Culture Smack! - Building Bridges Between Cultures

How about Something Pleasant?

Culture Smack is about building bridges between cultures, so I will make every attempt not to fall into the general media trap by focussing on only negative stories. While it is important to highlight those areas so we learn from them, it is equally important to uplift and inspire so we can learn from the positive side as well.

A woman in South Padre Island Texas decided to start a beach clean up. She organized a team of 2800 volunteers and in just two hours 2,800 volunteers had bagged 124 tons of waste. She started the movement in 1986. Today, it has become a worldwide movement. The event attracts more that six million volunteers from 127 countries. Small beginings bring about great change over time. Kind of like our little Culture Smack operation!

Check out:
http://www.positivenews.org.uk
http://www.positivenewsus.org

What a great idea!!

Come back daily for new postings and content! More Culture Smack! musings at the Culture Smack! BLOG

Culture Smack! Forum:

Share your thoughts and ideas with your Culture Smack! friends. Here is your chance to build bridges between cultures one on one, person by person.

New Forum Topic: Who are the World's Worst Dictators? - Join the conversation!

Culture Smack! Smackdown :

We have started to produce an entertaining and enlightening list of Culture Smack! Heroes and Bozos. The Culture Smack! Hero is a person that has exhibited traits that promote the ideas of respect and communication. The Culture Smack! Bozo is the antithesis of our hero. The Bozo is someone that practices oppression and hinders the ability for cultural expression and connections.

Here's one:

Choummaly Sayasone

Bozoisms – Dictatorship, Oppression

Dictator of Laos since 2006. This guy is particularly nasty. He worked his way up the Laos communist ladder over a 52 year period. Now he heads an oppressive government that will arrest anyone for practically anything. Some of the offesenses that have been referenced by this ridiculous regime are things like “reporting misleading news” and being “offensive to the national culture”. Puh-lease! This guy gives conservative communists a bad name. He has passed laws that have stripped any remaining liberties from the people of Laos. I think you will agree that he is an A-1 scumbag and hence he graces our Bozo List.

Come back daily as we add new Heroes and Bozos several times each week!

Featured Culture Smack Products

Lithographic Prints from Puerto Rico and Jewelry from Nepal:

These colorful lithographs portray life and culture in Puerto Rico. These lithographs are a classical example of the fusion of African, Spanish and Caribbean cultures in Puerto Rico. These limited edition prints are the work of the fantastic Puerto Rican artist Jaime Cruz.

Imagine yourself in this hand crafted jewelry from a Tibetan artisan community in Nepal. The wonderful scrollwork is detailed and fabulous.

We are adding new products from around the world daily, come back daily to find new one of a kind treasures before they are snapped up!

View other wonderful artisan products

Cultural Tidbits:

We are compiling some basic facts about the countries and cultures of the world. As with any information about a large group these generalizations will obviously not apply to every person in the culture/country. Nevertheless, this general information is very interesting and very useful. Send us your comments on your country/culture and we will make updates based on your feedback!

Come back daily as we will be updating country/culture profiles several times a week!

You can post your cultural knowledge on the Culture Smack! Forum.

The Culture Smack Show Episode 3

The Culture Smack! Show goes to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico!! This episode has some fascinating information on our adventure to the Mayan site of Chichen Itza and our scooter adventure on the island of Cozumel.

The next exciting episodes will be a series of interviews and interactions with people of different backgrounds and cultures. We will be adding more great episodes regularly. Join us as we explore different places and cultures around the world.

We will be producing several videos per week, so come back daily to catch the next episode!

Culture Smack! Gear :

Be the example for your Neighborhood with all new Culture Smack! gear. Maybe all those "keeping up with the Jones'" types will see your mod get up and we will start a (r)evolution. Step right up and get your t-shirts, mugs and other miscellaneous propaganda here!!

Culture Smack! Web