Something is adulterated when it has had something else added to it which has made it poorer in quality.
Being adult-U-rated is the process of being made into an adult — we all undergo it — by having a bunch of life experiences added to our personal blackboards. This process is also called socialization… if you want to be a proper bookworm about it >wink<
Whatever you want to call it, here’s how it goes…
We pop out; they — the people charged with our care — write a name on us. It’s usually written in a color based on our gender. Then, we collect all these life lessons as we navigate survival.
We stick with what has worked. That’s just human nature. And what’s worked for us is all different — and we get into scrapes over those different approaches because, “My answer is right! Mine! Mine! Me! Me!”
It’s not always conscious. It’s just how we operate.
Luckily, by becoming aware of that tendency, we can start to relate to each other better. And that can work wonders. Those are the two factors:
- Accountability, and
- Attention to the quality of our interactions
I’ve written about each of those before, which you can find at the two following links which I’ll also include at the end, because HOW I’m going about raising awareness about personal bias is the point of this post:
Now, to the tasty stuff…
Remember this one important thing: we’re all just kids who got big.
And we can take some measures to become un[ADULT]urated™, that is, to look at all the things that have brought us to where we are right now & understand that our truth is ours, but it’s not THE. 1-pg overview at the end.
One of the things I love about social media is that it allows me to catch up with friends who I’ve known since childhood. It’s a trip to see them now, these larger versions of people who I can remember being the same ages as some of their kids are!
And then to see the trajectories their lives took… thru college (or not)… thru adulthood… and I see their opinions-embodied-as-posts, and it’s really interesting to me to observe.
After a get-together with friends who differ so greatly to the point that all we share are those good memories, it made me think about how we interact as a society (seriously, the ol’ mindgrapes never stop)… and that’s when it occurred to me to take the BiasBusterprinciples and make them fun.
Learning-Through-Play makes topics accessible and memorable. It also lightens the mood, relieves some of the pressure… & AND WE KNOW BIAS CAN USE SOME OF THAT.
People are so wound up about discrimination, prejudice, and other demographics–related issues. Our society has become an open wound, which gets picked at daily by the new and social media. People are afraid of their bias sneaking out.
But, guess what?
WE. ARE. ALL. BIASED.
Starting with that premise allows us to take a breath & decide where to go next.
I chose to go positive, well, productive.
Here I come with wacky stories about how absurd this life is based on all my experiences as a super-Other in Texas!!
The human truth behind our society’s politically-driven outrage issues can be touching & enlightening… I saw too much of each side & have way too much education to be incensed or belligerent (plus, what does that help?)… and, frankly, I see a real way to bring peace of mind by making these touchy issues more accessible to others.
A breath of fresh air in bias training.
un[ADULT]urated is bringing together everything about me from personality to education to work experience to life experience. A biracial girl who was raised by folks named Peggy Sue and Glenn? Yeah, those were the conditions the first day of my life. It only got crazier from there.
An obsession with social issues. Law school. Masters work in government/politics. Being a bisexual who’s now committed to another woman, but has a conservative guy in her brain. A hippie professional who can Talk existence, but has a touch of the OCD & is competitive asf… yeah, I’ve got stories for days.
But, even more importantly, I’ve got major love for people & a desire to see our world improve.
Ok, as promised — the one pager about this new approach to bias training and those links to check out the two topics from above:
