Collin County Politics: Protest is American

May 10, 2021 Commissioner’s Court: The public comments continue to be gold. The first speaker commented on the double standard of police behavior. During a recent protest for justice for Marvin Scott III, a huge white man named David Godber (you’d be excused for thinking he should be called Goober) threatened and assaulted some of the protesters. He was aggressive with a police officer, swatted a phone out of one woman’s hand, and swatted at another. He cocked his fist like he was going to hit someone and, to top it all off, was concealed carrying (of course he was). …

Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America

Part 3: Lessons from Hillary Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag Part 2: Candidate Hillary The immediate aftermath of the 2016 election almost broke me. I was a mess watching Hillary’s concession speech. Not only was I upset over the outcome of the election but I was extremely distressed for her. How can she be so strong, I wondered (not for the first time). It seemed so unfair she had to console everyone else when she had to be dying inside. Watching it the second time via the docuseries wasn’t much better. Even though I now know what happened, …

Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America

Part 2: Candidate Hillary Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag While I’d been around for the Clinton presidency, I wasn’t as familiar with Hillary’s history prior to that. There were many things I didn’t know. For one thing, prior to Hillary’s candidacy, she’d been perceived as a radical liberal. She’d fought hard against this label as people tend to be suspicious of those of us who want to transform the system (yes, I’m being sarcastic; why do you ask?). That’s why it was ironic when the media painted her as a centrist, establishment candidate.  In other words, every …

Watching Hillary Helped Me Understand America

Part 1: From Bad Ass to Punching Bag My preparations to watch the Hulu docuseries Hillary? A box of tissues. Others might’ve brought popcorn but I knew I’d need a different kind of comfort. Although it’s been close to four years since I embarrassingly burst into tears on an airplane as I started to read her book, What Happened, I haven’t picked it up since. It’s still too raw. Sure enough, two minutes into the first episode and I was already in tears. In the docuseries, Hillary was laughing about how she didn’t understand why people felt so negatively about …

‘Wild’ Thoughts on a Feminist Work

I’m a huge Reese Witherspoon fan. While I haven’t seen every movie she’s made, I do keep an eye on her work. That’s why when I got the chance to see Wild, the movie about Cheryl Strayed’s three-month long hike across the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), I took it. And I wasn’t sorry. In fact, I liked the movie so much that I read the book too. I’m not an outdoorsy kind of person but that story made me want to be. Although Strayed never minimized the difficulties of her journey – she often mentioned the pain, fatigue, hunger, loneliness …

Silencing: Look Who’s (Not) Talking

Photo by Johnny Silvercloud: https://flic.kr/p/pPACCt

Research points out how often the silencing of women occurs. Now that awareness has been raised, people are developing a number of strategies to combat it.

Stories About Abortion Matter

In the Netflix show Sex Education, one of the characters has an abortion. Since the show takes place in England, the young woman didn’t have to deal with many of the pitfalls the United States has put in place to harass women. There was no waiting period, no requirement for parental permission, no desperate search for a nearby clinic, no fee and minimal protest. The procedure itself was portrayed as relatively simple but the show didn’t shy away from the complex emotions that can accompany the experience. I was grateful for that. Women respond very differently to their circumstances and …

Aziz Ansari and Why His Misconduct Matters

The #MeToo movement was just the first step in dealing with sexual violence. The incident involving comedian Aziz Ansari matters because the complexity highlights issues of power, consent and just how far we have to go.

Dear Dr. Hook: Brainwashed about Weddings

Question: Recently, writer Rosy Edwards pondered this dilemma. “I am a feminist. Basic common sense dictates that a woman should be paid the same as a man for doing the same job, and not be sexually assaulted on the tube. Yet I want a traditional wedding it all its antiquated, misogynistic glory. I am an independent, adult woman, yet I want my dad to give me away. I am self-employed and career-driven, yet I want to take my partner’s name. I want to wear white, though lord knows my purity is long gone. Why are these things so important to me? …