Monday, May 14, 2012
The 2012 Project Says, 'Don't Get Mad. Get Elected.'
Last fall when my friend, the documentary filmmaker and activist Michealene Risley, told me she wanted to run for president, I thought she was joking. We were having breakfast at the Palo alto Creamery talking about the plight of the economy and the deep concern we both have about the ongoing war in Afghanistan among other simmering issues facing this country. “President?” I asked, nearly choking on my eggs benedict. “Of the United States?” If there is a picture of incredulous, I am sure at that moment I looked it. She nodded. “Yes.” Now Michealene rarely does anything half-baked so when she said she was going to run, I believed her. Six months later, not only does she have an office, a staff, and a growing constituency, she also is the …
Monday, May 7, 2012
Maternal Bias Is Hurting Us All
Now that we are past the Hallmark part of the holiday, it’s time for some real talk about motherhood in America. Sure, I love that my three kids still make me breakfast in bed and give me cards that express their undying devotion (until, of course, I tell them they can’t take the car or stay out past their curfew). But let me tell you a few things I don’t love: What I do love is the work of an organization called Moms Rising. Started in 2006 by Joan Blades, the organization now boasts over a million members working together to ensure the next generation of mothers do not face the deep level of maternal discrimination the current generation is forced to deal with every day, even on mother’s day. I am also deeply impressed by the efforts of…
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 Is A Step In The Right Direction
Here’s the good news: my son is going to college. Here’s the bad news: it’s going to cost us over $60,000 a year, or actually, $120,000. Yep, you read that right. It will cost us $120,000 pre-tax dollars each and every year for the next four years to send our beloved son off into his glittering future. And by the time he graduates, his sister and younger brother will be in college costing us as much, if not more. In case you needed a little help with the math as I did, we are likely to be in for over $1.5 million pre-tax dollars by the time our children are launched. So, you can understand why we are particularly interested in the debate raging in Congress right now over student loan debt. Everyone agrees we have a crisis looming on our …
Monday, April 23, 2012
Thoughts In honor of the 42nd Earth Day.
I must have been seven, maybe eight, when I first saw that now ubiquitous bumper sticker. We were idling in our huge beige station wagon with its ultra-powerful V8 engine at a stop light. In front of us was a well travelled VW bus with a singular message on its backside. The words were written in soft but commanding script and at the end of the letters was a blue and green orb. The bumper sticker said, “Love Your Mother.” It felt like a message from God. You see, I was quite mad at my mother right then. She had let my younger brother sit in the front seat. I felt that seat was reserved in perpetuity for the oldest child; me. Apparently, she didn’t agree. How could I love my mother when loving her meant I didn’t get to do what I wanted? …
Monday, April 16, 2012
The number of children forced to fend for themselves is rising. We need more after school solutions.
When I was in elementary school, my friend Amy wore a special necklace every day. It bounced wildly when we raced away from the dodge ball and swayed precariously when we hung upside down on the monkey bars. It didn’t matter what we did, Amy NEVER took it off. Her necklace had a soft camel colored leather string with a shiny serrated key at the end. Only later, years later, did I realize Amy was a latchkey kid. We don’t read much these days about latchkey kids. Not because they don’t exist anymore, but mainly because they are so common they don’t even qualify as news. According to a 2009 report by the After School Alliance, the number of latchkey kids has risen to over 15 million across our fair country, up 800,000 from 2004. This number …
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Guns Kill Thousands of Innocent Victims Each Year. It is time to Put A Stop To These Senseless Deaths.
I wouldn’t call it an obsession exactly, but the killing of Trayvon Martin has occupied much of my attention lately. Perhaps it is the senseless waste of a young life, or the fact that yet another parent has needlessly lost their beloved child, or the incontrovertible racist undertones, or the role unbidden fear played in his death (or all of the above) that has nurtured my mania. But while I have spent an inordinate amount of time reading news articles and watching one too many news videos on the case, not once have I confronted a meaningful discussion about gun control. Let’s be clear, it is highly likely Trayvon Martin would be alive today if George Zimmerman did not possess a handgun. Think about it. Two individuals come upon each …
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Baby Boomers Worked Collectively To Make Change, But There Is Still Unfinished Business.
A friend of mine and I were talking the other day. She (a Baby Boomer) complained (not for the first time) that my generation better “wake up and smell the coffee.” She believes we’ve “frittered away” the better part of our adult lives accumulating houses and cars and other “nonsense” all in an effort to distract ourselves from the deeper challenges facing our country. “We Baby Boomers worked too damn hard for you to not move the bar forward,” she grumbles. When I mention the creation of connectivity tools such as Twitter and Facebook (and the resulting social revolutions such as the Arab Spring) as examples of ways my generation has helped to make change, she scoffs. “What have you done collectively to make it possible for all members …
Monday, March 19, 2012
One Neighbor's Act of Creativity Serves As Inspiration For Us All
One night not so long ago my husband and I took our dog, Sophie, for her nightly walk. We sauntered along a different route, one that had us meandering past all the poets and writers - Emerson, Tennyson, Coleridge, Cowper - and then down Bryant to Lowell, and that is where we saw them. Two trees lit up like fire, glowing red with hanging paper dragons and windmills skirting left and right and left again in the wind. An homage to Chinese New Year; a work of art meant to capture and delight. At first we thought we had the Palo Alto Public Art Commission to thank for the installation. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed many of the art pieces they have selected and installed throughout Our Fair City (For a fun Saturday afternoon, consider taking …
Monday, March 12, 2012
1in 3 Teenage Deaths Are A Result Of Car Crashes. Isn't It Time To Make A Change?
In two weeks (or to be specific, fourteen days, five hours and thirty one minutes), my beloved daughter will do what so many recently turned sixteen-year-olds will have done: she’ll march down to the local Department of Motor Vehicles and take her driver’s license test. She can’t wait. Me? I hope she fails. It’s not that my daughter isn’t responsible. In the months since she has gotten her driver’s permit, she has proven to be a cautious, attentive driver. So much so that we’ve all taken to calling her “grandma” when she gets behind the wheel. In fact, during one of my more impressive mommy modeling moments, I actually told her to speed up. Cars were whizzing by us, one even honked, and, of course, we were late to an appointment. “But …
Monday, February 27, 2012
CASSY Has A New Model To Help Our Children. Perhaps It's Time To Rethink Our Support Services.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks. First, I learned my neighbor’s grandson committed suicide. Then I heard a good friend’s nephew did the same. These dramatic acts all happened a while ago and yet the pain, confusion, and deep sadness was still so evident in the words and on the faces of these two grieving souls; it nearly broke my heart. And then it happened again. I woke on Friday morning to the headlines telling me that someone had been hit and killed by a train in Palo Alto. Of course, my first thought was “No, not another young person from our community.” Then I learned that it was an “adult” male and, I am more than a little embarrassed to say, I let out a sigh of relief; at least it wasn’t a student. I sent prayers to his family and…
Milan Moravec
10:13 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
University of California Berkeley (UCB) Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau is outspoken on why elite public universities should charge more. With Birgeneau’s leadership flagship UCB is more expensive (on an all-in-cost) than private Harvard and Yale. Cal. is the most expensive public higher education in our country! Birgeneau ($450,000 salary) likes to blame the politicians, since they stopped giving … more ›