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Category Archives: activism

Traveling in Arizona: Prisons

Out in the middle of the desert – what was that? We drove closer and saw it was a prison. Wow. That’s a lot of prisoners. Building after long white building. This complex is run by the Corrections Corporation of America. It looks all spanky white and clean on the outside, like an outpost on Mars which contains its whole life inside its bubble.

Protective apps for college (and other) women

In yesterday’s post, I suggested that college women be provided with alarm systems which would easily and unobtrusively notify authorities or friends that she was in distress. My husband did some research and found that apps already exist which do this. I haven’t tried any of these, but they seem cleverly designed, and some are free of charge.

Protecting freshmen women from rape

The rape statistics for young women in college aren’t getting any better, no matter how much awareness we raise. So we have to think of ways to protect our young women, and not wait for the potential rapists to change. It is not “liberating” to push unprepared young women into places where they have no protection. Rape is devastating, whether it happens to a man or a woman, but the campus problem concerns mostly young women.

Singing in the Women's Prison

My choir, Cantigas, sang on Thursday at the Edna McMahan Women’s Prison in Clinton, New Jersey.  Thirty women took the day to participate. Security was tight. We had to fill out forms weeks before the event so we could be checked out, and lists could be given to the prison staff.  Before getting on theContinue reading “Singing in the Women's Prison”

Banana Republicans

I’ve traveled a lot in Europe, where from time to time there has been griping and fury at the unions for halting commerce, or education, or transportation. I’ve never even heard of a country where it is the government that halts commerce in the country it is governing. Maybe my sense of history has holesContinue reading “Banana Republicans”

Abortion in Austria

In the 1920s there was a severe housing shortage in Vienna, and when my friend Mariella’s parents got married, they could find no place to live. So they moved in with the husband’s mother, who specified that while they could live with her, but there could be no children. The new wife got pregnant, andContinue reading “Abortion in Austria”