Personal Profile and Experience w/Diversity



This is my first blog site, so I thought I'd post a picture of my wife and I.  I'm still trying to figure the ins and outs of this.

My name is Brian Sparland.  I have started this blog as an assignment for a class that I am taking at the University of Milwaukee.  My wife Joy and I have been married for 14 years and I have two boys that are 7 named Calvin and Burke.  I am an avid golfer and have started getting my boys interested in the game.  I am an MRI, Ultrasound, Bone Density and Scheduling manager for the ambulatory clinics at the University of Wisconsin. I chose to get my Bachelor's degree once I started working at the University of Wisconsin and should be finished in the next two years.  Once I am completed with that I plan on going for my Masters Degree.

My first personal experience with diversity came when I was in my early 20's.  I grew up in the Midwest, in the state of Wisconsin and just graduated from Radiography at Western College in La Crosse, WI.  My first job was to do mobile X-ray for a company that was nationwide.  I started in Boston, Massachusetts.  Growing up in Wisconsin I was accustom to saying "Hi" to people when I walked down the street or saying good morning to the coffee shop owner when I went in for my morning cup of coffee.  While I was in Boston I learned right away that wasn't the norm there.  I would say "good morning" or "hello" and I would get these weird looks from people.  When I talked to the gentleman that I worked with he said "we aren't Wisconsin/Minnesota nice here."  I honestly thought that he was kidding around, but in my two months in Boston I figured out that you just didn't do that.  If you didn't know somebody you just kept to yourself.  So I know that wasn't a lot of diversity, but it leads into my next stop with that job.  My nest assignment was Memphis, Tennessee and Tupelo, Mississippi.
My first day on the job I had to go into a nursing home in Tupelo and take some portable X-rays.  When I arrived I went to the front desk I said who I was and the company I was working for.  The lady looked right at me and said "where are you from?"  I said "Milwaukee."  She paused and then said " you're a God damn Yankee."  I was so shocked by her statements that I just stood there.  I had never been in a situation like that before.  My assignment in Memphis and Tupelo was for three months, and during that time I encountered multiple diversity situations.  Segregation was still happening in the South and it was very blatant.  White people were very disrespectful to the black community.  I became friends with more black people than I did the white people.  Since I was a considered a Yankee, I was "not worthy" of the white people's company.  I remember calling my father and talking to him about this and how different the culture was from Wisconsin's.  My parents always taught my brother and I to treat all people equally, so growing up I had friends that were Mexican, American Indian, Caucasian and black.  I did not look at anyone differently just because they talked differently or looked differently.  When I experienced that type of treatment in Tupelo, I could only imagine the horrible experiences black people had during slavery era.  It gave me a whole new perspective on life and what to be thankful for.  It also made me continue to treat everyone equally, but to stand up for people when they weren't being treated right.  Today I continue to pass this on with my two young boys.

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