Awkward Traveling. Poised Interculturalists. Native People. Hopping Places

The more time we devote to following our interests online it seems the more relevance we find. The problem: how can we ever share all the fabulousness?! The solution: rounding up zillions of links resonant to our community that cross my screen.

• This post at The Awkward Traveler -- "I wander because wandering is where I fit in" -- echoes recent expat+HAREM guest posts about the bumbling of intercultural greetings and the sensations of exile.

• At China Expat, Carolyn Vines, the author of Black and (A)broad: traveling beyond the limitations of identity, considers the changes in a woman's identity after an international relocation. Moving away from our cultural context, she writes, we learn to see ourselves with different eyes.

• If you grew up in the Americas you grew up with Native American history of some kind and at the very least, reflected in place names. Facebook hosts a massive collection of antique photos of Native Americans, organized by tribe, including ethnographic and commercial images as well as family portraits.

• This poised Seattle Voices TV interview with hybrid soul Nassim Assefi (Iranian-American doctor! author! humanitarian! ) will interest interculturalists.

• Diane Caldwell, an original contributor to the Expat Harem anthology, once ate Jack Kerouac's peanut butter. On her new blog the free spirit writes a requiem for Asmalimescit, Istanbul's hoppingest back alley.

• Have national tragedies revealed uncomfortable truths about your native people/politics? asks the ever-perspicacious ML Awanohara at Seen the Elephant

• Blogging, branding, and dealing with doubt are among the 10 secrets to managing your career overseas according to John Falchetto at the Undercover Recruiter.

• Calcutta! Expats! Jazz! Don't miss this intriguing globe-trotting/gin-soaked debut in a new excerpt of Piano Demon.

Globalance: Negotiating Our Connections With The World

No surprise, it's the way of the world: multiracial and multiethnic Americans are "one of the fastest-growing demographic groups”, according to the New York Times. This month we’re pleased to highlight numerous people negotiating the ever-shifting space where cultures meet (it can get bumpy!)...what happens when we explore beyond our original environments (sometimes we go too far! other times we identify valuable parts of ourselves)...plus, a variety of innovative attempts to make our invisible connections with others more tangible.

+++++ AT expat+HAREM

Nose bump, air kiss, surprise bear hug. In a topsy-turvy world, handshakes can be stand-offish, kisses formal and hugs too-intimate. Our favorite food blogger in Israel suspects it’ll be awkward when we meet, in a funny post about the greeting norms of multiple cultures -- sometimes happening all at once.

We’ve also been talking about catalytic experiences. Like the unravelling of British creative Susannah Conway, who reveals in a Turquoise Poppy "build your global niche" interview how she built an introspective livelihood from loss. Nomad artist Elizabeth Briel shares how the wider world lured her out of a box, and an expat blogger in Holland discovers...

...it takes arriving at the brink of disappearance before you realize you've over-assimilated to a new cultural identity. +++++ AROUND THE WORLD & AROUND THE WEB

Happiness Inside online community aims to help us all “build internal happiness as a way to affect global happiness” while a new parenting site is for people raising multicultural/intercultural children of the world.

Who doesn’t have something to say to LA? Palehouse is now taking submissions for an unusual book, a hand-delivered collection of open letters to the city of Los Angeles, what they call “an attempt to create a stronger connection between strangers in the World.”

We wonder if this CulturaLinks model will encourage other metropolitan areas to embrace their cosmopolitanism: Rebecca Blankinship (who we were happy to take out for lunch when she was in Istanbul!) heads a network for Seattle-based globalists to connect and participate in global awareness adventures and internship programs.

+++++ YOUR THOUGHTS

Earlier we asked what terms you use for your global identity. Ethel “Eppie” Ozen, writer of “The Village Bride” in the Expat Harem anthology, sends us some expressions that encapsulate the arty Tennessee native/Istanbul resident’s hybrid life.

“Cultural trapeze act. Global compassing. Earthy roadie. Globular jugular.” And our favorite Eppie term? “Globalance.” As you can see, we’re borrowing it! :-).

How are you striking global-balance? Send us a snippet

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Here’s to finding your own globalance,

+++++ MISS LAST MONTH?

Check out January's "Custom creative" --Want link to my new behind-the-producing-scenes page? Here it is.

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Winged Etiquette: Do Manners Travel?

“Manners are your passport to the world,” the Gilded Age writer of American etiquette Emily Post once opined. The mid-century sage also said etiquette isn’t a strict code of socially correct behavior we need to memorize -- it’s simply how our lives touch other people. Respect.

Although more a proponent of Miss Manner’s sharp-humored good sense, I’m intrigued by the premise if we behave thoughtfully, politely, discreetly we might float around the globe in a delicate cloud of social grace, doors opening everywhere.

Yet, are manners culture blind?

Can the deportment of one society truly transcend the culture of another? Just like etiquette isn’t a code, what passes for propriety in one place may not have the same meaning in another. Perhaps we need a non-formulaic equation for the cultural layer in these global times.

A recent tip by Cindy King about not appearing too self-centered in international situations caught my eye.

Isn’t “self-centered” culturally relative? For a person like me born under the sign of the ruler in both the Western and Chinese zodiacs and raised in “the Me Decade” of California, it can sometimes seem like the definition -- and curse -- of life itself. If one aspect of my demeanor is going to doom me worldwide, it’s this one.

King, a cross-cultural communications coach, presents a series on the role of respect in building trust. “Self-centeredness can be perceived as a lack of respect to others,” King writes. Her advice: become more curious about the other person’s perspective. Individualistic Americans will have to work over-time.

Which manners travel best for you? Where in your disposition, and on the planet, do you need to improve?