Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will play folk hero John Henry in an upcoming Netflix movie. Until the recent backlash, I was unaware that Johnson is only half black; his mother is Samoan. Some think Johnson, who is among the highest-paid actors in the world, is not black enough to play a black man in the
READ MOREAs a working woman, I’m offended by California’s new law requiring corporate boards to consist of up to half female members by 2021. Proponents of the law praise it as “glass ceiling-shattering.” But having the ceiling dropped down on women through mandatory gender quotas is hardly the same feat as climbing to new heights on their own
READ MOREWhat if more women did motherhood first and university education and career second? According to recent research, it could be one way to allow more women to more easily get what they really want. A recent study conducted by the Institute for Family Studies discusses the likelihood that many women postpone childbearing until they have completed their education, and finds
READ MOREI have a friend in Papua New Guinea named Monica Paulus who was accused of casting sorcery spells because a person died in her village. Her neighbors almost murdered her until she fled the region. Now she works to save other women falsely accused of sorcery who are targets of torture and killing. She recognizes
READ MOREAnger at Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court shows no sign of diminishing. In the eyes of feminists, his appointment represents “a clear reaffirmation of an entrenched, patriarchal hierarchy.” However, the fact that Christine Blasey Ford’s largely evidence-free allegations against Kavanaugh were so nearly successful in overturning his nomination suggest the patriarchy is not
READ MOREI recently picked up an old novel by author Maud Hart Lovelace entitled Emily of Deep Valley. Having read Lovelace’s celebrated Betsy-Tacy series for children and young adults a number of years ago, I expected a fun, carefree story that would offer a reprieve from heavy reading. But while the story was an easy read,
READ MOREIn his book Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, Eli Saslow explores Derek Roland Black’s journey from darkness to light. Black was the “rightful heir to America’s white nationalist movement—the son of Don Black, who founded the internet’s largest hate site, Stormfront.org [and who led the KKK for a decade]; and
READ MOREElection time is nearing and individuals young and old are making their list, checking it twice, and… deciding which candidates are worthy of support. The younger generation is especially getting into the spirit of things, most recently evidenced by Taylor Swift’s endorsement of candidates in her home state. Naturally, this surge of civic responsibility seems like
READ MOREIn The Great Divorce—the title comes from Milton’s Paradise Lost and refers to the separation of Heaven and Hell—C.S. Lewis paints an unforgettable picture of hell. This is not the Gehenna depicted in the Bible, in the homilies and writings of the Middle Ages, or in Dante and Milton, a sewer of flames, torture, devils
READ MORE