Diversity

CHARLOTTE - Enveloped by red, white, and blue, thousands of black and brown faces will stand out this week at the Democratic National Convention, mirroring an increasingly diverse America and contrasting with scenes from the Republican convention that just ended. Led by a president with a black father and a white mother, Democrats will tout diversity and sell themselves as inclusionary, sensitive to the most marginalized, and hip to the nation's changing demographics. Of their delegates, one study found, 26 percent are black.

CHARLOTTE - Enveloped by red, white, and blue, thousands of black and brown faces will stand out this week at the Democratic National Convention, mirroring an increasingly diverse America and contrasting with scenes from the Republican convention that just ended. Led by a president with a black father and a white mother, Democrats will tout diversity and sell themselves as inclusionary, sensitive to the most marginalized, and hip to the nation's changing demographics. Of their delegates, one study found, 26 percent are black.

What's the Jersey Shore for in summertime if not diversion - at least to all of us flocking there for the last seasonal rays? And along with 30 flavors of fudge, lazy evenings in barrier-island restaurants, Skee-ball competitions, and heels dug into the sand, there's theater down the Shore that's suitable for the occasion. Cape May's two professional theater companies, both downtown, are currently offering nightly diversion. Cape May Stage, at its Robert Shackleton Playhouse - which has been outfitted with additional seats in a modest but roomy mezzanine that opened in the winter - is running The 39 Steps, the highly physical and goofy version of the Alfred Hitchcock film, itself an adaptation of John Buchan's novel.

To their young charges, they're the slightly older arbiters of fun in the summer. The camp counselor is the hip role model who is cool to look up to. But the young people whose job it is to take care of campers during the summer say their jobs are about more than supervising the basketball game or taking the easy path to summer employment. Their role has increasing responsibility and requires training that has become more extensive and varied. "We see the kid whose parents are going through a divorce, or the kid coming in the same clothes day after day. Sometimes we see pain and suffering that they may be going through at home," said Josh Watters, 24, a counselor at the Diamond Ridge day camp in Jamison.

SEA GIRT, N.J. - New Jersey's top law enforcement officers said Tuesday that efforts to bring in a more diverse new class of state troopers were going well. Applicants on Tuesday took the physical qualification test at the training academy in Sea Girt, a major step toward joining the force. More than 12,000 men and women applied in May when state police started accepting new applications for the first time in more than two years. The plan is to bring in a total of 250 new troopers next year in two academy classes.

'I didn't know it would be a festival. " That's Maori Karmael Holmes, artistic director of the first annual BlackStar Film Festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday at the African American Museum, Art Sanctuary, and International House. It wasn't supposed to get this big, but now BlackStar is four days of black films and filmmakers from all over the globe - "40 films, 4 continents, 4 days. " Holmes has been "curating films in and around Philadelphia for years. I wanted to do a showcase of some films at International House," in West Philadelphia, she says, "and I secured the dates months and months ago. " But as she started talking to people, she heard of filmmakers and films crying out for larger audiences.

When John Arensmeyer owned a high-tech company, he thought the organizations that lobbied on behalf of small business did not really represent him or many other business owners. "They put forth a monolithic view of what small business wants," he said. "I felt they were overly partisan and overly ideological and didn't really look pragmatically at what small businesses need. " In 2005, Arensmeyer founded Small Business Majority, now a network of 8,000 business people nationwide.

Here's a foolproof recipe for understanding: Take two African American big-city education majors from Temple, combine them with two white small-town education majors from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, toss them all together in a dorm, blend their disparate teaching experiences, and bake for about, oh, four weeks. What you get is an invaluable appreciation for cultural diversity. That's what students who have interned at the Simpson-Temple Cultural Exchange Program have learned.

NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program is in its ninth year, yet, in stock-car racing's top three series, you basically can count minority drivers on one hand. The question many have is, what's taking so long to get these drivers into the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series? A Tiger Woods on wheels could have a huge impact on auto racing. While nine years is a long time, people in NASCAR advise patience. The diversity program faces some major issues. Racers must start racing early, not early teens, but as young as ages 6 and 7. Racing is very expensive.

Urban Outfitters Inc. is facing three resolutions put forth by investors seeking to change corporate governance practices at the Philadelphia retail chain. The first wants the board of directors (currently all white men) to commit to considering diversity when picking board candidates. The second urges the company to switch from a "plurality vote" to a "majority vote" standard. And the third seeks to "declassify" the board so all directors face election annually. Naturally, Urban Outfitters' board recommends shareholders vote against all of those proposals when they gather at company headquarters at the Navy Yard at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.