As we begin a new year with the relief of midterm elections behind us, many Americans are enjoying a sense of comfort about our political future.
We saw a blue wave when a red one was predicted and a long-overdue increase in diversity among those elected to office at all levels of governance. We moved closer to holding accountable those who wished to do us harm, including a past president and his collaborators and insurrectionists.
So it may seem too early to be thinking about 2024, or even what the rest of 2023, will bring.
While the sense of relief was warranted, we’re still not out of the woods, and we mustn’t allow comfort to yield to complacency and chaos. Given the way autocracy has already crept into our lives, vigilance is still necessary.
In all the talk about encroaching autocracy in the United States and elsewhere, politicians, pundits, media personalities, and others need to remember the words and wisdom of the revolutionary second first lady, Abigail Adams, who admonished her husband to “remember the ladies.” Another first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, echoed...
Much has been written in the literature of public health about the shocking maternal mortality rate in the United States. Occasionally, media reports the alarming rate when there is a hook. Advocates concerned with women and health illuminate the problem in reports and at conferences. But in light of...
As the new Covid booster becomes available, it's good to see eligible people lining up to receive it. In addition to providing a new layer of protection against the virus, the vaccine is a reminder that the Covid pandemic is not over, despite changes in safety protocols that contribute to continued resistance to preventive behavior change. More frequently now people are unmasked in places that leave us vulnerable to infection and, if we aren't careful, we could see a resurgence...
The Actors Theatre Playhouse presents Vern Thiessen's Shakespeare's Will, a one-woman presentation featuring Wendy Almeida as Anne Hathaway speaking her mind on the day of the funeral for her husband, William Shakespeare. There are four performances only: on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 7, 8, 14, and 15, at 7:30 p.m., promptly. Very little is actually known about William Shakespeare and his wife of 34 years. But this much we do know: Anne was 26 years old and pregnant when she...
At last, alarm bells are ringing. Most sentient Americans are beginning to realize what is at stake in the November midterm elections and the 2024 election that will follow - unless by then they are cancelled. That's because unless you're a devotee of Donald Trump and his ilk, it is now clear that we are in the early stages of full-blown fascism and the death of democracy in the United States of America. It has become blatantly clear that what's...
Remember a time when it was possible to travel the world with an up-to-date passport that simply validated your identity and sent you on your way? It was easy to undertake an exploration of a world full of random pleasures, surprising beauty, and serendipitous encounters. Today it takes several ever-changing passwords to navigate the simplest computer journey, no matter the destination. It's an experience so frustrating and fraught with roadblocks that it has become a giant stressor at a time...
Just days before the horrific Supreme Court decision that killed Roe v. Wade - a grievous act that rendered women and girls property of the state and subjected them to forced childbearing - a spate of opinion pieces appeared bemoaning the fact that feminism was all but gone in the face of massive backlash. Feminists I admire wrote disheartening columns that included expert opinion, research findings, and personal analysis. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote that “as the backlash...