By the time you read this, I’ll be in Arkansas, in the middle of a weekend celebration for my younger sister’s 50th wedding anniversary. She is the fifth of my parents’ six children to reach this milestone; my younger brother will do so two years from now. When I mentioned this to my doctor at USF Health, she said, “That must be some kind of record.” I demurred, and she went to the outer office and posed the question to the staff. It turned out that no one ever had heard of such a big family in which everyone reached their 50th anniversary. I really hadn’t thought of it that way, and I’d be interested in what you think. I also apologize if you think I’m bragging: I don’t intend that. So, in all humility and recognition of unusually good fortune:  Read More 

Hubby and I like to watch old movies on TCM, and at the beginning of one from 1934, there was an emblem featuring the letters “NRA.” I recognized it in its context, and wondered how many other viewers would. Too many today probably would think that the National Rifle Association was active already back in the days of black-and-white movies -- but during the Great Depression of the 1930s, NRA stood for the National Recovery Act, or perhaps the agency that carried out the law’s purposes, National Recovery Administration. Its logo was a blue eagle stylized to reflect modern industrialism, and the eagle usually was accompanied by the NRA slogan, “We Do Our Part.”  Read More 

You’ve heard that the physician who claimed that Donald Trump was the healthiest presidential candidate “ever” did not actually write the letter proclaiming that. Trump did. The real news: He writes? Whole letters? On stationery? Who knew?  Read More 

For reasons I can’t explain, an outfit called “ConservativeInstitute.org” has taken to advertising on Daily Kos, an extremely un-conservative news source. I don’t know if this is just another example of how Republicans have enough money that they can waste a lot of it; or if they are sufficiently deluded to think they will convert Democrats with a picture featuring two perfectly straight arrows for civic good, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer. I guess they hope we will confuse their somber faces with scary ones.  Read More 

That’s Barbara Bush. She probably was the last of the “stand behind your man” type of first lady and the last of political matriarchs who ruled with imperceptible velvet gloves. As I think she was the last, I’m going to predict that from now on a woman who wants a political life simply will openly avow that. She no longer has to marry, bear sons, and live vicariously -- something that was the case for most of human history.  Read More 

You should read some history. Or, for more graphic exposure, watch it. Hubby and I stopped watching Netflix’s “Marco Polo” because the violence on the screen was just too real – as it really was at the time. Asian rulers in Polo’s era – and long after – routinely tortured and killed their political enemies by extremely cruel methods. People were skinned alive, and prolonged “death by a thousand cuts” was common. Prisoners of war were caged until they perished of thirst and hunger.  Read More 

Instead of following the money, I want to suggest that law enforcement try following the noise. There’s a certain class of criminal who never will have enough money to be worthy of following, but he (rarely, she) wants to bully us into following his taste in so-called music. The bass booms from his car will shake yours; his Saturday night parties can be heard for blocks.  Read More 

The obituary was so small that I – an obsessive reader of obits – didn’t even see it. I would not have known about the death of Catherine Barja, age 85, if LaGaceta hadn’t called me. Patrick learned about it in time to add her to his column last week, and I had a long talk with Gene later in the day, but there’s more I want to say.  Read More 

The negative opinion of Times’ political expert Adam Smith aside, I think America’s next revolution began last week. Well, really it began with the Women’s March in January of last year, but two recent achievements show its growing strength. One, the legislature passed and the governor signed a bill to make Florida’s Mary McLeod Bethune the first African-American woman honored with a statue in the national capitol; and two, millions of people in an amazing 800 towns in every state braved March cold to protest against guns. Adam doesn’t think that these activists can remember until November, but I do.  Read More 

I began my book for the University Press of Florida, They Dared to Dream: Florida Women Who Shaped History, with words above. It continues:  Read More