We invite guest Mark Hayward, a highly accomplished international performer with multiple world titles and world records, to talk about bias and inclusion in circus and variety arts. (Spoiler alert: It might sound oddly specific, but the stuff we talk about is entirely generalizable). For this episode, Mark’s joy is the sense of community he gets from spending time with fellow jugglers, performing artists, and circus folks. Amber’s joy is her project watching all the Disney animated feature films (an idea she got from producer Eric Roman)! And Will shares about his husband Eric Roman’s amazing baking, which you can check out on Instagram @SuperGayBakes. For the main discussion, Mark talks about inclusion and bias in the past and present of circus and variety arts. The world of the circus has an interesting and rich, but complex, relationship with diversity. On the negative side, of course sometimes circuses used differences to make spectacle (e.g., “freak shows”). On the more positive side, the circus was often a place where people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, and disabled folks could make a living and find a sense of community, in times when traditional financial opportunities were often closed to them. We also discuss how activities like juggling and yo-yo are forms of play that can contribute positively to mental health. During Story Time, Mark shares a story related gender and belonging/inclusion in competitive environments, and a story related to being receptive when someone pointed out a misuse of power during a performance. This episode’s question is about how changing social norms related to inclusion, has played out when working in performance arts, and the importance of knowing how to grow and change with the times. This episodes bias habit-breaking skill is to Think Ahead. We’re less likely to show bias when we’ve thought things through ahead of time. Mark’s joyful recommendation (which Amber also loves!) is Murderbot, a sci-fi TV show and book series that connects to many issues related to classism and culture, with a diverse cast of characters–without the show being about diversity. CSAW Nonprofit: https://www.csawcircus.org/about @TheMarkHayward

To be notified when you can preorder Mark’s book about how to be an MC, sign up here: http://Www.modernvaudevillepress.com/mc

Dr. Cox’s book is available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.

Check your small local bookstores!

From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM

From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428

We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store

Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

Will and Amber are dressed as pirates for “Arrgust,” which is International Pirate Month. While Amber sports a more traditional pirate outfit, Will’s takes inspiration from Star Wars and includes a Kowakian monkey-lizard puppet that he wears on his shoulder. While sharing their joys for the month, Amber discusses her collection of Loungefly bags and mini backpacks (a vast collection that includes many that have been gifted to her, because so many people know she collects them, making her easy to shop for) which she uses for her various Disneybounds; and Will discusses the joy of cruises he and Eric Roman have been on (a couple of them with his parents). This episode’s discussion is about how to work joy into your life to promote your mental and physical health. Amber shares science and practical skills, as found in the field of positive psychology, related to joy and health, to help your nervous system, prefrontal cortex, and more. She also shares some new-to-the-show acronyms: PERMA and SMILE to help you remember the tools she discusses. In Story Time, Will shares an experience related to racism in high school, and Amber shares a story connected to microdosing joy and her cultural heritage. This episode’s question: Is there a difference between happiness and joy? (Spoiler alert: For technical and diagnostic reasons, yes, there is.) This episode’s Bias Habit-Breaking Skill is Seeking Individuating Information, which is getting to know the details of what makes someone unique, rather than relying on group membership to distinguish them - this comes more naturally when dealing with majority culture folks in a group, as you have to rely on more individuating information to tell them apart, but less naturally for folks not in the majority: It’s a numbers game! Will’s joyful recommendation is the touching, LGBTQ+ Netflix show–which recently concluded with a movie–Heartstopper! (It’s based on a graphic novel, so a double recommendation.) We highly recommend it if you like adorable romance and need more queer representation and joy in your life!

Dr. Cox’s book is available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.

Check your small local bookstores!

From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM

From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428

We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store

Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.

We start this July episode discussing joy, including: Will’s is a trip he took with Roman and friends to Skywalker Ranch! Amber’s is “dopamine dressing,” in which you dress to bring yourself, and others, joy - usually through mixing patterns and colors (it’s kind of maximalist). This episode’s discussion topic is Avoiding Demotivational Traps — there are many ways people try to face problems like racism and disparities that end up resulting in less motivation, rather than more motivation, to solve the problems. Many involve misusing “educational media” to achieve catharsis or avoid seeing or facing real problems (”entertainment” and “educational media” can certainly mix and overlap, when we say “educational media” in this capacity, we mean the kind of movies or books where even the marketing is trying to make sure you “know” this is some kind of “inspirational” piece that you “should get something out of,” even though many pieces of “entertainment” can also accomplish the same thing - they just tend to be more subtle about it). Amber shares the idea of Sankofa (a word from Akan, one of the many languages spoken in Ghana), which involves having your feet firmly facing forward, to make positive progress to the future, but also looking back to remember the past, both to learn from it and to bring forward what was good. During Story Time, Will shares a story about someone who got censored by her work place, with them saying she could not be a guest on Diverse Joy, because they were afraid of federal backlash for the show focusing on DEI. The more positive story was about another popular podcast, Stop Podcasting Yourself, doing a very nice job with diversity among its guests (having women, people of color, and folks with disabilities make up a large portion of its guest list). This episode’s Question is “Why are ‘checklist’ approaches to DEI bad?” Checklist approaches can give a “catharsis” effect–you’ve finished a thing, check it off–that demotivates people, making diversity and inclusion efforts something that you “get over with” rather than an approach that is about maintaining inclusion over time with ongoing effort. Our Bias Habit-Breaking Skill is Broadening Your Input via Increasing Representation in your Social, Physical, and Digital Environments. This takes many forms, such as increasing diversity of speakers you invite to your organizations (Social), in whose pictures or art is displayed in your work or home (Physical), or the picture on your website (Digital). The skills segment leads to an excellent chat about Amber’s church and how her pastor does a great job of Increasing Representation in invited speakers and even in different representations of Jesus found throughout the church. Amber’s joyful recommendation is KPop Demon Hunters, a movie that became a cultural sensation over the year. It’s a fun, goofy, musical action movie set in a reality centered around (generations of) K-Pop musical group(s) that must stop demons from entering reality through music! (Amber got Will and Eric Roman watch it soon after we recorded this episode, and they agree that it is fantastic!)

Dr. Cox’s book is available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.

Check your small local bookstores!

From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM

From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428

We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store

Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.