It is May. In the U.S., Italy, Japan, Mexico, and many other countries, it is a month that celebrates mothers. Deconstructed, it heralds women bearing and caring for children to ensure the health and welfare of the family. For many, celebrating Mother’s Day means...
Women
Women’s History Month: Latina Invisibility
March is Women’s History Month. It celebrates women's contributions, struggles, blocked opportunities, and ultimate triumphs. It is also a time for issuing empty promises that things will improve, a refrain often heard but only partially fulfilled. For Latinas,...
Dear Joe, What about Us?
You say that the state of the union, SOTU, is strong. That our democracy is working. Really? It is my birthday today. I promised my friends I was taking the day off. That means no writing or calls to action. But then I kept stewing over your talk last night. All the...
News from Iranian Women, in Their Own Voices
I had been contacted by a few Iranian women to speak with them just shortly after Mahsa Amini’s death and the demonstrations/revolution began. Then later I contacted them to ask whether the new decree to disband the “Morality Police” was of any real consequence for...
Damn the Court; This Is Not What Democracy Looks Like
I could wait to fully try to clear my head and calm my heart but that might not happen soon enough, and this moment “we” are in is urgent. For friends who say they have lost hope I am reminded of what I have said too often in these last few years. Hope is not an...
Tears of Joy and Hope Turn to Tears of Despair
Nearly 30 years ago, I was in the kitchen on the phone with my obstetrician. My husband, Tim, on the other side of the house, heard me scream with joy. Life-altering news made me cry. I was going to be a mom to a daughter. And the baby, yes, at that point it was my...
Gender Chaos, Ukraine 2022: Nations, Globes, and What Is a Woman Anyway?
I am rethinking it all — nations, globes, gender, race. There are no effective borders left as each seeps further into the other. I have been tracking this seepage for the last four decades, but this scenario was triggered by gender imagery in the Ukraine war. Change...