Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Julia Sneden Wrote: On Becoming Eponymous*
Julia Sneden wrote: When my daughter-in-law announced that if their expected child were female, they’d name her Julia, I was caught completely unprepared. I think I stammered an ungracious "...uh...are you sure you want to do that to her?" Even worse, I may have followed that with: "Oh, you don’t have to do that!" Whatever I said, I'm sure it was the wrong thing, because of course I should have said something conveying gratitude and love and the fact that I was thrilled and honored. Alas, I am almost never eloquent on short notice. more »
Congressional Policy Institute Weekly US Legislative Update, May 17, 2021: Education & Labor; Civil Rights, Education and Labor, Family Support, Expanding Opportunities and Protections for Women and Girls
Small Business and Entrepreneurship- On Wednesday, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will hold a hearing, “Realizing the Vision of Parren Mitchell—Untapping the Potential of Minority and Women Contracting; “Oversight of Prudential Regulators: Ensuring the Safety, Soundness, Diversity, and Accountability of Depository Institutions.” Bringing women policymakers together across party lines to advance issues of importance to women and their families. “Paid Leave for Working Families: Examining Access, Options, and Impacts.” A bill to require mail-in ballots to use the United States Postal Service barcode service, to provide paid parental leave to officers and employees of the Postal Service. A bill to limit the amount that the portion of a taxpayer's tax refund attributable to the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit may be reduced by reason of student loan debt. A bill commitment to combating hate, bigotry, and violence against the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community. more »
National Institutes of Health: Tailored, Earlier Cardiac Rehab Program Shows Physical, Emotional Benefits for Heart Failure Patients
“Designing earlier and more personalized individual-specific approaches to heart failure rehab shows great promise for improving outcomes for this common but complex condition that is one of the leading causes of hospitalization for older adults,” said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “These results mark encouraging progress on a path to better overall quality of life and physical function for the millions of older Americans who develop heart failure each year.” For this new study, a research team led by Dalane W. Kitzman, M.D., professor of cardiovascular medicine and geriatrics/gerontology at Wake Forest followed 349 clinical trial participants with heart failure enrolled in “A Trial of Rehabilitation Therapy in Older Acute Heart Failure Patients" more »
COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Case Investigation and CDC Reporting: Hospitalized or Fatal Breakthrough Cases Reported as of May 10, 2021
Vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19. Like with other vaccines, vaccine breakthrough cases will occur, even though the vaccines are working as expected. Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most SARS-CoV-2 variants currently circulating in the United States. more »
