Quick! Look at your fingers right now. Are you wearing any rings? An engagement ring and/or wedding band? Take them off! To avoid the novel coronavirus, you should be washing your hands more than Lady MacBeth, and that kind of scrubbing isn’t good for your fine jewelry. I never wear my rings at home, and…
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Blogging in the Time of Coronavirus
At the beginning of February, I was saying to other activists that no one would take the failures of the American social contract seriously until we disrupted commerce.Β It’s all about the money here.Β (And petty inconvenience. People do hate a traffic jam.)Β Then it was like someone flipped the switch, Drake-style. ππΉπΆπ½π½π²π± ππ΅π² πππΆππ°π΅….
We Coulda Had a Bad Bitch, Presidential!
As expected, Senator Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the presidential race today. As expected, she did so with more wisdom, honesty, and graciousness than her remaining male rivals have exhibited in their combined public lives. Because that’s what women do. Elizabeth Warren is asked by @maddow if the end of her candidacy means we should…
Activism Inspiration: White Rose Leaflets of WWII
On this day in 1943, Nazis beheaded three young Germans — Christoph Probst and siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl — for their part in writing, printing, and distributing six leaflets urging nonviolent resistance to the fascist regime. Embed from Getty Images The leaflets were produced by the White Rose — the name chosen by a…
My Slogan for Warren: Pretend She Has a Penis 2020
Picture a white man in a suit who apologized for and learned from his mistakes; evolved his positions and clarified them when criticized; calmly answered aggressive questions; pinky promised with little children to remember important moments; and stood for hours to take pictures with every single person who wanted one — in heat or cold…
Super Halftime: The Shakira & J. Lo Show
The Shakira and Jennifer Lopez Super Concert on Sunday was so much more meaningful than I expected! I’m told there was some kind of big sports event before and after their performance, and — if that’s correct — I just hope both sides had fun. More importantly, we had two Latinx women headlining the show…
Peep Me in the Swarm the Senate Video
NowThis Politics has a 40-minute video of last Wednesday’s #SwarmTheSenate civil-disobedience action in D.C., in which I participated. Look for me left of center (ha!) on the Capitol steps. Viewing this made me feel like the easy job was getting arrested! I’m stressed out by the cop who was constantly bellowing at the non-arrestee protestors…
RIP, Kobe Bryant
After the death of my friend Elizabeth Wurtzel earlier this month, I spent a lot of time thinking about how complicated people leave complex legacies. I returned to that line of thought today, as the country reacted in shock to the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, in a helicopter crash that killed a…
Role Model: Representative Ayanna Pressley
Rep. Ayanna Pressley is a groundbreaker: She’s the first woman of color to represent Massachusetts in Congress. Her election — which occurred during the “Blue Wave” of November 2018 that flipped the House to a Democratic majority — came nine years after she was voted in as the first woman of color to serve on…
The History of the Nixon Protests, From L.A. Kauffman
Despite what you may read or hear, it is morally right and MEANINGFUL to speak out against a ruling party that commits crimes and undermines democracy. Any “backlash” talk is designed to keep you passive, even though there is ample historical evidence that appeasement is a failing strategy. That doesn’t mean that fighting back is…