We all heard last week that Tom Brady is retiring. But there was another piece of football news that grabbed our attention, and we think it deserves much more of our attention.
Read MoreThe aisles in the supermarkets and CVS are full of seemingly endless brands of tampons and sanitary napkins. Our televisions blare ads with “tests” comparing the absorbency of the different products. For most of us, the biggest challenge has always been deciding which menstrual product to choose.
Read MoreOne of us has a son who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their three-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with Covid last week, along with the rest of her class. Say goodbye to day care for another few days as Mom and Dad struggle to work from home, barred from even using the elevator to go outside from their sixth floor co-op with their active toddler. Day care teachers kindly provided online circle time and projects for the little ones. Try leaving a three-year-old alone to make binoculars out of paper towel tubes. Papa to the rescue!
Read MoreThis week, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day. Some of us listened to his famous “I Have a Dream” speech; maybe we did an act of community service in his honor; or perhaps we did some shopping at the ubiquitous online sales dedicated to his name.
Read MoreThose of us of a certain age often ask or are asked, “Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963?” For those younger, the question is, “Where were you when the Challenger exploded in 1986?” And, for those still younger, “Where were you when the planes hit the World Trade Center in 2001?”
Read MoreAs we ring in the new year and make resolutions, we suggest that we should make more, rather than fewer, judgments. Yes, you read that right. We think that being judgmental, or “judgy,” which connotes unfair and excessive criticism, has given constructive and valuable judgment-making a bad rap.
Read MoreOne year ago today, our nation's Capitol was attacked by right-wing American insurgents at the behest of President Trump and other Republican leaders. We want to mark this terrible day by remembering exactly what happened. If we all continue to raise our voices and not normalize this behavior, maybe it won't happen again. As it stands, polls are showing that we are going to have to expect violence after elections. We haven't experienced this before and must do everything we can to save our democracy.
Read MoreForgive this letter for speaking from one voice instead of four, but I grabbed the mic this week! With the year rapidly coming to an end, I felt moved to tell the story of the American Dream in 1921 and 2021.
Read MoreAs the question looms about whether or not women in this country will continue to have the right to decide when and if they have children, we thought it important to look at the unequal care and consideration that pregnant women in this country receive. Perhaps no other problem is more emblematic of intersectionality – what the Oxford Dictionary defines as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” – than maternal health care in the richest country in the world. So here goes.
Read MoreOnce again, our eyes are glued to the tv and newspapers, as we absorb the details of yet another tragic killing in a school. And, once again, we shake our heads, convinced, perhaps this time more than ever, that the deaths could have been prevented.
Read MorePew Research released a report last week on where people find meaning in their life. The company surveyed 2,596 Americans and 16,254 adults from Canada, the UK, Sweden, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. The surveys were analyzed by location and age group. The biggest reveal is that what people find meaningful in life changes as they age.
Read MoreBefore November’s Election Day, we wrote about the importance of voting in local elections. We stressed the important role that local officials such as mayors, school board members, sheriffs, and state representatives have in making decisions that affect everything from the curricula taught to our children to the way our criminal justice system works.
Read MoreWhat will your Thanksgiving look like? Will you be getting together with family and friends for a festive meal that includes lots of orange-colored side dishes filled with sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves? Will you be accommodating gluten free, vegetarian, and lactose intolerant guests in your menu planning? Will your excitement at getting together again after last year’s Zoom holiday be diminished by some anxiety about potential political disagreements among family members?
Read MoreLast week, the Pew Research Center issued its latest report on political typology or groups within each political party. Over 10,000 US adults participated in a quiz, the eighth of its kind since 1987. This quiz is different from the previous studies in several ways. This quiz has the largest sample size and was nationally run. Participants were verified voters.
Read MoreThe opioid epidemic in our country, and around the globe, continues. Despite recognition of the addictive properties of Oxycontin; despite the lawsuits against its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma; despite the uncovering of the unscrupulous and dishonest methods employed by sales reps to encourage doctors to write unnecessary prescriptions; despite the closing of endless “pill mills” operated by shady doctors; the epidemic rages on.
Read MoreLast week, when the Nor’easter knocked out the power in many homes on the North Shore, a trip to Starbucks to take advantage of their free Wi-Fi and do some work seemed like a reasonable idea. What a surprise to find the local, usually busy, Starbucks closed with a sign that read something like, “Sorry for the inconvenience...
Read MoreElection Day is next week, Tuesday, November 2, to be exact. We know it isn’t a presidential election year and only two gubernatorial positions will be decided (in New Jersey and Virginia), just two US House of Representatives seats will be determined in special elections (for vacancies in Ohio), and no US Senate races are on deck. Here in Massachusetts, there are only three ballot questions, all in Boston. So, unless we live in any of these places, why should we vote?
Read MoreThe approach of Veterans Day on November 11 brings to mind images of politicians celebrating older male white soldiers and placing wreaths on the graves of those who have fallen. What we don’t often picture are women veterans and, specifically, homeless and hungry women veterans, struggling to survive in a world they fought to preserve.
Read MoreAccess to quality education remains one of the primary concerns of Leading Ladies. Until all children in this country go to schools with equal resources, optimum class sizes, up-to-date books and technology, support services, trained teachers, and nutrition supplements and health care as needed, children in underrepresented communities and BIPOC populations will continue to fall behind and be unable to catch up in school and in life.
Read MoreWe are excited to announce our first annual Leading Ladies Art as Activism Film Contest and Screening, an opportunity for creative high school students to express their views about important social justice issues. The top ten submissions will be screened at The Cabot in downtown Beverly in early 2022.
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