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
Love Your Library
Julia Sneden writes: I was at the checkout counter of a local supermarket last Saturday, watching as a pleasant woman rang up my groceries. In the brief pause as I wrote my check, the cashier turned to the youngster who was bagging the groceries. "Hey, do you know if the library is open today?" she asked. "Nah," the bagger replied scornfully. "I don’t do libraries. I can Google anything I need to know." more »
What is a Gender Mainstreaming Pilot District? Transforming Housing and Neighborhood Design
Traditional urban design tends to separate living spaces and commercial spaces into separate zones, which results in large distances between homes, markets, schools, and other urban spaces. Some urban designers have created housing and neighborhoods with on-site child-care and elder-care facilities, shops for basic everyday needs, and often primary-care medical facilities. "When we consider gender while designing communities, outcomes simply improve." more »
Writing About Breast Cancer: From Books to Blogs
Ellen Leopold writes: It's easy to forget that women’s writing about breast cancer is of relatively recent vintage. The first women to portray the patient's perspective, to write about their own experience, were established writers and public figures before they took up the disease, with credentials persuasive enough to overcome their publishers' reluctance. Today's widespread use of breast-conserving surgery, for example, is at least partially attributable to the refusal by some of them to undergo radical mastectomies. more »
Boots and Moccasins: An Unlikely Alliance Against the Keystone Pipeline
Thousands of people joined the farmers, ranchers, and tribal leaders of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance for a ceremonial procession along the National Mall to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. The procession was the largest event yet of the five-day Reject and Protect encampment. "Today, boots and moccasins showed President Obama an unlikely alliance has his back to reject Keystone XL to protect our land and water," said Jane Kleeb, Executive Director of Bold Nebraska. more »
