A writer near my age admitted on Facebook that though she loved the feel of paper between her fingers and the smell of a new book, she’d shifted to an e-reader. No longer comfortable with small print, she needed an electronic device to adjust for size.    Much in life is a tradeof

Some people say feminism’s Fourth Wave began in 2012.  I see little evidence of it.  Frankly, I’m dubious that the Third Wave of the 1970s ever existed. That was the era when women talked of being more inclusive than was possible in the First and Second Wave.  It’s a laud

When they return from a vacation, I suspect my readers have an experience similar to mine.  I’m surprised the hurley burly of the everyday world has changed not a whit.  Old political feuds continue.  North Korea has fired another rocket. China remains complacent.  Russian hacke

When politics gets  tough, American’s cope by using laughter. John Stewart and Stephen Colbert lead the way, of course.  Michael Moore and Rachel Maddow get in a few good licks, as does Garrison Keillor.  But for street genius, there’s nothing like a protest sign. Here, I’ll

As technology shrinks our world, rubbing differing cultures together with the force of colliding tectonic plates, human beings are facing an overwhelming question: Is it better “to give wide freedoms to differing subcultures to live as they wish, or to assert a universal standard of

When I served in local politics,  I, and some of my predecessors, worked hard to shut down a local nursing home in the eastern corner of the county.  It was rickety and posed health hazards for the residents, but it had an antebellum grandeur and its patients, who had lived there ma

Recently a group of international women leaders, which included Gloria Steinem, crossed into North Korea in an effort to begin a face to face reconciliation with the women of that country.  (Click)  In doing so, the group was criticized for playing into North Korea’s hands, partic

A quiet revolution is going on in the United States and while I am heartened by it, I’m not sure where it is taking us. I’m referring to the creep of women into positions of authority and the concomitant fact that many are the sole breadwinners in their families. I’m not referri