Format: (eBook)
ISBN 13: 9781630503574
Publisher: MCP Books
Publication Date: 06/16/2020

As our twenty-first century world grows increasingly diverse, it is often the polarizing voices dictating to us how we should view our neighbors, our interactions at work, our families, and even our race and ethnicities. Instead of sensing that the world is recognizing and celebrating our differences, we often feel separated from one another. We have not learned to connect the understanding of how our unique individual experiences cause us to see and navigate the world differently. 

Illustrated with powerful life stories from the late Allison Boisvert, Jodi Pfarr’s The Urgency of Awareness brings clarity to this matter. Together they identify the various identities that are placed upon us by ourselves or others (male, female, people with and without disabilities, different skin colors, etc.) and examine how these categorizations within the societal system impact our life experiences. 

The book offers readers keys to improve individual interactions as well as concrete tools to improve policies and practices in our organizations. Ultimately, these powerful yet easily digestible chapters will encourage healthier engagement between people with differing identities, from the individual to community level. 

Discussion questions throughout the book invite readers to recall past exchanges with others and to consider how the lens of societal experiences affected the interactions. These prompts could be utilized in varied settings such as family discussions, book groups, or staff meetings.

With a new awareness of how we treat and interact with one another, we will be able to thoughtfully examine how we manage, teach, discipline, support, and engage with people in a manner that encourages more successful interactions.

Now is the time for change. It is our opportunity to embrace a broader understanding of the diversity in our world and to let our awareness support healthy human interaction at every level of our lives.  Since 2001, Jodi Pfarr has worked internationally conducting impactful seminars that leave people learning and laughing.

Since 2001, Jodi Pfarr has worked internationally conducting impactful seminars that leave people learning and laughing.  Her engaging style-and trademark humor - allow her to effectively connect with diverse audiences.  Jodi grew up in a rural area and lives in an urban city, giving her a keen understanding of both demographics as well as the diversity and unique dynamics within both.  She bring audiences the knowledge she has gained from years of hand-on experience within the criminal justice system, social services, religious institution and nonprofit organizations.  
Pfarr graduated from United Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity and her Bachelors of Arts from the University of South Dakota.
Allison Boisvert grew up in poverty and experienced the inside of the system until working herself off welfare and graduation from the University of Minnesota. Boisvert worked in the social service field for years until her terminal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.