politics

There are so many terrifying things happening in our federal government right now that it’s easy to miss a cabinet post confirmation vote that could destroy public education. The president nominated Michigan’s Betsy DeVos, a wealthy advocate for dismantling public schools who has no actual education experience for Secretary of Education. As someone who attended Michigan …

I’ve struggled a lot with the fallout of last November. That evening, my oldest stepdaughter texted me a simple, “dad, is the world ending?” All three kids are extremely aware of what Trump’s victory represents, and are deeply disturbed. They live in Canada, and yet they’re worried about what this …

If you don’t live in DC, you probably associate Washington with national politics and all its current associated nastiness. But, believe it or not, those of us who actually live here are regular people too, just getting our kids to school, going to work and even going out for pizza once in awhile. So when a man …

Like many other parents, I woke up on November 9th afraid for the future and struggling to find the right words to explain the election to my children. Though I didn’t know exactly what to say and the end result was probably far from perfect, I shared my fears about President …

I was listening to NPR this morning and got to thinking about how people talk about Hillary Clinton and what is spun variously as her need for privacy or penchant for secrecy. And it occurred to me that, this, like so much of the narrative about Clinton, is intimately tied …

CN: Transphobia At the risk of making this the Grounded Bathrooms page for a little while here, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Target for doubling down on its corporate policy of inclusiveness by announcing that its customers are free to use whatever restroom and dressing room …

I’ve seen several friends posting memes such as this on Facebook recently. The idea seems to be that university students should stop seeking scholarships, debt relief, or debt forgiveness and instead consider joining the Armed Forces in exchange for advanced education. On the surface, the idea might seem interesting. Trade …

A couple of weeks ago, Salon published a piece I wrote entitled “Stop telling me I’m poisoning my kids”: Food crusaders, sancti-mommies and the rise of entitled eaters. Most of the backlash was the usual anti-GMO stuff, but I was a little surprised to see a minor outcry over my use …

I have been having sex (both consensual and non-consensual, and with some significant hiatuses) since I was 12 years old. I am now 45. In all that time, I have never had an unplanned pregnancy. I have never had an abortion. What I did have (and might still have) was …

Trigger Warning: infant death, graphic description of fetal tissue There is this man who stands a block from the entrance to my workplace. He props up two four-foot signs emblazoned with photographs of bloody, dead, micro-preemie babies, and another with the words “Stop Abortion Now!” I say “babies” despite knowing that these are fetuses, despite knowing …