Hasta La Gadget!

Some are arguing that the recent LDS news conference on religious freedom and nondiscrimination was a strategic ploy to give the church a platform to fight for broad religious exemptions in upcoming nondiscrimination bills. Others view the statements as an incremental step forward that will create a wedge between Mormons and conservative evangelicals and Catholics on religious liberty issues. This debate will go on for some time with many attempting to decipher the political tea leaves. Can’t we do better?

What I’m longing for is, as are so many other people of faith, a little more religion and a little less law. I don’t mean religion in the sense of demanding the right to discriminate against someone, but actually examining why as a Believer one would choose to discriminate in the first place.

While understanding the political implications of the Apostles’ statements is important, we need religious leaders to speak out more in the spirit of the Beatitudes and less like trained litigators. I’d love to hear more about Jesus’ blessing of those that hunger and thirst after righteousness than about our religious leaders taking up precious public space to argue how to uphold so-called rights that have been shown to cause deep harm to the LGBT community. As the theologian, David Gushee has written about other religious liberty battles, “Why does it always come down to the lawyers? Why does every conversation default to rights-talk? Why are Christians today joining the parade to the law offices?”

Elder Oaks focuses on the First Amendment right that tells us “all citizens may hold whatever religious views they want, and that they are free to express and act on those beliefs so long as such actions do not endanger public health or safety.” What if, instead of leaping to an entangled argument about rights, he, and the other Apostles, actually looked at the public health data showing the effects rejection is having on the health and wellbeing of LGBT people. Discrimination on religious grounds is a public health issue and one which religious leaders ought to be deeply concerned.

What a difference it could make if Elder Oaks visited a local homeless center and asked an LGBT young person there–it won’t be hard to find one as the numbers of LGBT homeless youth are near 40%–if religious messages made them feel unwanted at home, at church, in the larger culture. He could go to a suicide prevention clinic and talk to a counselor about how many LGBT people calling the hotline have been told they are going to hell or have committed an unpardonable sin for which there is no way out but death. He could go to an LGBT Mormon gathering and ask what effects rejection in their ward had on their physical and spiritual well being. Or he could call up the Department of Health and Human Services and ask about the growing data on health disparities affecting LGBT people.

Then perhaps rather than holding a press conference on the right for religious people to discriminate we might have one on a shared commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of all our people.

Now that would be a news conference I would want to attend.

I received an S.O.S. from a courageous friend who teaches second grade in South Central Los Angeles where people tend to write off her students as having no future, including these young souls themselves. Her school has been targeted as a “STEM” elementary where she is suddenly required to teach the “E” of Engineering in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math curriculum.

There are no books or collateral materials to augment the bare-bones curriculum at my friend’s school. There are no tablets, high-tech toys or Wi-Fi. She already buys basic supplies with her own salary. The biggest hurdle for her and many other teachers is that despite the STEM mandate, there is no funding for training that would enable her to confidently incorporate engineering as part of the new Next Generation Science Standards. My friend’s lament is heard every day in elementary schools from coast-to-coast: “I am not a trained engineer.”

Here are two realities that exacerbate bringing the “E” into K-6 foundational learning:

First, according to the American Association for Employment in Education, there is an abundance of people applying for elementary teaching positions, but a critical shortage of candidates with a foundation in math and science, let alone knowledge of concepts associated with engineering. Since certification in these areas require additional credit hours, many elementary and middle school teachers lack training necessary to work STEM into their curriculum.

Second, since the sixties, elementary school teachers have been predominantly women and disproportionate numbers continue today. The California Department of Education reports that in the 2013-14 school year, 72.7 percent of public school teachers were female; and since this statistic includes high school, the number of women teaching the foundational years of K-6 is even higher, roughly nine to one. Because engineering is perceived as a male profession, this bias has deprived many female teachers of formal and empirical knowledge about engineering, its practical applications in everyday life, and its nexus to the coursework they currently teach.

No wonder the current mandate to teach engineering is paralyzing.

So here is a simple message to K-8 teachers: engineering is completely miscast as a subject area that requires a left male brain and a triple degree in math and physics.

