Authors
Book Review By Melissa Ludtke, Random Families: The No-longer Secret Lives of Children Conceived With Donor Sperm
Melissa Ludtke writes: Whether the topic is networks or reunions, DNA or language of family, the two generations of voices I heard in Random Families resonated with me. I sense this will be the case with readers who come to this book without having the same personal connections I do with either donor sperm or adoption. Families like the ones Random Families portrays are rooted in our American landscape. Thankfully, the regrettable era of family secrecy about this form of conception has largely passed, prompted by single women, who in choosing this method for becoming pregnant then made sure their children knew how they’d been conceived. Their push for greater openness made it happen. more »
DNC Winter Meeting: Using Social Media and Databases to "Create the Electorate We Want"
Jo Freeman writes: Unlike the Republican Party, the Democratic Party is composed of constituencies. These have changed over time, but they have their own agendas. At the winter meeting, fourteen different Councils and Caucuses met separately for 90 minutes each. I went to five: Senior (which met jointly with Disability), Labor, LGBTQ, Women’s and Black. At each of these meetings, I heard how important each group’s 2018 vote had been to the Democratic wave — even when a little "interpretation" was required. For example, seniors continued to favor Republican candidates in 2018, but not as much as in previous years. more »
Jo Freeman Reviews Exiled Daughter: How My Civil Rights Baptism Under Fire Shaped My Life
Jo Freeman writes: Brenda’s first arrest came when she and two friends tried to buy a bus ticket at the white counter in the Greyhound bus station. For that she served 28 days in jail, missing the first month of her sophomore year in high school. When she returned, her classmates treated her as a hero; her principal expelled her from school. At a subsequent school assembly the other students talked about walking out in protest; over a hundred of them did so later that day. more »
The Foundations of Romantic Love and Chivalry
If he wants me to give my love,
he will have to be cheerful, worthy,
open and humble; let him argue with no one,
and respond to every person kindly;
because what suits me is not a mean or prideful man
who would harm and diminish my worth,
but a free and true, discreet and amorous man
if he wants me to let him be in love with me. more »
