Dear friends and readers,

This week I've but one essay to share,. but its excellence more than makes up for my not having another: Rebecca Solnit, London Review of Books, 19 January 2017, 3, 6-7: Penis PowerWhen Solnit tells of the nightmares, inability to sleep, and hideous memories Trump's stalking of Hillary Clinton on a TV stage on 9 October ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers ( Read more... )

I recommend watching this Amy Goodman interview of Ta Nehisi-Coates on DemocracyNow.org. She is absurdly reverential at moments, almost folding her hands, but her stance is preferable to the cheap shots Cornel West has taken ( Read more... )

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Friends and readers,

A woman allowed to die in great pain rather than allow her an abortion. I suppose everyone has read of this one; Savita, an Indian woman dentist most unluckily living in Ireland, died in great pain after three days because the law in Ireland forbid the abortion as long as the fetus had a heart beat. The story tells more than ( Read more... )

"He's a pussycat and he's okay, he sleeps all night and he sleeps all day." Thus the admiral singing a Monty Python spoof tonight over supper as Ian (our boy cat) attempted to climb on said Admiral's lap. Good news to friends. Yvette's job renewed for another full year. Toasts all round. Yvette orange juice, Duchess & Admiral port.

Like all animals ( Read more... )

Friends and readers,

Stop, click, listen and watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMxtbAP2cyU

Her name is Leslie Gore and she approves this message.

Me too. If you want to own yourself; you and your daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers, nieces, friends have decent health care (live), not be raped with impunity, not be relegated back to livestock ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

Like previous presidents, including Clinton, Mitt Romney is going to continue the policy of cutting social program, turning then over to the state (vouchers anyone?). Take it to your local insurance company. Oh what fun!

How does this sort of thing affect women. Often badly.  The other day the Texas governor sneered and ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

This blog is written under the auspices of Audre Lorde:

A Litany for Survival

For those of us who live at the shoreline
standing upon the constant edges of decision
crucial and alone
For those of us who cannot indulge
the passing dreams of choice
who love in doorways coming and going
in the hours between dawns
looking inward and ( Read more... )

Dear friends and readers,

This time it was sound, not pictures. I woke around 5:10 am because I thought I heard a child crying in the front room. It was so distinct. I listened again and again heard it. Then I seemed to become more alert and looked about me, and could hear nothing. I thought maybe it had been the cats, but no, they were asleep, each ( Read more... )