a new CIC topic is introduced followed by an invitation to engage in further discussion the following week. We believe deeply that transformation happens as we spend time together in dialogue and discourse. This new CIC format provides an employee-only space to engage culture and identity topics to open us up to new possibilities, invite us to new practices, and bring meaningful change to our work as we seek to grow in intercultural credibility.

We share these resources as an invitation to all community members to join in this work of cultivating safety, inclusion, representation, and advocacy.

 

February 2025

Dr. Lauren Sawyer facilitated a discussion on The Little Red Hen: Or, Learning to Collaborate Courageously, Creatively, and with Critical Consciousness.

What do we do when collaborating courageously and creatively is stalled, not because we don’t value teamwork (we do!) but because of our inherited understandings of autonomy and work.

  • This session used the fable of the Little Red Hen to engage conversation around autonomy, interdependence and invisible labor.

 

January 2025

Kartha Heinz facilitated a discussion on inviting diverse perspectives.

Resources for this conversation include:

December 2024

Dr. Dwight J. Friesen led us in a time of exploring how we can embody Jesus Christ in our relationships.

Resources for this conversation include:

 

November 2024

Dr. Maria Fee curated a time of creativity, reflection, and collaboration as we practiced art as a tool of resilience aligned with our theme of growing and cultivating our gifts.

Resources for this conversation include:

  • The poem “Sorrows” by Lucille Clifton
  • Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross (NY: Random House, 2023)
  • Thinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try (NY: Ballantine Books, 2017) by Srini Pillay
  • Teacher as Curator (NY: Teachers College, Columbia University, 2020) by Lisa Donovan and Sarah Anderberg

 

October 2024

Rev. Leland Seese, pastor at Mt. Baker Park Presbyterian Church in Seattle, encouraged us to explore contemplative prayer as we cultivate spiritual practices.

Resources for this conversation include (*denotes availability in our library):

  • The Gospel of John 1:1-5; 10:2-4; 14:18
  • Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton*
  • Awareness by Anthony DeMello
  • Mindsight by Daniel Seigel*
  • Friendship, Listening, and Empathy by Lynne Baab
  • A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer
  • The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald May*
  • Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgealt*
  • Zen and the Bible by J. D. Kadowaki

Poetry:

  • Given Sugar, Given Salt by Jane Hirshfield
  • Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo
  • Openings by Wendell Berry
  • The Poems of St. John of the Cross by St. John of the Cross*
  • The Book of Psalms (Bible)

September 2024

Rev. Dr. J. P. Kang guided us in a discussion on the use of pronouns, as we live and work with integrity, respect, and compassion.

 

 

 

August 2024

Daniel Tidwell-Davis led us in creative discussions on how we can build encouraging and supportive spaces together and for each other.

Resources for this conversation include:

July 2024

Richard Kim, MDiv ’11, guided us in exploring how to live with purpose while adapting to the emerging challenges of a complex world. Richard is an ICC member (alumni rep) and Racial Equity Consultant with Cultures Connecting.

Resources for this conversation include:

May 2024

Linda Royster, MA asked us to consider how we define resources, systems, and wisdom, and how the Gospel of Jesus supports or opposes our engagement with these.

Resources for this conversation include:

April 2024

Doug Shirley headshotDr. Paul Hoard joined Dr. Doug Shirley in a continuation of March’s conversation with a focus on how we communicate. To begin, participants were invited to reflect on the following question: “If you were able to attend March’s CIC conversation, where during the course of that meeting did you find yourself caught in the tension between desire and failure?”

Resources for this conversation include:

  • The introductory video from Dr. Hoard and Dr. Jermaine Ma‘s conversation at Seattle School Connect 2023, understanding communication and discourse from a Lacanian perspective.
  • See resources from March 2024 below.

March 2024

Doug Shirley headshotDr. Doug Shirley engaged us in exploring how we listen.

Resources for this conversation include:

 

February 2024

Dr. Monique Gadson led us as we examined the cost of collaborating across cultures.

Resources for this conversation include:

Quotes Shared in the Conversation:

  • “Overcoming the personal shame of an implicit racial bias becomes paramount in the larger acceptance of societal racial biases. Once a critical mass of individuals are more accepting of their shame, the ways that implicit bias lead to preferential treatment of different races can be openly examined on a societal level. Furthermore, the acknowledgement of our common unintentional implicit racial bias may help to normalize and alleviate shame.”  Stevens, F. L. & Abernethy, A. D. (2018). Neuroscience and racism: The power of groups for overcoming implicit bias. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68(4), 561-584. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207284.2017.1315583
  • “I’m not interested in talking about America’s history because I want to punish America,” Mr. Stevenson continued. “I want to liberate America. And I think it’s important for us to do this as an organization that has created an identity that is as disassociated from punishment as possible.” (from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/us/lynching-memorial-alabama.html)

January 2024

Rev. Dr. J. P. Kang guided a discussion on the Stanley Grenz Lecture given by Rev. Dr. Angela Parker on January 12, 2024. In her talk titled “America’s Failing Empire: A Womanist New Testament Response to Rising White Christian Nationalism,” Dr. Parker argued that America’s failing empire clings to the deep narrative/story of White Christian Nationalism while ignoring the ways that the imago dei of God can be found in passages outside of traditional readings of scripture.

Resources for this conversation included:

December 2023

Dr. Rose Madrid Swetman led us in discourse on What will we do differently based on how the image of Jesus has formed us? During this time together, we reflected on our own formation and story of the image of Jesus, as well as the loss of the true fullness of who God is by narrowing our image of Christ.

Resources for this conversation included: