You may have wondered why I wrote about the end of Daylight Savings Time and the coming of Thanksgiving last week, instead of joining my male colleagues in commentary on this traumatic election. It was because I knew in advance that Hubby and I would be driving home from Georgia on Election Day, November 8, as my nephew’s funeral was scheduled for Monday, November 7. I write my columns on Mondays, so I sent in a re-worked column from November of 2013 before we left. During the days since that devastating Tuesday, I’ve dreaded the thought of writing about our national turn towards fascism.  Read More 

Mayor Bob Buckhorn and attorney Steve Anderson, who heads the volunteer project for the Riverwalk’s Monument Trail, each made another fine speech when the 2016 honorees were unveiled last week. By city ordinance, they must have been dead for at least fifteen years; thus far, the committee of historians has chosen only people who died several decades ago. The point is to revive Tampa history and put it in the context of today.  Read More 

That is one of my favorite lines from Prairie Home Companion’s Garrison Keillor – along with “Exploding Christmas trees were no news to Mother.” I had a mother like that, a fellow Minnesotan who worried ceaselessly about the next possible catastrophe, Christmas trees included – even though in her non-electric youth a century ago, she had enjoyed real trees with lighted candles. I guess Grandma and Grandpa had more nerve than Mom. And it worked out, as my German-speaking grandparents reared twelve children with no crises.  Read More 

I’m still not ready to write an analysis of the election. I’m reading, listening, and encouraged by bright spots that have gotten little attention, but I’m still resolved to give the right-wingers enough rope for hanging themselves while I tend my own garden. Literally, as in trimming the jungle in my backyard. I’m also not planning to attend any of the re-organizing meetings that are going on – but I encourage you to do so.  Read More 

I’m finally ready to write about the election. I had to spend time healing the hole in my heart, as like so many others, I was stunned to see the American people choose an inexperienced braggart who is proud to cheat on his taxes and laughs about his lewd behavior over a candidate with decades of service, including the Senate and the Cabinet. As it turns out, they didn’t: with detailed counting, Hillary now has some 2.5 million votes more than The Donald. The problem is that some voters are much more powerful than others. We’ll get to that later, but for now, a few bright spots.  Read More 

It’s that dark time of the year. It’s again those long evenings
that follow the end of daylight savings time. It’s the way we measure seasons in the Sunshine State: When the oranges turn orange and the poinsettias turn red, we know that Christmas is near.  Read More 

This will be the last column before the demise of the outrageous presidential candidacy of busted billionaire Donald Trump, the man who repeatedly cheats his employees, declares bankruptcy to avoid paying his debts, and refuses to release his tax returns – something that every presidential candidate has done for a long time – and yet has the temerity to condemn Hillary Clinton for using the wrong e-mail server, something that has not mattered in any presidential race. Yes, that was a long sentence. And it didn’t even mention his multiple marriages or his history of sexual harassment.  Read More 

Here’s a plan: With the polls showing that Hillary is going to win hands down, and with both the House and Senate in play, why not go all the way and wage a campaign for an all-woman team at the top? Elizabeth Warren can preside over the Senate, while Nancy Pelosi returns as speaker of the House. Why not? There’s no reason to not give women a total shot at what men have been doing for so long.  Read More 

I’m walking past the muted TV to see the headlines but evade the talk on The Story and The Donald. Yet I’m glad that others have the sound up and are talking about male behavior. We should have more of it, as it seems belatedly clear that many people, both women and men, missed the consciousness-raising stage of the feminist movement in the 1970s. Apparently today’s audiences need this candid conversation on radio and TV, as well as in the e-mails that flood my inbox and probably yours. Of the many computer messages I’ve gotten, by far the most thoughtful subject line was “internalized misogyny.”  Read More 

That’s why I’m glad I am one. We make predictions based on our knowledge of the past, and sometimes we live to see the end of the story. Although I’m not yet ready to write the last word on this wild and crazy election year, I think I’m nearly just about sort of prepared to say that one of my longtime predictions perhaps may be coming true. Most of my colleagues would use fancier jargon for this equivocation, but as you know, I’m sort of plain spoken. I’m almost going to bravely assert right here and now that this will be the presidential election year I’ve been waiting for since 1980.  Read More