Terri Schehr Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) 16 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said: How the hades is diversity political? Does that mean I’m being political for thinking it’s nice when my street finally had a minority on it. (And a nice lady) Guess I’m wrong for seeing it as a human being issue. I grew up in a neighborhood with a lots of Hispanics. My best friend’s names were Salinas, Valdez, and Saenz. We didn’t think a thing about it. All the Dads were blue collar guys. We were poor but we didn’t know it because we were all were in the same boat. Same where I lived in Aurora. Where I live now is very antiseptic, if you know what I mean. I’m looking forward to being in Cincinnati in a real neighborhood for the summer. . Edited March 14 by Terri Schehr 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 17 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said: How the hades is diversity political? Does that mean I’m being political for thinking it’s nice when my street finally had a minority on it. (And a nice lady) Guess I’m wrong for seeing it as a human being issue. Maybe OP to the comment referenced is actually a second-wave feminist who has adopted the mantra, "the personal is political." I'm super here for that conversation, but be forewarned, I'm a fourth-wave intersectional feminist and know my stuff. I can keep those dialogues within the bounds of platform rules, but such dialogues are usually challenging in that way for the uninitiated. Such principles directly inform my capacity for nurturing equity in professional settings. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) 39 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said: I grew up in a neighborhood with a lots of Hispanics. My best friend’s names were Salinas, Valdez, and Saenz. We didn’t think a thing about it. All the Dads were blue collar guys. We were poor but we didn’t know it because we were all were in the same boat. Same where I lived in Aurora. Where I live now is very antiseptic, if you know what I mean. I’m looking forward to being in Cincinnati in a real neighborhood for the summer. . My dad was in the army shortly after it was integrated. His training group (Army Corps of Engineers) was formerly all Black so he was pretty “outnumbered”. 😆 They worked together so color meant squat. That was how I was raised. I moved to west shore of the river and some called it the “white shore” for sarcasm. After I moved found some of my neighbors were proud of that name. 🤮 Best part was being told “you know what kind of people live over there”. I said “yeah.. me.. my family.. my friends”. 🤬 Edited March 14 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said: My dad was in the army shortly after it was integrated. His training group (Army Corps of Engineers) was formerly all Black so he was pretty “outnumbered”. 😆 They worked together so color meant squat. That was how I was raised. I moved to west shore of the river and some called it the “white shore” for sarcasm. After I moved found some of my neighbors were proud of that name. 🤮 Best part was being told “you know what kind of people live over there”. I said “yeah.. me.. my family.. my friends”. 🤬 Oh boy. 🤦♀️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_orangecounty Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 Drum Corps has gentrified and it’s sad. Instead of being an activity any kid off the street can do it’s now something akin to grad school for music and dance majors. Good for the kids that can afford it but sad for those from low income and “at risk” kids that cant. A spending cap for costs that can be controlled should have been implemented decades ago for the greater good of the activity. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) Honestly, I worry more about staff being qualified (and people of good character) rather than their skin color or whatever. So many first world issues. Again, fixing money and cost issues would solve a TON of other things. Not even a discussion on reality if people can't afford drum corps. Better question still is who needs drum corps vs those that really don't. Until this is addressed pretty much everything else is kind of exercises in futility. I would rather like to see a section in this report on background checks for staff and leadership. Personally, I don't think this will ever be fixed because no one wants to give anything up. Oh, there is window dressing but I find it fascinating that corps of the past were WAY WAY WAY more inclusive and diverse. Edited March 14 by Mello Dude 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 (edited) Having a qualified and having a diverse staff are not mutually exclusive and never has been. Plenty of companies value and pursue both to great success. Diversity runs deeper than skin color because it can include cultural differences, religious differences, as well as differences in life experiences and perspectives. "Not caring" about skin color does not diversity make. Many of us want these aspects of our unique lived experiences not only acknowledged, but accepted and celebrated in community with others, whether they share those experiences or not. To the above poster's point, I too would appreciate a section on background checks for staff and leadership that goes beyond the assumption that they happen. For example, statistics on who was rejected and why. But that falls more under safeguarding to me than equity work. Both are crucial and, yes, intersect. It's one thing to appear inclusive and diverse on the surface (or rather, getting "some diversity in the door"), speaking for my own home team here, but it's another to actually walk the walk. I don't feel comfortable interacting with much of VMAPA, in part, because they're faltering in this regard. Edited March 14 by scheherazadesghost 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 53 minutes ago, Mello Dude said: I find it fascinating that corps of the past were WAY WAY WAY more inclusive and diverse. I’ll add another WAY here because it’s true. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 7 hours ago, Mello Dude said: Interesting. IMHO making drum corps affordable would make a lot of this moot. I'm happy they have a 25k scholarship fund. At current rates that what 4 people or so? I'm glad they did this report, I just wish that the reality would be addressed. It's a money and affordability issue for the most part. I mean it's not only being able to afford corps but some kids need to work during the summer to have money for more important things like school and living. Unless corps (and DCI as a whole) start getting real about making drum corps "attainable" for more people it's not going to be anything more than kids that were already going to do well in life doing even better. Perhaps, a less quality product would be preferable if it improved the lives of more people that actually NEED something like drum corps? I wish I had all the answers but if you can't see the forest through the trees your DEI means nothing if people can't really benefit from it. I think that is why nearly all the socioeconomic diversity we see from drum corps non-profits comes in the form of alternate program offerings. They cannot (or will not) make the DCI drum corps format financially accessible. This same cost blindness then ripples through the related scholastic pageantry arts. Then corps staff increasingly rely on these same scholastic groups, disproportionately from affluent areas, to provide experienced auditionees. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 4 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said: How the hades is diversity political? Honestly, anything can be political as soon as a politician says it is... and certainly once two politicians start arguing about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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