Issue 2847— May 19, 2025
This was the No. 1 lesson I learned when I joined with civil rights advocates in Odessa, Texas, as they achieved school desegregation and housing restrictions.
People working together, even if they have little formal power, can make change happen if they have a strategy, discipline, and the courage to lead to the goal despite barriers and even setbacks along the way.
It was exactly this observation that has driven my work for social justice ever since.
Read MoreDoes hope really spring eternal?
Award-winning author of more than 20 books, Rebecca Solnit has a few things to offer about the possibility of hope and long path of change.
“In this time period,” says Solnit, author of Hope in The Dark, and her most recent, No Straight Road Takes You There, “we are trying to keep hope alive. Change never stops so you do what you can and know you will not fix everything.”
Read More“There is power in narrative,” said Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and creator of the 1619 Project, to an eager and nodding crowd of hundreds of fans and book lovers at the recent 22nd Annual Annapolis Book Festival.
Noteworthy that 32 out of 53 featured authors speaking at the festival identify as female, the authors shared their work documenting in nonfiction and fiction books –among many topics--the stories of women across history for audiences from children and young adult to adults. More than 3,000 attendees savored 35 sessions throughout the day of panels, discussions, talks and signings.
Read MoreHow are you feeling today?
If you responded “anxious,” “unsure of the future,” or “immobilized,” you aren’t alone.
We live in an era of permanent disruption — economic shocks, political upheaval, technological leaps, and personal curveballs that throw even the best plans into disarray. It seems like every day, there is a new threat to job security or the cost of necessities. There’s constant talk about the price of eggs and the looming price increases on almost everything as a result of tariffs, or maybe the threat of tariffs is just that, a threat, and everything will be fine.
Read MoreEveryone in this country is trying to get clarity on the overwhelming confusion caused by daily changes to politics, the economy, business, healthcare, education, culture, and “the pillars of American society.”
And it is women—specifically older women—who are organizing, enlisting male allies, and taking action.
“We are beyond ‘let’s talk about it’ and into a movement,” says Heather Cox Richardson, Boston College History Professor, and author of the 2023 bestseller, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America.
Speaking recently at the Chicago Humanities Festival, in conversation with William Howell, author, political scientist, and dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Government and Policy, Richardson says, “I see American people standing up. I am doing my part. We are 100% in this together. We are beyond ‘let’s talk about it’ and into a movement.”
Read MoreWhen they see it, they can not only be it, they can succeed.
A new global study of nearly one million people from adolescence to adulthood shows that teenage girls 13-16 more often become successful entrepreneurs by the time they are 35-40 than boys do. They also are more successful than girls that same age who are not seeing successful entrepreneurs in these formative years.
Read MoreSometimes, what you want to say is better said by others.
And sometimes articles write themselves as a result. That’s the case with my “Sum of the Week” blogpost today. My heart is so full of joy and appreciation for the powerful film “Lilly,” about the long fight for equal pay, written and directed by Rachel Feldman and produced by many investors, including Jyoti Sarda, who graced the panel with her experience bringing forth the independent film.
Read MoreThis is real life.
So there is no cause to get panicked that because of recent economic shakeups, tariffs, threats of a recession, and wild market fluctuations, you will end up in financial ruin.
Your life will not mimic that of the fictional Victory Ratliff (so perfectly played by Parker Posey) in the recent finale episode of “The White Lotus,” when her husband, Timothy, says their lives are about to change because they have lost all semblance of wealth and prosperity.
“Nooooo.”
Read MoreTrue confession. Like many women, early in my career, I felt so lucky to get work that was meaningful to me that I typically said, “Thank you,” got right to work, and never even thought about negotiating based on what the marketplace would bear.
The first time I remember being conscious that the pay level could actually be a factor impacting my future—as well as my present ability to pay the bills—I knew the position I had interviewed for paid 20% more than the teaching job I had intended to seek.
So I thought I was being pretty smart to take it. Didn’t do my research. Never even considered negotiating. Gave no thought to how all my future pay levels would build off of that one.
Read MoreUnequal pay for women is still a thing.
Even as a new film salutes the tireless advocacy of the late Lilly Ledbetter, the force behind the 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, women in this country are still behind men in earning the same money for the same work.
The national Equal Pay Day held recently in March marks the day that women earn as much in 15 months as men do in the 12-month calendar year that ends in December.
Read MoreRoxane Gay is not a bad feminist. And is there really such a thing?
The acclaimed author, editor, columnist, and editor of the new anthology The Portable Feminist Reader says good or bad, there is no one kind of feminism throughout history, including today.
What is true about feminism today is that those pushing the current political agenda “know what feminism is because they are trying to undo its power. Feminism is everything they do not represent.” She added, “That is why they want to erase words like feminism.”
Read MoreThe delicately sweet aroma of citrus blossoms brought back a powerful sensation as I stepped outside of my Arizona home this April Fools’ Day.
It was the scent I’d first experienced on this exact date: April 1, 1978.
I had taken a late evening flight from my Odessa, Texas home to Phoenix the night before, following a quick trip to a department store to buy a proper suit for an interview that had come a year sooner than my intentions.
On the morning of April 1, I stepped out into the bright Arizona sun.
The unfamiliar scent permeated the air. It wasn’t harsh or cloying, more like a softly perfumed pillow around me. I thought I had landed in some sort of paradise.
Little did I know my life would take a pivotal turn, which I have ever since associated with the aroma of citrus blossoms.
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