Paulette Bethel, PhD
Yuletide Around the Globe: 9 Holiday Traditions
In last year’s holiday column, I wrote about one memorable customs, cuisines, traditions, and practices in my Louisiana Creole home culture of New Orleans.
How Netflix’s ‘Queen Cleopatra’ Sparked Allegations Of ‘Blackwashing’ And A Conversation Over Culture, Race and Identity in Modern Egypt
The world recognizes ancient Egypt as a civilization characterized by its openness to other cultures. It was a melting pot of different civilizations and ethnicities, and one of the ancient world’s premier civilizations because of its legendary history, culture, art […]
Family Genetic Secrets Revealed: Who Am I Now?
In the early summer of 2018, I received my highly anticipated results from a home genetic testing kit purchased through AncestryDNA.com. I became very excited and couldn’t wait to see my results. From a very young age, I would hear […]
Disenfranchised Grief: When Others Don’t Understand Your Loss and How To Cope With It
This article looks at disenfranchised grief, what it is, how it manifests in the culture and how to cope with it. In 2018, I unexpectedly learned information that shattered the foundation of my life. In the aftermath, I moved through […]
‘Tis the Season of Réveillon: My Cultural Holiday Tradition
Like many in the U.S., I have been watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. Yes, I readily admit I am among the millions who tune into these formulaic films, especially now that they and other networks are introducing more BIPOC characters […]
Colorism is Alive and Real: Can We Talk About It?
Identity is a funny thing. We write books about it. Movies are made about it. How we see ourselves in the world is all about it. We often wax nostalgic about it — personal identity, place identity, community identity, social […]
Bella’s Front Porch — New Orleans, Louisiana: A Rich Melting Pot City With A Diverse History And More
So much more than Beignets and Bourbon Street, New Orleans is a multinational, multicultural hub in the United States. Called “the northernmost Caribbean city,” by some — Mardi Gras and crawfish may make it iconic, but as our newest columnist […]
HISTORY PRE-WRITTEN: TRANSGENERATIONAL TRANSFER OF TRAUMA, SYSTEMIC RACISM AND UNRESOLVED GRIEF.
At the tender age of seven, and before I even learned the language to name it, I had experienced the painful reality of racism.
