Friends, Word selection influences how we process information. Consider these two sentences: To date, over 30,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, in response to the Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel, many of them children, and took 250 men, women and children hostage. Following the Hamas incursion, which according to Israeli authorities killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, Israeli soldiers have killed over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children. Both stories are factually correct, laying out the same sad facts, statistics and sequence of events, but the language used in each leaves us with a different feeling. We may not notice it, but the carefully curated images and narratives presented to us every day on all manner of subjects help demonize —or normalize— actions and behaviors. What you believe often comes down to how things are framed for you and where your biases lie —biases built up o...
Donuts are part of the magic that makes life so sweet. I founded the Level 3 Friday Donut Club in 2004 and ran it until my departure in 2015. It had a three year run at Windstream and is now virtual, but at its peak, we had a rotation of 50+ folks who brought donuts every Friday. We had three simple rules: (1) five dozen (2) boutique shop donuts (3) by 8:00 am. This blog memorializes these e-mails to share my thoughts (and, once upon a time, announce the donut arrival). Have a happy Friday!