Celebrating Diversity

The Fall Calling All Colors conference in western Michigan is not a tour of the changing face of the woods, it's an activity sponsored by the Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance for student and teacher participants from local schools. I acted as a facilitator for a BaFa BaFa simulation game that let participants take on unfamiliar cultural personalities. After introductions to the representatives from a dozen middle-schools, Roberto Jara (representing the Holland organization, Latin Americans United for Progress) reflected on his growing up as a Mexican-American in California. Then we broke out into Alpha and Beta cultural groups for training in cultural activities. The Alpha culture acknowledged patriarchal and family customs of respect and close togetherness (a facilitator was put off by the "touchy-feely" aspect) while playing a game with tokens that supported relationships. The Beta culture was driven by competition expressed in a primitive trading language while playing a game with cards that supported individual achievement. During the half-hour that groups played their games, observers and designated visitors attempted to fit in to the other cultural activities. Then we had time to meet together and discuss features of the pretend activity. I was impressed by the intensity the students brought to playing the games and their love & acceptance of the newly-learned culture. Apparently, in 2009, western Michigan communities already have diverse ethnic cultures.