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The video has gone viral, and it’s easy to see why: a young woman who is the youngest member of New Zealand’s Parliament performing the scary ‘haka’ dance to protest a contentious bill that would re-interpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British and the indigenous Māori people. If you haven’t already viewed the clip, take a look. It…

My excellent daughter-in-law recently lent me one of her favorite books titled Roar by the Irish writer Cecelia Ahern. It quickly became one of my favorites, too. Published in 2019, Roar is a short story collection that is particularly timely with the 2024 election nearly upon us and with a woman at the top of the Democratic Presidential ticket.…

I saw a poll the other day saying that fewer Black Americans plan to vote in this year’s upcoming presidential election than voted in 2020.  (Six months before the election, it seems to be true of White voters, too.) This lack of enthusiasm for a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump…

 A century ago, a charismatic charlatan in Indiana by the name of D.C. Stephenson “set in motion the [Ku Klux] Klan’s takeover of great swaths of America.”  Stephenson – who was a fraud, a huckster, a braggart, a bootlegger, a sex predator, and a serial liar – was the Klan’s Grand Dragon who, along with…

When I was in my 20s, the mantra of freewheeling young people was, “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30”.  And we didn’t.   The median age of the U.S. today is 38.8, but we’re now a gerontocracy — “a state, society or group governed by old people.”   At the very top of our political system, both President…

A British woman I know, who lives in California, recently gave birth to her first child. Her employer, Google, granted her six months of paid parental leave to care for her new baby. “Wow, that is so generous,” I told her, thinking back to the 1970s when I was given zero paid maternity leave for…

Sue Rex never wanted to be anything but a teacher. From her childhood days in Pennsylvania instructing her “classroom” of dolls to her decades as a special education teacher and professor of education at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, teaching has been her life’s work. So when Dr. Rex, a Founder of SC WIL, a member of…

Another “Sister Fidelma” mystery (#34 in the series) will be published in July, and this makes me happy.   For nearly three decades I’ve been an enthusiastic fan of these historical mystery novels, set in ancient Ireland in the 7th century A.D.  Sister Fidelma, the red-haired, green-eyed title character, is a Celtic nun and a respected…

A few months ago, a dear friend of mine in New Zealand phoned to give me some exciting news:  her country had just made history as female lawmakers in Parliament became the majority for the first time. “About blimmin’ time,” one of the women legislators told reporters as the country’s legislative body tipped to 60…

Years ago, when I was a newspaper reporter working full-time and raising two young children as a single mother, I went to see my doctor.  I was tired and achy, and couldn’t seem to shake my flu-like symptoms. Dr. Woodward looked over my chart and said, “Do you know that you have been to see…