So I have finished Paula Giddings’ biography of Ida B. Wells, Ida: A Sword Among Lions. At 659 pages, it is positively succinct in contrast to the Douglass biography. The time it took to read these books made me feel like an inefficient reader, yet I was sad, both times, to finish because I had … Continue reading Reading Notes, Ida: A Sword Among Lions
Category: democracy
Daily Blend
Since my ability to monitor calories, let alone restrict them, is more limited than I’d like to admit (my Fitness Pal app seems to average 1-2 days of records per month), I am experimenting, again, with the strategy of stopping eating at 6:30 pm each day. As a part of this goal, I am ending … Continue reading Daily Blend
Don’t trust anyone over 40
As someone on the other side of 40, I only partly mean this title. I have felt despair and moments of fury when millennials disregard the insights and experiences of those who have been in a job for decades, preferring to recreate the wheel in the most inefficient means possible. I also love the acerbic … Continue reading Don’t trust anyone over 40
Silence is not golden
As a string of egregious actions make the news, including personal behavior that reveals the blindness of those in power and far too many policies that will secure that same blind power for decades to come, I am thinking today about the silence people use to avoid reckoning with their complicity. I am remembering moments … Continue reading Silence is not golden
Your Tweets Are Not Enough
I made a resolution this year to be more active on Twitter, and so far I have managed to lose a lot of time on Twitter without gathering my courage to post anything. More often than not, a terrible event occurs (As-Seen-On-Twitter), and I get caught in a vortex of outrage and helplessness, peering at … Continue reading Your Tweets Are Not Enough
Mississippi
So I woke to the news this morning that a miracle did not occur in Mississippi last night. I am sending out (silent) condolences to those on the losing side, as I did for Florida, Georgia, and Texas. As a Southerner, I feel the need to say to those who lost: I see you. I … Continue reading Mississippi
How to articulate democracy
I am trying to gather my courage to call my Senators tomorrow to urge them to demonstrate their commitment to voting rights, which, alas, they won’t (which is why it takes courage because it feels futile, but necessary). I thought it might help for me to write about why democracy matters, and, this will surprise … Continue reading How to articulate democracy
Reading notes
What is most remarkable about Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk is not that he makes us aware of more ways that the installation of a U.S. administration indifferent to the responsibilities of government is a threat to our safety and long term security but that he provides such a readable explanation of the workings of … Continue reading Reading notes
Off to the movies
I rarely like to go to a movie in the theaters since the cost is so high, and I prefer to watch at home anyway. In fact, I don’t watch movies or shows very often because it takes up time that I’d rather spend in other ways (usually reading or writing, as you may have … Continue reading Off to the movies
