An ad pops up between my turns on Words with Friends. It is a quiz about food insecurity. I search for the icon which will let me skip the ad and get back to my game.

The polls closed last night but it will be days before the final tallies are in. We know there are already some disappointments as well as a few encouraging results, but we need time to dissect and analyze the outcomes.

Leading Ladies refrains from endorsing particular candidates, but we do clearly support certain causes and positions. Indeed, our mission expresses our commitment to equal access for all to education, health care (including a woman’s right to choose), housing, food, jobs, and political representation, regardless of one’s ethnicity, race, religion, or sexual identity. We are also committed to common sense gun laws, humane immigration policies, and the sustainability of our planet.

“It seems preposterous that we would omit, as players, those who have the most energy, the most long-term interests, and potentially the best ideas, to change what is happening in the world, and the people within,” said Dr. Andre Morgan, Director of Opportunity, Access and Equity for Beverly Public Schools at our Students as Changemakers event last week at The Cabot. “In a time when students are seeking careers with impact, and employers are seeking graduates with core skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork, it is important to consider how schools and communities, can equip every student with the changemaking skills, to tackle complex social issues, and future challenges that are not yet imagined,” he emphasized.

Turning a key for the first time to open the door of a house that is all yours — not a rental, not your parents’, not a pad shared with roommates — well, that feels pretty special.

As the likes of Herschel Walker and his aggrieved son throw slings and arrows at each other while simultaneously singing Donald Trump’s praises, it can be tempting to question whether our election process is worth our time.

“Young people today just don’t know how to work hard.”

“Too many teens and young adults have been spoiled. That’s why there are so many unfilled jobs in restaurants and stores.”

Because two of us have boarded jet planes for the first time in three years on extended vacations, we are offering an alternative to our usual missive: an annotated list of books to read, plays and movies to watch, and places to visit that may offer insights, stimulate thoughts and discussion, and encourage new activism.

We are not living in a democracy,” reproductive rights activist and women’s study professor Carrie Baker declared at the end of the Leading Ladies “Life After Roe v. Wade” Zoom event last Wednesday. “If you were ever going to get out and vote, this is the time,” she emphasized. Her strong statements capped an hour-and-a-half of some terrifying but elucidating information shared by Baker and the other panelists.

Tonight at 7pm, Leading Ladies is hosting a Zoom panel to discuss Life After Roe v. Wade with Professor Carrie Baker, a reproductive rights expert and activist; Krisitie Monast, executive director of HealthQuarters; and Sara Stanley, executive director of HAWC (Healing Abuse, Working for Change).

Have you had enough of misinformation? Have you heard or read something that seems unbelievable?

A dear friend is lying in a hospital bed in a local rehabilitation facility after falling and fracturing her pelvis and shoulder. She is totally immobilized, unable to stand, walk, go to the bathroom, even roll over or use the commode. She is in constant pain.

The moms among us, particularly those who came to motherhood in the 80s and 90s, joined mothers’ support groups the way our mothers talked over their back fences. We met in each other’s homes or at the park or playground, at the Y or in a church basement. We talked about when or if we wanted to go back to work, even if we knew we had to; whether we loved or hated nursing and how we felt guilty for both; how our husbands were or were not disappointing us with their attempts at co-parenting; how we were going to be supermoms or if we even wanted to be; when we might ever get a full night’s sleep or feel sexy again.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about Plan C and the possibilities of providing pregnant folks with the medications to terminate unwanted pregnancies through at least the first trimester. With some ingenuity and commitment from organizations and individuals, we hope Plan C will be accessible to people in states where surgical abortions are becoming more and more difficult to obtain.

Who can forget Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist? That endearing little boy who lived in a workhouse in London where there was never enough to eat and he plaintively asked, "Please, sir, I want some more" when he finished his bowl of watery gruel. Oliver and his mates hoped for something better in life when they became petty thieves for Fagin, but even Nancy’s kindness did little to change their lot.

Pew Research released its latest findings on the opinions of 5,074 American adults on several questions regarding how the government should support families.

As we try to reckon with the reality of life after Roe v. Wade, we feel obligated to become well-informed about the options that remain available to our sisters living in states where surgical abortions will no longer be legal.

Those of us who live in Massachusetts can get a bit self-satisfied, okay, smug, about our state’s superior progress and positions on important issues. Take, for example, the right to choose. The undoing of Roe v Wade will not overturn the legality of abortion in Massachusetts. Here, the right to choose to continue or terminate a pregnancy is assured. And then look at guns. Massachusetts outlawed the sale of AR-15-style guns and, in 2021, a bill was filed to prevent the manufacturing of such weapons in Massachusetts, thereby encouraging Smith and Wesson, the country’s second largest gun manufacturer, to relocate its headquarters in Tennessee.

Watching the January 6 hearings is must-see television, as frightening and disturbing as the images and testimony are. Nothing conveys the gravity and scope of what transpired more than viewing these hearings, where all the information is presented together, with new evidence and first-person narrative to put it all in perspective.

“What is Gender? Why Does It Matter?” Alex Myers, author, educator, and transgender activist tackled this subject as he shared his personal story and welcomed questions and comments during the Community Conversation at The Cabot last week. His presentation was so riveting that we decided to share some of the takeaways for those of you who couldn’t make it – and as reminders for those of you who were there.