Archive
Our President’s Word Wars
These days I find myself thinking often about a cartoon by the late Theodore Geissel. In it, a woman with a sweater that reads "America First" reads aloud from a storybook to two children: "And the Wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones," she relays....
Trump on Cuba: If Obama Did It, It’s Bad
There's a lot to say about Trump reversing some of the Obama administration's policies on Cuba. The White House recently announced it was banning individual travel to the island and further restricting what business Americans can do there. Yes, there's a lot to say,...
Another Troop Surge in America’s Longest War
President Trump might have dodged military service in his youth, but he certainly is militaristic — he's bellicose, likes to issue commands, and is constantly firing off militant tweets at anyone he perceives to be an enemy (which seems to include everyone who dares...
Tongue Tied
In OtherWords: June 14, 2017
Does your community celebrate Juneteenth? Officially observed on June 19 in at least 45 states, it commemorates the final end of slavery in this country, which didn't come until another few years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This week in OtherWords, Jessicah...
Honor Juneteenth by Closing the Racial Wealth Divide
On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas. They carried some historic news: Slavery had finally and completely ended, they declared. All of America’s enslaved people were now free, some two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation...
Domestic Terrorism in the Age of Trump
Harassment, intimidation, and physical violence against religious and ethnic minorities is on the rise. And some experts worry the Trump administration is making things worse. The attack on a Portland commuter train by a knife-wielding white nationalist who was...
Mad about the Climate? Don’t Cheer Up!
On June 1, President Trump announced that he'll withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. If that makes you mad, good. If that makes you outraged and disgusted, even better. We have good reason. Even for a president whose administration has quickly...
Gender Studies at Hogwarts
J.K. Rowling, author of the bestselling Harry Potter series, just made headlines for an epic tweetstorm condemning misogyny. Referring to women politicians, she tweeted, "femaleness is not a design flaw." I love J.K. Rowling. I love her books. I've read the entire...
Trump’s Twitter Bombs
Donald Trump missed his opportunity to become a General Patton-style military commander and glorious war hero back in the Vietnam era. He surely would've been the greatest in history, to hear him tell it. But, alas, he says some unspecified foot problem (or something...
