The small abortion clinic in my community is so quiet, one might assume it had gone out of business. It hasn’t, but the protesters have disappeared like fruit flies in winter. Even the grey-haired old man who used to carry a picket sign to and fro on the pavement has probably gone t

Gothic Spring, my novel, looks at the stranglehold Victorian values had on women. Nonetheless, my characters enjoy a little hanky-panky before the fall, unlike the outcomes in what is known in the commercial trade as “bonnet books.” Bonnet books, as writer Ann Neumann describes th

Over time, readers of this blog may wonder if there is a guiding principle because the topics seem so diverse. To be honest, I write about what interests me without regard to theme. Writers are students of life and that’s a broad field.  Women’s equality I address often because I

Some women in the United States believe equal rights for women is an accomplished fact.  In other parts of the world, it’s clear the issue has never been addressed.  Women continue to be targets of war and rape remains a common act of terror.  In Argentina, tens of thousands of w

Listen up all young women who think feminism went out with the dinosaurs.  Discrimination against females in the workplace is alive and well. So says Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In.  Never mind that Ellen Pao, former partner with venture capitalist firm, Kleine

We have a social club in my town where the rich and powerful gather to make decisions for the public without the public’s knowledge or consent.  It sits, like an exclamation point, at the  end of a long, leafy park block near the center of town — white pillars and red brick

No matter where a feminist goes, men seem to be ahead of her.  In the early days of the movement, I recall driving to California from Oregon and stopping at a road side café, one of those places with red vinyl booths and a sign as you entered that said, “Please seat yourself.” 

A short while ago, Samantha Elauf won a religious discrimination case against clothier Abercrombie & Fitch.  A Muslim woman, she argued she was denied employment because her religion requires her to wear a headscarf, a look the company felt was contrary to their fashion image. 

It’s a flaw of mine, I know, that I can follow an author’s writing yet know little about him or her.  Only recently, for example, did I learn that Edith Wharton, one American’s great novelists,  was an expatriate.  She lived in France and distinguished herself during World Wa

Recently, a blog reader emailed an article from the Wall Street Journal that got my juices flowing. (Click) Columnist Peggy Noonan was taking some Columbia University students to task for their editorial in the college newspaper, Spectator. (Click)  In sum, the article was a response