Grandparenting

Ferida Wolff writes: Each year the hibiscus plants in our yard seem to be finished. Other flowers come and go and still, no hint of the hibiscus coming back. And then... The leaves start to pop up from the seemingly non-fertile earth. And once they do, the plants are on their way to growing the most amazing blossoms. And even when times seem bleak, let’s try to remember that like the hibiscus we can, we will, blossom again. Meanwhile, I am into jigsaw puzzles. It is called “Safe Travels” and it reminds me of what traveling is all about. It isn’t an easy puzzle but its 1,000 pieces provide a meditative process that helps me focus on the now and not obsess on the “what’s next?” more »

Jo Freeman writes: The first anti-lynching bill to get out of committee was introduced in April 1918. Known as the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, it passed the House in 1922 but was filibustered by Southern Senators. For the next forty years nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced into almost every Congress and occasionally passed by the House. In the Senate, Southern Senators kept them from coming to a vote. The current bill was introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush (D IL), a founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968. H. R. 35 passed the House by 410 to 4 in February, 2020. It had already passed the Senate but came before it again due to a small change in the House version. That’s when Sen. Paul put his hold on the bill. more »

Tam Martinides Gray: My team is the San Francisco Giants ... and it always has been since it was The New York Giants in The Bronx. I started going to games with my father, Ernie, when I was a year or two older than kindergarten age ... I have rarely missed a season that I didn't see a game in person or on television, except when I lived in Europe for a couple of years. I've married two men who didn't grow up sitting on those hard, wooden-slatted seats. But my husband today understands my state of mourning regarding what could become 'the lost season.' My mother told me that she was thrilled that I had taken to the game; this now meant she would never have to attend another game, ever, especially those games that were double-headers. Pop and I loved those games.   more »

Three leading precedents confirm what the statute’s plain terms suggest. In Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp., 400 U. S. 542, a company was held to have violated Title VII by refusing to hire women with young children, despite the fact that the discrimination also depended on being a parent of young children and the fact that the company favored hiring women over men. In Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power v. Manhart, 435 U. S. 702, an employer’s policy of requiring women to make larger pension fund contributions than men because women tend to live longer was held to violate Title VII, notwithstanding the policy’s evenhandedness between men and women as groups. more »