Using Our Voice
I recently finished an engrossing historical novel called “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” by Lisa See, in which the author introduces her readers to nu shu, the phonetic, secret-code writing used for hundreds…
My Time to Serve Has Come
Nothing special has happened. More hours haven’t been magically added to my day. My father is still in a nursing home and I am still his primary point of contact. I still…
Special places and the people who manage them are examples of visionary leadership
I am just back from a bucket list family trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. We chose the dates and I booked the ocean-side campsite back in the spring. As gas prices climbed, we thought maybe this wasn’t the…
Truth-Telling Women
Have you noticed lately how many truth-tellers — commonly known as “whistleblowers” — in this country are women? A star example is Cassidy Hutchinson, the young former White House aide whose volcanic testimony in June riveted viewers watching the public…
Am I a Feminist in Name Only?
How a gendered society needs to change to become a better society. Recently, I came across a study showing that as women grow their careers, their household chores actually increase, I realized that this was playing…
Every Vote Matters, Especially in a Local Runoff!
Every election cycle you hear “every vote matters”! I can tell you from personal experience how relevant these words are, especially in local elections. In local runoff elections, the stakes are even higher. In 2020, during the peak of…
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…