In a recent blog (Blog 12/14/2016), I wrote my thoughts about the centuries of patriarchal thinking that have painted women as inferior to men. I referred to women who accepted this view as having  a “chattel mind.”  That I was guilty of the same misperception became clear when

“Casting couch,” is a phrase that’s been floating around Hollywood for decades.  A casting couch is where a comely actress drops her dress in exchange for a role in a movie.  My mother, a ringer for Hedy Lamar, did a few laps around that couch before giving up her drea

I wrote recently about khatatna in the United States, the practice of slicing a girl’s gentiles, behavior common in the Middle East.  (Blog 6/30/17)  Though a cultural ritual, it has no place in the United States.  Perpetrators should be caught and punished.  Kha

An employee at my retirement center belongs to a religion that prohibits men and women from touching one another unless they are family members.  I was warned of the taboo through the grapevine not as official written policy.  Still, I have respected the stricture, though I  balk a

Female genital cutting (khatna) is alive and well in the United States, even though it was outlawed in 1996. (“It Happens Here,” by Tasneem Raja, Mother Jones, July, August, 2017 ,pgs. 13-15.)  It survives because women, largely of the Muslim Bohras sect, (Click) protect the

Understand, there are decades between me and the new arrivals to feminism. I’ve welcomed the Baby Boomers, the Gen Xers and now the Millennials.  Each generation interprets the movement according to its values.  For a time, there were those who thought being called a “fe

On the way to the gym at my retirement center, there’s a table with a small basket resting on it.  Sometimes the basket is empty.  Sometimes it isn’t  When it isn’t, it’s full of condolence cards addressed to the family of a resident who has died.  As yet I know so few peo

We’ve all heard about the butterfly effect: a butterfly flaps its wings in New Mexico and causes a hurricane in China.  The expression seems mystical, like a Japanese koan, but it’s simply a matter of cause and effect.  One of the best examples starts with a dress. In the 18th c

I have a program on my computer that critiques my writing.  All too frequently, it gives me a red mark for sentences that are too long or for a vocabulary it says might challenge the average reader.  The computer assumes I want to appeal to the average reader.  And, I d

Never underestimate the power of a good cosmetic when it’s applied well.  Young Joe Kennedy learned about his failure when he responded to the President’s State of the Union address on Wednesday, January 30.  Having slathered himself with lip salve, the cameras picked up