By Rowland Joiner
Recently arrived Members at Becketwood cannot be aware of the subtle yet extensive changes that have taken place here these past three years. They might assume that we have always had displays like the September one depicting Rosh Hashanah, or that we have always supported Native American Powwows and have encouraged Buddhists to use our facilities and have deliberately selected colorful works of art like some of the current ones on display. We learned at the excellent September Town Hall Meeting from members of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee how these and other features had been part of a deliberate effort to make Becketwood an even more welcoming and inclusive community, one that takes account of the different cultures and traditions that exist in the Twin Cities and beyond.
The planning committee for the event then sought a stiff upper-lipped Englishman to defend the indefensible, namely the use of names and titles for some of our facilities and units, which had undertones and overtones of a distant colonial past. They looked around and chose a stiff upper-lipped Englishman (with tongue in cheek) to play this role. Together with the Executive Manager, they staged a protest and response, challenging and justifying any attempt to make changes to the familiar titles for space and units in our building. He and I felt the response of Members in the meeting had made it worthwhile doing this and had made the point about “change.”
The recent blog by Ann Lovrien, “Honor the Past and Embrace the Future,” reinforces what I have been writing about above and helps us better understand how and why “change” comes about. But Ann, what about the role of the male, including stiff upper-lipped Englishmen?
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