The word engineering is derived from two Latin words: ingenium, meaning “cleverness” and ingeniare, meaning “to contrive, devise.” As noted in Foundations of Solid Mechanics, “scientists try to understand nature. Engineers try to make things that do not exist in nature….” The engineer puts an idea in concrete terms and designs something that people can use whether for work or play.”

Dramatically increasing the number of children who can pursue challenging hands-on projects, with 21st century skills of critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity requires experience with hands-on, project-based STEM activities that will enable them to design, create and build. When children build something of interest to them or integrated into a subject they are studying in school, they will develop these critical skills. Through the process of designing/making/testing, they are applying mathematics and physics, possibly chemistry, biology and mechanics and collaborating with other children, teachers and parents to ‘engineer’ something useful to them or to others.

A former third and fourth grade teacher and wife of a prominent engineer recently gave me a book called The Toothpick by Henry Petroski who writes “nothing can be more annoying than having a piece of food stuck in our teeth.” Any problem, such as getting food stuck in teeth, can be the inspiration for a student to use engineering to invent something new and solve a problem by making something that doesn’t exist in nature. A device that can go where our tongue and fingers cannot reach requires engineering: exploring structure and testing materials; using scientific and economic principles to determine what material will be flexible, not too abrasive and can be derived from a readily accessible, environmentally sustainable resource; applying math to measure and determine a size and shape that will easily slip in and out of the space between the teeth; and studying practical applications such as can the device be easily mass produced or washed if designed to be permanent. Lastly, there is the process of creating and testing a prototype. If it works – great; and if it doesn’t, then it’s necessary to create and test more prototypes to engineer a final product through the process of trial and error.

For elementary teachers like my friend, my favorite STEM resource is Science Buddies. Teachers, parents and students of all backgrounds can tap Science Buddies’ user-friendly online questionnaire to access the age and subject matter-appropriate project tools needed to practice engineering with simple every day materials. This site enables teachers and students to learn to engineer in the classroom in a non-threatening, user-friendly way.

To put the “E” in STEM, teachers don’t need to be rocket scientists -they just need to give kids classroom time and the opportunity to build things, take them apart and rebuild them. Give them a project to create something useful that they tackle with their heads and hands, and let them work in teams so they practice collaboration and communication. If at first they don’t succeed, challenge and encourage them to try again. That’s engineering!

When you walk into a room at work are people naturally drawn to you? When you sit at a meeting table do others ask to hear your thoughts? When there’s a decision to be made do people seek our your ideas?

If you’re wavering in your responses chances are you’re missing what researchers have found is an essential component to getting ahead at work … executive presence. Reported to account, on average, for 25 percent of what it takes to get promoted, understanding how to project confidence, stay poised under pressure and be authentic are clearly skills worth having.

But if you’re not quite there yet, what can you do to cultivate a more positive presence at work?

“Studies have found that in the first seven seconds of meeting you people make 11 judgements about you,” explains Shannon Polly, a corporate communications trainer when I interviewed her recently.

Click here for the full interview.

“Are you someone to approach or to avoid? Are you friend or foe? Do you have status and authority? Are you trustworthy, competent, likeable, confident? These interpretations are made at lighting speed so you want to do all you can to make them work in your favor,” Shannon suggests.

To achieve this, researchers suggest channeling an effective executive presence is a dynamic mix of three things: gravitas (how you act), communication (how you speak) and appearance (how you look).

“This isn’t about faking it until you making it,” she cautions. “Rather, the goal is find authentic ways to express the intention you have when it comes to your interaction with others.

So how can you have a more positive, authentic presence at the office?

Shannon recommends trying these tested, practical steps:

• Know Your Intention – We know our non-verbal signals have a huge impact on how we’re perceived, yet when we’re preparing for meetings or presentations we spend 99% of our time on the content and maybe 1% on what we’re going to wear, how we’re going to act and what we’ll will sound like when we speak. Take the time to get clear on your intention for each interaction. Is your intention to inspire? Is your intention to educate? Is your intention to comfort if it’s a difficult situation at work? How will you embody this intention in the way you dress, move and talk?

