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Items of the month:
Note that since April 2014, I am publishing these items in my blog at http://runninginfog.wordpress.com/.

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Selected Recent Presentations and Publication

Thought of the month ...

January 2009: Maya Angelou wrote in one of her books "... beneath the skin, beyond the differing features and into the true heart of being, fundamentally, we are more alike, my friend, than we are unalike." True! We all are part of humanity, we all are human beings, and we share the same fears, pains, hopes, joys, and loves. In this we are fundamentally alike: each of us a member of the same species. Differences are on the outside, the skin, the language, the culture, the way we are embedded in our environment. Somebody said the other day that through the election of Barack Obama to the President of the United States, the differences have become smaller. But aren't the difference in skin, the ways we look, the ways we behave, the cultures we develop, the thoughts we think; aren't it these difference that make life on Earth so rich and fulfilling? Like the multitude of features on the surface of the Earth: we travel long distances to see spectacular landscapes, experience different environmental settings, and expose ourselves to different climate conditions. Like the biosphere and biodiversity: we love to see different flowers and trees; we love to watch different animals and some of us take great effort to track and watch them in their natural environment. And we like to go abroad, engulf ourselves in other cultures, taste the food of other peoples. And some of us like to watch foreign films and theatre plays, or read foreign books and encounter thoughts that were thought in other cultures.

Why then are so many of us afraid when the rich diversity of the world comes to visit us? When immigrants, who are more alike to us than unalike, knock at our door and want to share life with us? Why can't we be more curious and welcome them when some of our fellow human beings are relocating, bringing their skin, their culture, their thoughts to us? All experience shows that immigrants enrich our own life, culture, food, and they increase our well being.

Let's therefore hope that the election of President Obama will not make the differences smaller but rather make us respect the differences, love the differences, and understand that the great potential of humanity to prosper is not in homogeneity but in diversity.


If you have a story, thought, or picture worth to be considered as story, thought or picture of the month, please feel free to inform me about it by sending an e-mail to hpplag@unr.edu.