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Elaine Soloway's Rookie Transplant Series: Packing; Balconies, Stairs, Stoops, and Folding Chairs; Imposter
The first thing I placed in the shipping box was a container with his ashes. It was lightweight because scoops had already been removed and scattered. One batch of my second husband's remains went to Jackson Park where Tommy got a hole in one. Another was spread among the plantings outside the YMCA, his longtime gym; and one more in the park where every morning for 12 years we walked our dog. Sitting outdoors on a perfect Chicago summer day coaxes my mind to travel backward to other unforgettable places where I have perched. And like a jigsaw puzzle whose picture only emerges when all of the parts are snug in place, I add the characters who help create a picture of my past. more »
My Delilah and A New Law Restricting Pet Stores To the Sale Only of Dogs, Cats and Rabbits From Animal Shelters & Non-profit Rescue Operations
Sonya Zalubowski writes: Her name was Delilah, intriguing, especially for a dog that didn’t even weigh six pounds. Was she named after the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah, the temptress that helped lead to the strongman’s downfall? Besides my own pop culture ignorance — I’d never heard of the song — I had no idea because she was a rescue dog that I found online. Someone else named her. That was just the beginning of the mystery about to unfold for me, the mystery involved in adopting such a dog, both the joys and sorrows. more »
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Congress Has Reopened; Sen. Amy Kobluchar & Rep John Emmer's Bill to Improve Handling of Crimes of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking
A bill to increase the credit for employers establishing workplace child care facilities, to increase the child care credit to encourage greater use of quality child care services, to provide incentives for students to earn child care-related degrees and to work in child care facilities, and to increase the exclusion for employer-provided dependent care assistance. A bill to authorize the Office on Violence Against Women to improve the handling of crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by incorporating a trauma-informed approach into the initial response to, and investigation of, such crimes. -A bill to provide women and girls safe access to sanitation facilities in refugee camps. more »
Dreading the Doctor’s Office: An Interview With the Author of Invisible Visits; Black Middle-Class Women in the American Healthcare System
"Being a racial minority is usually equated with being poor, and so it’s assumed that black middle-class women should be fine because they’re not poor. But they’re not fine. They face substantial health challenges and differences in health outcomes. My work points to the persistence of racial discrimination across class, resulting in lower life expectancy and higher rates of infant mortality, and also highlights the unique challenges women in general and black women in particular face trying to be taken seriously and get their needs met by their doctors." Author Tina Sacks more »