• Let Yourself Relax – Fear of public speaking is bigger than a fear of death in most people so it’s important to calm down your nervous system before you go in to a meeting or a presentation. The most effective way to do this to breathe slowly and deeply. It calms down your heart rate and it lowers your tone of voice. You can try an app like “Breathe To Relax” or take the advice of researcher Amy Cuddy who suggests striking a Wonder Woman pose (stand up straight with your hands on your hips, feet in a wide stance and head held high) and breathing slowly for two minutes to lower your cortisol levels and increase your testosterone.

• Engage Your Batter’s Box When You Speak – Think of your batter’s box as the area from your shoulders out to your hips and down to your waist. As you speak this is the area where normal gestures will naturally flow from normal speech so you can convey authenticity. Of course if your company’s just won a3 million project, it’s fine to go outside of your batter’s box to display your excitement at the outcome.

• Build On Your Strengths – Make the time to reflect on or even ask for feedback about what worked well in terms of how you presented yourself. This will help you discover your strengths – the things you’re good at and enjoy doing. Studies suggest that building on your strengths – rather than fixing your weaknesses – is the best way to improve your confidence, performance and wellbeing all of which impact your executive presence.

If you took these steps before your next meeting, how might it shape your colleagues perceptions?

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch got a little carried away after his team won the NFC championship game on Jan. 18.

He grabbed his crotch in celebration — an “obscene gesture” that led the National Football League (NFL) to decide to fine him $20,000, SB Nation reported. It wasn’t the only time the league made Lynch pay up — he also has to hand over $100,000 — two fines of $50,000 — for refusing to speak to the media during press sessions.

To State Rep. Drew MacEwen from Washington, however, Lynch’s crotch-grabbing and disdain for the press is far less obscene than the NFL’s handling of last year’s domestic assault cases involving players and their families, according to The Seattle Times. According to him, it’s outrageous that Lynch would be charged $100,000 for avoiding interviews, while former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice would be given just a two-game suspension for physically assaulting his then-fiancee.

In response to the injustice, MacEwen introduced a bill on Thursday that would funnel fines from Seattle football players into Washington state charities. Currently, fines like Lynch’s benefit the NFL’s football-related national charities, past statements from league officials claim.

“I’m trying to raise the awareness of the hypocrisy right now with the league — the domestic violence issues, the assault issues,” MacEwen told The Seattle Times. “In my opinion [the NFL] kind of threw it under the rug … It blows me away how they’ve treated those two separate issues.”

MacEwen joins advocates near and far who are upset with the NFL ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the Seahawks and New England Patriots. As NBC 4 News reported, women’s rights group UltraViolet launched a 15-second ad aimed at highlighting the league’s alleged mishandling of domestic violence cases throughout the past year.

The ad, which depicts a football player tackling a woman and encourages viewers to share its message using the #GoodellMustGo hashtag, blames NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for failing to keep abusers in-check.

“It is clear that Roger Goodell’s NFL took no initiative to prosecute domestic abusers and protect their victims and it is clear that the NFL will not take domestic violence seriously until Roger Goodell is gone,” UltraViolet co-founder Shaunna Thomas said in a statement, according to NBC 4.

MacEwen said he hopes local charitable efforts that would benefit from the NFL fines will in part be focused on families affected by domestic violence, should his bill pass.

“Women and children’s shelters would be fantastic,” he said, according to Komo News. “Food banks certainly. Ideally, let the player that’s been fined, let him choose it and as long as it’s in Washington state I think we’re good with that.”

The bill, however, has a tough road ahead before becoming law. As The Seattle Times pointed out, even the Republican lawmaker admits he’s unsure if Washington state has the ability to enforce it, as the NFL is headquartered in New York City and inter-state commerce is overseen by the federal government. Legislation aside, MacEwen said he hopes the bill sends a message about the NFL’s recent hypocrisy.

Komo News reported that the bill does not have a hearing date yet.

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