News & updates
Essays and updates on communication, empathy, and racial equity, the ideas John explores in his books and workshops.
June 6, 2026
Communication
Do you say these things? If you do, be ready for your conversation partner's blood pressure to go up. Better to say more clearly what you actually mean. 1. You look tired. 2. Smile. 3. It's fine. 4.
Continue readingSeptember 19, 2025
Race & Equity
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this on the occasion of President Trump's September, 2025 visit to the UK: ". .
Continue readingNovember 12, 2024
Publications
I just received my hard copies of a new book called THROUGH YOUR EYES: RESEARCH AND NEW PERSPECTIVES ON EMPATHY, edited by Prof.
Continue readingSeptember 3, 2024
Speaking
Join me from 2-3PM CDT this Thursday in an interactive conversation about the "Beyond Empathy Project," a multi-dimensional effort I'm working on. Registration is free!
Continue readingMarch 22, 2024
Race & Equity
PROGRAMS Mondays, April 8, 15, 22 and 29, 6:30 - 8:00 pm Virtual or In-Person (Hybrid) at Shalom Spirituality Center Racism is a deeply embedded problem, within society and individuals.
Continue readingJanuary 8, 2024
Race & Equity
We wisely avoid sociopaths, because they can abuse, injure, and kill people without feeling bad.
Continue readingJune 14, 2023
Race & Equity
Photo by Centre for Ageing Better on Unsplash My new book, Dismantling Racism One On One highlights the power of each person's uniqueness to transform racist interactions.
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Race & Equity
YOUR GRANDPA STEALS A CAR AND GIVES IT TO YOU: DO YOU OWN IT? The Moral Challenge of Being White[1] John Stewart “A great nation does not hide its flaws.
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Race & Equity
John Stewart & Tiye Sherrod FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014 AT 7:34AM Remember the last time you were in a situation with somebody who is different from you in some significant way, and you felt fear…
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Other Works
Film Narrated by: John Stewart Click image to visit official website.
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Race & Equity
Poems published as ISLAND REVERIE Text by John Stewart Photography by Ferdi Businger 2010 Sinclair is one of the 200+ islands that make up the San Juan Islands north of Puget Sound, about 85 miles from Seattle.
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Publications
This essay is published as Chapter 2 of The Handbook of Communication Ethics, edited by George Cheney, Steve May, and Debashish Munshi (New York: Routledge, 2011), pp. 15-30.
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Speaking
Well before Starbucks, coffee came in metal cans that opened with a key.
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Speaking
The Challenge to Reclaim Democracy: De-Polarizing Hillary & Barack Lecture given at Gonzaga U., Spokane, WA, 2007
Continue readingMay 23, 2023
Race & Equity
When Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris mocked the whiteness of the 2015 awards, some viewers were offended, but most of those whose heads were out of the sand for at least part of the previous year…
Continue readingFebruary 27, 2023
Communication
January 30, 2023
Race & Equity
My new book was just published by Strategic Book Publishing! Unlike most books about dismantling racism, this one focuses on two person and small group conversations.
Continue readingOctober 9, 2022
Race & Equity
Whether they work from home or alongside colleagues, employees continue to spend time fuming over unresolved conflicts, coping with hurt feelings, resenting how women are treated--or men, and…
Continue readingJanuary 17, 2022
Race & Equity
Two articles I recently published clarify what we're doing when we really connect with somebody else--when we recognize something about them as an individual AND know that they see something about our uniqueness.
Continue readingMarch 23, 2020
Publications
“Self-quarantine” or “sheltering in place” can be frustrating and uncomfortable.
Continue readingMarch 12, 2019
Race & Equity
I’m an old white guy who’s learned a lot from several African American teacher-friends. One is Anthony, a PhD with 25 years experience.
Continue readingJune 17, 2018
Race & Equity
How much misunderstanding and violence does stereotyping create?
Continue readingMay 7, 2018
Race & Equity
The memory is of the threat of its absence. I’m not alone, but I’m scared I could be. Disconnected. In a void, a space with no footing. No way to be an agent; to matter.
Continue readingFebruary 27, 2018
Communication
“Are you crazy?” “You’re kidding me!’ “You can’t possibly believe that!” “I just don’t get her at all!” In the past week, how many times have you said that you just don’t understand somebody, an…
Continue readingOctober 24, 2017
Race & Equity
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI in the biz) are hot topics. Businesses want to know how to recruit and retain diverse employees at every level.
Continue readingApril 11, 2017
Race & Equity
Forty percent of unarmed people shot and killed by police officers are Black, even though Black men make up 6% of the nation's population .
Continue readingJune 23, 2015
Race & Equity
mariafabrizio .com/ Comedy Central's Jon Stewart makes his living turning the news into jokes. But on the day after the racial massacre in Charleson, he said he had no jokes to tell.
Continue readingSeptember 19, 2014
Race & Equity
Most of us think of our favorite holidays as times for the family to get together in celebration, love, and harmony. But in many U.S.
Continue readingJanuary 23, 2014
Publications
How will we know when a computer can actually think?
Continue readingApril 15, 2013
Communication
You’ve just been promoted to supervisor, and you want to build a good relationship with your manager. “What can I say to help her trust me?” you wonder.
Continue readingDecember 22, 2012
Publications
The face of the young woman next to us on flight 815 was glowing as she told us she was heading home to spend the holidays with her family.
Continue readingNovember 26, 2012
Communication
“I love you, but I wish you’d change your underwear more often.” “I love you, and I wish you’d change your underwear more often.” More than 30 years ago, family therapist Virginia Satir wisely called…
Continue readingSeptember 12, 2012
Speaking
Has my experience ever happened to you? I'm in a workshop at a national conference with a group of mostly strangers.
Continue readingApril 14, 2012
Communication
Most of us have only a vague sense of what Quality of Life (QL) means. Wealth? Health? Leisure time? Fame? It seems obvious that a homeless person’s QL is lower than Donald Trump’s.
Continue readingStay in touch
Occasional essays on communication, empathy, and equity, the same ideas John explores in his books and workshops, delivered to your inbox now and then.