Archive
Fat Demons
My grandmother lay in bed at a hospice facility, days away from death. With her loving children by her side, she looked at her belly and — as she had done for all of the years I'd known her — complained that she was too fat. What? What did she think six-pack abs would...
Step Away from That Desk
Do you eat lunch at your desk? Alone? Continuing to work as you chew? Welcome to the new wondrous world of work in which employees feel intense pressure from bosses to labor right through lunch. In a survey, 62 percent of people with desk jobs said they grab a snack...
Uttering the G Word
Wow. In his second inaugural speech, President Barack Obama finally sounded like the guy progressives thought would be governing the United States starting in 2009. If he puts those poetic words into action, he may leave a much stronger legacy after eight years than...
Fishy Genes
Why I’m Singing the Inauguration Blues
President Barack Obama's second inauguration definitely had its high points: his uncharacteristically liberal speech, weather that broke 30 degrees, and a tour-de-force from inaugural poet Richard Blanco. This was my first barely-up-close-and-not-so-personal...
This Week in OtherWords: January 23, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Ron Carver puts today's gun control debate into a personal and historical context, drawing on his experience on the front lines of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and research into what prompted the Founders to enshrine the right to...
Second Amendment Vigilantes
I don't hunt, but I have nothing against hunters or owners of rifles, bows and arrows, or boomerangs. However, I am against vigilantes and those, like the NRA leaders, who encourage them. I had my own run-in with vigilantes when I joined the movement to end...
Border Fears Riddled with Holes
Senator John Cornyn recently discussed immigration reform at a meeting of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. "I think there have to be some conditions satisfied. One is that people know we've done everything we can to secure the border," the Republican said at the...
Making Caregiving Count in France
Even before the ink dries on the messy budget deal that staved off the "fiscal cliff," the next fight — over raising the debt ceiling — is shaping up. Republicans say they won't vote to pay the nation's bills unless offsetting cuts are made, and Social Security is...
A Chance to Invest in TV News
If you live in a swing state you might be wondering, what happened to all the money television stations got for airing the nonstop spew of political ads right up until Election Day? You'd think television stations, whose news departments at least try to lay claim to...
