Diverse Joy

For this Labor Day month episode, Amber and Will are dressed up as Rosie (and Ross) the Riveter! We share joy! Will's joy is visiting Disney Parks, especially Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, which puts you on the immersive Star Wars planet of Batuu. Amber shares her joy about a recent project in which she reads fiction book series then watches their corresponding movies! This episode's discussion topic...

This episode is the season premier of season 2! Will and Amber share their joy about people's responses to season 1 of the podcast, and also about their recent trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire! They discuss the core philosophy behind "diverse joy", and why joy is so crucial for diversity work. During story time, Amber's stories touch on the theme of "yucking someone's yum", which can rob joy...

In this final episode of Season 1, Amber shares her joy about vacationing in Hawai'i, and Will shares his joy about the Madison Chamber Orchestra's annual "Concerts on the Square" outdoor concert series. We discuss many different ways that biases can seep into healthcare settings, through the perceptions of medical professionals, treatment plans, policies and procedures in medical offices, and eve...

In this episode, Will shares his joy about Gay Pride month, and Amber's joy is seeing outdoor movies in the park! They discuss wellness and self-care, both in terms of individual self-care (e.g., rest, getting a massage) and collective self-care (e.g., coming together with community). Considerations of wellness and self-care are important for everyone, but are especially crucial for people frequen...

Amber shares her joy about attending Portland's Outdoor Market, and Will's joy is his koi pond waking up after winter! This episode discusses a major topic from Will's research career: the notion of "gaydar" as a legitimizing myth that perpetuates stereotyping related to lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) folks. Although many people have intuitions that they believe allow them to "tell" that someone is ga...

In this early spring episode, Will’s joy is his local Gallery Night, a festive celebration of local art and artists. Amber’s joy is cherry blossom season in the Pacific Northwest. This episode's discussion topic is “Intersectionality”, a term that had seen widespread attention and some misunderstanding in recent years. Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how our various identities c...

In this Disability Awareness Month episode, we invite back lawyer Nicki Vander Meulen to talk about the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), especially how other movements, including the Black civil rights movement and the gay rights movement, cooperated to bring about the ADA. Nicki's joy this episode is the Marvel character Rocket Raccoon, who many see as an icon for inclusion,...

Will's joy this episode is "Camp Bingo", a local drag bingo event that fundraises for services for people living with HIV/AIDS, and Amber's joy is after-Valentine's candy sales! This month's episode focuses on weight bias, and Amber and Will discuss terminology for people who occupy bigger bodies, and many ways the world isn't set up for fat people, creating challenges for them. Amber shares stori...

In this new year's episode, Will's joy is cozy winter activities, especially his friend group's weekly movie night. Amber's January joy is birthday celebrations, because her family has a lot of birthday celebrations in January. As she does in all things, Amber brings lots of themed, personalized festivity to birthday celebrations! Connecting to new year's traditions of setting new intentions, this...

Amber's joy this month is everything festive, most especially the ever-expanding array of Christmas movies! Will's joy is his friend group's annual "Krampus and Crafts" tradition, where they watch the holiday comedy/horror movie "Krampus" and do a holiday craft project. This episode's discussion focuses on some common terms used in diversity discussions (cultural competency, cultural humility, and...

For this Trans* Awareness month episode, we bring back special guest Sandy Eichel, who is a transgender nonbinary person themself! We start off addressing notions of tokenism, and specifically discuss the difference between including an underrepresented voice versus tokenizing that person to speak for their whole group. This episode, we share our joy around Will's costume room, Amber's holiday swe...

For this Halloween episode, Will and Amber are dressed up as Captain Christopher Pike (from "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds") and Lucy Ricardo (from "I Love Lucy"). Bringing us joy this October are Will and Eric Roman's annual "Hallow-Crafts Day" and Amber's traditions of visiting pumpkin patches and going apple-picking! Matching our outfits, we discuss representation of interracial relationships a...

With special guest Nicki Vander Meulen, we share our joy about the TV show Star Trek: Lower Decks, back to school, and football season! Nicki is a lawyer focused on disability issues and the first-ever openly Autistic person to be elected to a school board in the U.S., and she shares her perspectives on disability desegregation in schools. We argue that desegregation is best for not only student w...

To start off, we explain that, even though we both have doctorates, we describe ourselves as “so-called experts” because diversity and inclusion topics are ever-evolving, and there’s always more to learn. Things bringing us joy this episode are Will’s visits to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Bristol, Wisconsin and Amber learning to make her Italian grandmother’s recipe for long sauce. Our discus...

With special guest Sandy Eichel, we share our joy about gardening and working with kids. We discuss ways that stale notions of "professionalism" can stifle authenticity and increase marginalization. People are happier and more productive when they can authentically express themselves through their appearance. In other words, we celebrate Sartorial Joy! We also share our perspectives on how to star...

In this premier episode, we introduce the core idea behind our podcast and why we want to emphasize and center our “Diverse Joy.” What’s bringing us joy this episode is the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser and the new acronym for diversity work, JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). We also discuss the widespread issue of non-tested bias and diversity trainings, and how they often make b...