Diane DeBella and I Am Subject: Women sharing their stories to become “subjects” in the 21st century
When she walked into the room, my first thought was, ‘How can all that fierce determination fit inside such a tiny young woman?’ She began to speak—slowly, deliberately, with patience, strength, and grace—and I sat transfixed, tears streaming down my face as I struggled with my own sense of shame and shared responsibility. I needed..
I haven’t blogged much in the last year–or four. I have plenty of excuses, including ongoing health challenges, Covid, and the implosion of democracy. Yet as dark as it seems, I am looking ahead to lighter, brighter days, when a new president and the first female vice president will do their best to put out..
I often wonder how different my life would have been if the Equal Rights Amendment had been ratified instead of falling three states short in 1982. I bet I wouldn’t have had to quit jobs after being told that in order to be promoted I would have to sleep with the boss. In fact, I..
On election night 2016, despite the tiny hint of doubt gnawing away at my confident façade, I grabbed a bottle of Prosecco and headed over to my friend Nancy’s to track the returns and smash the bottle of bubbly against the most imposing glass ceiling that ever existed—I was ready to shatter the patriarchy as..
I haven’t written a blog post about women’s issues since February, because, well, Covid. During a worldwide health crisis, other issues tend to take a back seat. To date, millions have contracted Covid-19, and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have died from it. Fighting the virus is at the forefront of our minds. Yet,..
~24 people per minute are victims of intimate violence—more than 12 million people per year~ The fact that the Violence Against Women Act expired when the government shut down isn’t widely known. While it also isn’t cause for immediate panic (unauthorized programs can receive appropriations), what is alarming is the fact that violence against..
Did you know that women couldn’t vote in Switzerland until 1971? And even then, not all women were included. It wasn’t until 1990 that the conservative region of Appenzell Innerrhoden gave women the right to vote at cantonal level, and it did so only because the federal supreme court forced the issue. While Switzerland wasn’t..
I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks. ~ RBG What surprised me most about Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s documentary RBG was how much I didn’t know about the iconic Supreme Court Justice—and what I didn’t know made me..
There is so much to like about living near a college town, including the opportunity to stretch my mind and expand my knowledge base. While I get to do that every time I step on campus, last week I was lucky enough to share ideas with Janell Hobson and Katha Pollitt, two of the..
Earlier this month, I had to fly coast to coast for a brief appointment. I actually spent more time traveling than I did in Los Angeles. However, my timing couldn’t have been better. Since my appointment at UCLA was only thirty minutes long, I had the rest of the day to explore the surrounding..