A few weeks ago, I watched a fantastic talk by Chimamanda Adichie about "The Danger of A Single Story". The talk is a year old, but the message is ageless. It made me think about what my stories of "single stories" are. I have a few, actually, here is one that particularly struck […]
Tag - cliché
Wednesday, October 1 2008
Stereotypes Are Not Always a Bad Thing
Wednesday, October 1 2008. when you're a stranger
Anyone who has never seen in their mind's eye the chauvinistic Frenchman running around with his béret and his baguette (and the occasional stinky camembert and bottle of red wine) when they thought about the French and anyone who has never thought that the Germans are orderly and always on time […]
Sunday, September 28 2008
She's not Swiss-Swiss
Sunday, September 28 2008. when you're a stranger
I came across a tweet by Rashunda today (and if you don't know Rashunda, run to her blog, it's very smart and witty) which rang a bell. I wrote a few days ago about our Culture Comfort Zone and Rashunda's words awoke more thought about this whole "noticing stuff". The tweet said the new […]
Friday, September 19 2008
Culture Comfort Zone
Friday, September 19 2008. everyday life
I've just read this post at interculturaltalk.org and it reminded me of something that has bothered me for the longest time. For as long as I can remember, I've always felt some kind of guilt pang to see someone in the street and that the first thing I notice is their skin color, the shape of their […]
Friday, November 30 2007
German punctuality is overrated
Friday, November 30 2007. somewhere else
I am pretty sure that if you ask anyone in the world to give you one cliché about the Germans, there's a pretty good chance that "The Germans are always on time" or "The Germans are very organized" will come up more than once. In any case, that's what French people would say. And […]
