When Jennifer Doudna at Berkley and Emmanuelle Charpentier of France collaborated on their CRISPR research, a  gene-editing tool, (Blogs 9/11/15, 6/15/16) they little imagined they’d be starting a war.  But when Feng Zang, of the Broad Institute at Harvard/MIT, tried to patent his

Ingrham’s, a large publishing and distribution company for  writers’ works, sent me an email yesterday.  They were raising rates for their services.  The attachment was a long, single spaced document with several pages of contract changes.  I am careful about material like thi

Because artists pursue their passions whether or not anyone pays them, art thrives in the best and the worst of times.  And, as Charles Underwood reminds us, like a weed, it gains strength during periods of adversity.  (“Art in the Age of Trump,” by Charles Underwood, Town&C

I have held two publicly elected offices in my life.  I served as  a counselor with a regional government known as Metro.  Later, I won a seat on the Multnomah Board of County Commissioners.  Both times, the governments I served defended me against lawsuits while I performed my pu

To survive the Trump presidency, a person must either develop a sense of humor or go mad.  I’ll say this for atheists, they have a sense of humor.  Since Trump’s inauguration, members of Freedom From Religion, (FFR) have contributed $100,000 on behalf of Mike Pence to their orga

“Ohhhhh…you snow white bitches love white womens (sic) books.”  So began a diatribe from a Just Read It viewer.  I was amused, having suffered greater abuse growing up as a Latina in Los Angeles during the 40s and 50s.  Certainly, I’ve heard worse.     Which brings me t

No one could accuse me of being a Donald Trump fan.  Nonetheless, I do feel sympathy for him as he attempts to change the rules of political gamesmanship in Washington D. C.  Already he is paying a heavy price for attempting to “clean up the swamp.” Never mind that his n

If you’re under the age of 90, you’re probably old enough to know about computers,  at least well enough to  send an email.  Those over 90 tend to mistrust electronics and prefer the elegance of a handwritten note.  One elderly woman at our  retirement center likes to sit

One of the difficulties for Constitutional literalists, those who seek to interpret our laws according to the intentions of our founding fathers, is that the country these men created no long exists.  As Gareth Sitaraman writes in “Divided We Fall,” those leaders lived in

In 1972, Phyllis Schlafly,  (Click) opponent of the ERA amendment said, “the women’s libbers don’t understand that most women want to be a wife, mother and homemaker – and are happy in that role.” (“Real Housewives,” by Sarah Jones, New Republic, May 2017, pg. 58.)  I