Who Decided We Need 'Summer Bodies'?
As the parent of three avid readers, I agree with Meghan Cox Gurdon's point that what is considered "banning" in the book trade is known in the parenting world as doing our job.
This story which I heard as a little child and have returned to, written and talked about through different stages of my life, reveals many insights, among them how women throughout history have been the canaries in the mine.
Thirty years ago, this month, I graduated high school. Tomorrow, my only daughter will celebrate her high school commencement. It's a tough time for me, this letting go.
I've never been a believer in reincarnation, but today I've got my fingers crossed that, if it exists, Justice Scalia and the others in the Wal-mart majority come back in their next lives as Wal-mart women.
Narshingdhi, in Bangladesh, is a community that has suffered the losses of too many women in pregnancy and so has organized itself to make a change.
Too often, a woman begins thinking about having a child years before she gives birth, and she starts making room for having a child and the career sacrifices she'll encounter.
Nothing's worse than the loss of love and connection with family. The silent heartache that robs us of one of life's joys. We respond with denial, but what we too often don't do is let go, apologize and give up the feeling of being right.
If you believe Justice Scalia, who wrote for the Supreme Court's majority opinion in yesterday's Wal-Mart ruling, there is "no convincing proof of a companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy." Tell that to all the women who have worked for Wal-Mart.
"Right now, your utility bill is almost as bad as your taxes. I keep imagining saying 20 years from now, 'I can't believe we ever lived in a time where we had no transparency into how we used our energy.'"
In a sleight of hand trick that would make Penn & Teller proud, Justice Scalia has expanded his employment discrimination defense manual available to any employer defending against any type of discrimination claim.
Summer can then be an essential time of relational repair, bonding and trust-building between parent and child alike that may well determine a child's success come fall and beyond.
"I know I'm smart, attractive and successful," one well-groomed suitor told me. "It's just hard to find someone who meets my standards."
However strong the evidence of discrimination may or may not be, it is important to recognize that the Supreme Court's ruling today was not about whether Wal-Mart was guilty.
It's sad that women characters have lost so much ground in popular movies. Didn't Thelma and Louise prove that women want to see women doing things on film?
The last few decades have had their way with gender relationships of the past. Given the depth of the change, we might expect a dramatic altering of one of the most fundamental man-woman relationships: the one between father and daughter.
All parents have one thing in common: they're getting older. So how do you spent time together and still enjoy it? The secret is you.
Lola Shoneyin's novel, The Secret Lives of the Four Wives, touched me so deeply, bringing up issues that you would hope would be obsolete by now but are unfortunately alive and not-so-well.
These days, potential heroines are not those filling the screens. Rather, I find myself drawn to the obituary section to learn about women who quietly crossed barriers or found balance long before doing either was expected.
Sometimes people ask me how I grew to love spaceflight. I used to answer that I spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian as a kid. But as time went on, my answer started to reach back one step further.
Kristen Houghton, 2011.06.21
Jinny Ditzler, 2011.06.21
Jane D. Wurwand, 2011.06.21
Kaira Rouda, 2011.06.21
