Issue 127—April 27, 2020
If you’re watching the Mrs. America series starring Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly, who mobilized the successful opposition to the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, you might wonder why in the world would a woman oppose equal rights for her own gender?
Read MoreMaking a grocery store run, I spotted a lone bottle of cherry wine on the shelf. Memories of my paternal grandmother Molly or Malle came flooding in.
I can see her in her small kitchen that smelled of garlic in Temple TX, cooking all day for her bustling household that usually included Granddaddy Isak or Isaac, one or more of their four sons living at home, and on the weekends their daughter Mayme home from her job in Houston, plus on Sundays my parents and maternal grandmother and sometimes other relatives.
Read MoreHow are you feeling today?
Early in the social distancing, shelter-in-placing, self-quarantining pandemic life, were you enjoying having more time with the family and binge watching your fave series? But now the stress is starting to wear on you?
Read MoreLike just about everyone else, I’ve been consumed with thinking about, worrying about, learning about, and changing my lifestyle because of the COVID-19 pandemic this past few weeks. I’m fortunate to be near a walking path where social distancing remains possible and if I smile at them first, other walkers will smile back at me.
Read MoreMy daughter brought me a roll of toilet paper wrapped beautifully in purple tissue. We shared a knowing laugh. I wanted to hug her but we elbow bumped.
Even Disneyland is closed for heaven’s sake, so though restaurants in my neighborhood are still packed, we didn’t go out for dinner.
Read MoreThe quote has been attributed to many people. But since March is Women’s History Month and I’m writing on March 8, International Women’s Day , I’m going with Eleanor Roosevelt: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift… that’s why they call it the present.”
Read MoreDespite the drolly delivered good news that Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring, I entered February still mourning basketball great Kobe Bryant, who died along with his daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash on January 26. I can’t get this tragic loss of life, loss of potential, and loss of a history-making African American athlete off of my mind. I begin my Sum column this week with condolences to the families of all who perished.
Read MoreLast week I wrote about tripping over a pebble while hiking and breaking my wrist. Since then, I’ve been thinking about how it’s never the mountains that trip you up. It’s the pebbles on the path. Things you can’t see coming even though they are right in front of you. Impediments that don’t catch your eye because they’re so small that you are unaware of them, or you’re vaguely aware and pay no attention.
Read MoreIt was a gorgeous Arizona Sunday, not yet two weeks into the new year and the new decade. The 2020s. I love that nice round number. I was lighthearted, with the sense of optimism I get at such a time, when it seems like the slate is clean and the future open to our intentions.
Read MoreMy son gave me a cool gift last year called StoryWorth. I answered a question about my life (almost) every week and it was shared with my children for their comments. The company will turn all this content into a book now. Nice. I’ve had fun looking back at my history. And the exercise reminded me that it’s not so much the facts of what happened but the meaning of those facts — how you interpret them, what you learn from them, and how all that informs one’s choices.
Read MoreThe biggest lesson for women in today’s world that I believe is flush with opportunity despite persistent remnants of implicit bias, stereotype threat, and culturally learned barriers in our own minds is this: no one can break the pattern of silence as assent but us. No one can set our #dontmesswithme boundaries but us. No one is likely to speak out against patterns of gender-based abuse and violence unless we start the conversation.
Read MoreIf you weren’t in this “room where it happened,” you’ll definitely want to be there next year. I’m talking about the World Woman Summit where I had the honor of being the opening keynote last week. But it almost didn’t happen, for me at least.
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