Authors
With a Daily Dial, Police Reach Out to Seniors; Automated Telephone Reassurance Systems Began Nearly Three Decades Ago
Hundreds of police agencies in small towns, suburbs and rural areas across the country are checking in on seniors who live alone by offering them a free automated phone call every day. Already, nearly half of women age 75 and older live alone. Automated telephone reassurance systems for seniors have grown in popularity in recent years and now are used by police departments from California to Massachusetts.
Dispatcher Kelly Orsini at her communications desk at the Naugatuck, Connecticut, Police Department. Across the country, hundreds of police age… more »
Jill Norgren Reviews The Graphic Novel, Memoir and Biography
Jill Norgren reviews: With the publication several years ago of Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home readers began to realize that something radical had happened in the world of comics. Stories of airborne Wham! Bam! Super Heroes now share bookstore and library shelf space with graphic biographies and memoir that explore culture, art and science, family relations, racism, sexual identity, politics, and a host of other serious and sometimes controversial topics. more »
When the Spirit Moves You: From Wealth to Worry
Doris O'Brien writes: When my inimitable Aunt Alice sold her last house and moved into an apartment, she informed me that her next move would be in a coffin. She was right. But whether at this point any of us can claim the same for ourselves is unclear. I do know this: a home is where the heart is, and it's never easy to leave what we love. As for those who have lived a long life, the displacement demands an expenditure of risk and effort that only gets tougher with time. more »
Something Old, Something New: Wearing Red to Show Solidarity in Major Cities All Over the World
Jo Freeman writes: "A Day Without Women" borrowed it's theme from "A Day Without Immigrants" on Feb. 17, which was new. Many people interpreted it as a call to strike. "Women Strike!" was proclaimed from the top of the arch in New York City's Washington Square. That was old. In 1970, Betty Friedan called for a Women's Strike on August 26, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the US Woman Suffrage Amendment and announce a new women's movement to the world. Leaders of the NOw quickly scrambled to interpret that as a "do your own thing" strike. They organized a march down New York's Fifth Ave., which was the first time in decades that women marched to demand women's rights in the US.
more »
