"While Albright was the highest-ranking woman in the country at the time she served in the administration, she was not in the presidential line of succession because she was born in Czechoslovakia ... She saw the US as the "indispensable nation" when it came to using diplomacy backed by the use of force to defend democratic values around the world. "I think the personal relationships I established mattered in terms of what I was able to get done. And I did bring women's issues to the center of our foreign policy."  more »

“By bringing the experiences of American women to the fore, ‘Brilliant Exiles’ provides a counternarrative to conventional histories of Americans in Paris that focus on the interwar period and the ‘Lost Generation’ of men such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald,” said curator Robyn Asleson. “The exhibition will highlight alternative approaches to modernism developed by women, as well as the enterprises through which they catalyzed creativity and forged interconnected communities.” "The exhibition reveals the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the new identities that American women were at liberty to develop in Paris, with works by artists including Berenice Abbott, Alice Pike Barney, Romaine Brooks, Anne Goldthwaite, Loïs Mailou Jones, Henri Matisse, Isamu Noguchi, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Anne Estelle Rice, Augusta Savage, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Laura Wheeler Waring and Marguerite Zorach."  more »

Jo Freeman Writes: This book is about Raines’ effort to put together a jigsaw puzzle about Union sentiment in Alabama, beginning with his family. Raised in Birmingham, Raines’ ancestral roots are in Winston County in NW Alabama, famous for the legend of the Free State of Winston. According to the legend, a mass meeting was held at Looney’s Tavern in Winston County to decide how to respond to Alabama’s vote to secede from the Union. (pp.121-2) Those present passed a resolution that no state can legally get out of the Union, but if it could, then a county could cease to be a part of the state. Winston County didn’t set up its own independent government; it just asked to be left alone because its citizens didn’t want “to shoot at their neighbors ... or the flag of Washington, Jefferson and Jackson.” more »

"Today’s discussions and dedication of the Faces of Gun Violence Exhibit this afternoon reflect a deep and abiding commitment by the women and men of the ATF to victims and survivors of gun violence. I’m grateful to the ATF and to all of you for being here — especially those who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Your presence honors their memory and fuels our fight for a better, safer future. The community gathered today shares a powerful bond. You are survivors. You are advocates. You are members of law enforcement. You call different places home and you come from different walks of life. But together, you’re bound by extraordinary courage. Your lives have been transformed by gun violence – but you are not defined by it. You share a commitment — to turn your pain into purposeful action — doing everything you can to prevent another family from enduring the same loss."    more »