Memorial Day
Hope those of you in the U.S. are having a pleasant one. I am currently in Malaysia for the Women Deliver conference, and will be blogging some updates from here. So prepare for a few days of maternal health news! Also please prepare for slightly slower moderation over the next month, as Malaysia time is 12 hours ahead of the east coast of the United States, so I’ll be asleep while many of you are commenting. On the Memorial Day tip: As long as we’re honoring fallen American soldiers, we should maybe also honor those who are currently serving by having a real zero-tolerance policy when it comes to sexual assault. When 26,000 soldiers were sexually assaulted last year — up from 19,000 in 2010 — there’s clearly a cultural problem in the military.
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It takes more than a village — it takes good childcare
I was lucky enough to grow up with two families. My little brother and I were picked up by one school bus in the mornings around the corner from my house, where we lived with our mom and dad. Another bus dropped me off in the afternoons down the street from M&M Family Child Care Home.
...read moreHappy International Women’s Day!
It’s International Women’s Day, and I’m working with UN Women to help spread the word. Michelle Bachelet has issued a call to end violence against women world-wide, and UN Women has released a lovely song from 25 artists around the world:
...read moreFeminist YouTube sex educators need your advice…
Regardless how one feels toward V-Day, Eve Ensler or this year’s One Billion Rising, it’s a good springboard for kicking off projects around V-Day’s themes – which for my mates means demystifying female sexuality and women’s bodies. (For me it means cupcakes, but I’ll explain later.)
...read moreHappy Valentine’s Day!
I am celebrating by talking about internet love on Al Jazeera and then sharing some early-bird ramen with my best friend in DC before I hop on a train back to New York. In other words, I’m in love, and I’m livin’ today like it’s Galentine’s Day:
...read moreLove in the Digital Age
I’ll be on Al Jazeera at 2:30 EST today talking about love and the internet, and probably sneaking a little feminism in there too. You can stream it here.
...read moreOne Billion Rising and Dance as a Radical Act
For Valentine’s Day, I wrote about the One Billion Rising movement that is staging actions around the world today to bring attention to the epidemic of violence against women. I was initially unconvinced; here’s why I came around:
...read moreYour wedding is the most special, important, valuable day of your entire existence, but you are a crazy bitch if you plan it too much.
That’s basically my summary of this New York Times article, which covers a small number of women who planned their weddings (or are still planning their weddings) before they even had a boyfriend. And yes, I actually agree that spending large chunks of your free time planning your own wedding when you aren’t actually engaged to be married is… a tad bizarre, and kind of sad. There are so many other things you could be doing with your spare time! And while I think many of us have had the experience of seeing a pretty dress or a nice piece of jewelry online and going, “Oh I like that” and maybe even posting it on Pinterest (hell, even I pinned a wedding dress one time), it’s a whole other level to plan out a venue, monogrammed cocktail napkins and what you’re serving for dinner before you’ve even met the person who you’re planning to wed:
...read moreWhat would King learn from us?
An elementary school teacher told a story to me once. I was still struggling to learn English, so over the course of the year I asked her often to retell the story.
Years ago in Alabama, the wife of a young preacher received a delivery of red carnations from her husband. They were beautiful, but as she touched them, she noticed they were artificial. When her husband came home, she asked about the flowers. He said, “I wanted to give you something that you could always keep.”
...read moreHoliday Redux
Christmas, for those of us who celebrate it, is over, along with many of the other December holidays. New Years is yet to come. How were your festivities? Mine involved an iPad from Santa, so that was fun, and lots of wine. And I just started watching Homeland (not even through Season One, so NO SPOILERS in the comments please!). What did you all get up to?
...read moreA bit of holiday advice
This list is (mostly) for folks who celebrate the upcoming holidays, and are fortunate enough to have people and resources to celebrate with; if you don’t fit that group, skip to the bottom. If you do fit, then even if your family are your favorite people and you look forward all year to the holidays, you still may find useful hints here.
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Happy Birthday Caperton!
Today is the birthday of our own beloved Caperton. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPERTON! I hope it’s as fabulous as you are.
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