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I Met Julia Child

In 1979 I met Julia Child, the iconic “French Chef” of television and cookbook fame. She and her husband, Paul, came to a reception in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to meet the new class of Nieman Fellows, mid-career journalists who had…

The Juggling Act Continues

The cri de coeur from U.S.  Supreme Court nominee Kentanji Brown Jackson at her confirmation hearings earlier this spring pierced my heart, too. “I’m saving a special moment in this…

The State of Women in Tech – And Why We Need You!

The reasons women remain severely underrepresented in technology & coding careers are vast & varied. From systemic differences in how girls & boys are parented or taught from a young age,…

3 Cases of Redistricting Reform: 2018 vs. Today

Partisan gerrymandering, i.e., designing electoral maps to benefit a particular political party during the redistricting process, goes against the core value of our democracy: that the people should choose their representatives, not the other way…

Ignore the Mania and Run for School Board Anyway

School boards are more important now than ever.  Wait…what? If you follow the news, it may seem that the fate our country rests in the hands of a few underpaid and underappreciated…

Ask a Woman to Run

One of my granddaughters is a topnotch volleyball and basketball player at her middle school. Her younger sister is a crackerjack softball player and also a superlative gymnast. Does this mean these girls might be more…

A conservative’s view…

As the former First Lady Michelle Obama shared an intimate conversation with the members of Chief, her message of authenticity resonated with me – loudly. As a…

Play Ball!

When I was a kid growing up in suburban Detroit, I loved to watch my Detroit Tigers play baseball.  I couldn’t wait to tune in their games on television or listen to them on the radio. My father,…