Having lived through the Asian flu epidemic in the late 1950s, I’m pretty sure the coronavirus will eventually wend its way out of our system. For one thing, science knows a good deal more about how to mount a viral defense than in those earlier days. A vaccine may arrive sooner rat

A friend emailed me recently.  She wanted to increase her contribution to her IRA but her broker didn’t return her calls.  What should she do?  Well, since the market had dropped 2,000 points that day, I suggested she send him a box of chocolates.  Of course, no one should try t

With everyone’s eyes glued to statistics about the coronavirus, our attention to other upheavals falls by the wayside.  Three prominent men accused of sexual crimes against women are facing the consequences. Woody Allen lost his book deal. Prince Andrew faces a criminal investigati

The matter was small, yet I was annoyed by it. Even a little despairing.  After fifty years of fighting for women’s equality, what did I have to show for it? Or others of my sex who had faced jail time and forced feedings to champion women’s rights? That afternoon, as I visited m

Rudyard Kipling’s poem IF  is a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson, a Victorian war hero who led the failed Jameson Raid against the Transvaal Republic.  I know this history because in the 1960s I taught at Jameson High School in Zimbabwe. The school was named in the man’s honor

Because the U. S. Supreme Court has a 5-4 divide between conservative and progressive jurists, the country is holding its breath as the highest court prepares to weigh in on the abortion issue. Whatever they decide, the ruling is likely to send a shock wave across the country. Their d

On Monday, March 5, Katie Porter, Democratic congresswoman from California, disagreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker had earlier commented that because a candidate was a woman it was no reason to vote for her.  Porter disagreed and so do I.  All things being equal, wo

As it’s Friday the 13th, I might as well consult my bucket list and think about something pleasant. One dream I’ve had for some time is to spend a couple of weeks at a luxury spa.  Paying more to eat smaller food portions might seem foolish, but I like the idea of pampering, the

As news outlets reported the final count in the South Caroline primary, I wrote on my Facebook page, “not a single woman,” suggesting neither Elizabeth Warren or Amy Klobuchar *would survive after Super Tuesday.  Certainly, they picked up no delegates in South Carolina, putting a

When I headed a teacher’s union, I was part of a coalition of other labor groups that negotiated wages and working conditions with the public school system.  That was in the 1970s, at a time when the U. S. economy had slowed. Unable to make a case for wage increases, union represen