LWV
Why Consent Is Critical: HB 1079
What if Bobby Knight’s 1988 words to Connie Chung- “I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it”- had been uttered in 2018? Would they have killed his career and his legacy? Those words provide a lens into misconceptions about rape. It is not often violent. It has little to do with sexual…
Read MoreHear The Untold Story Of Civil Rights
The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 might be something of a miracle even with the dynamism of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the energy of Rev. Ralph Abernathy and the Southern Leadership Conference. Making law out of the Dream, required…wait for it, lobbyists. Yes, those oft-faceless lobbyists in polished oxfords, clacking through the tiled…
Read MoreA Round Up Of Objections To HB
Disclosure: I try to keep my persona out of most League columns, but as an educator for the past eighteen years, I cannot. Like most educators, I have stories of students chronically absent students who present with clear signs of neglect and abuse- wearing the same dirty clothes, turtling into shells, telling a teacher “I’m…
Read MoreThe League Of Black Women
The League of Black Women is not in the Marvel-verse, but you will marvel. These women helped save the world through poetry, advocacy, ministry, activism, and flight. One even escaped the atmosphere. Bessie Coleman- No league would be complete without a pilot for take-off. Called “The Only Race Aviatrix in the World,” Bessie Coleman scrapped…
Read MoreSmall town challenge: Mental health of Black women
“Everybody has business they need to unload and spill,” said Erika Frazier. For her, it’s grief, the end of her marriage, the stress of being her parents’ caregivers and the worry she wasn’t present for her two children during all those events. When Frazier’s mom died last October, she helped prepare the body for burial.…
Read MoreWhy join the League of Women Voters
Now is always a good time to join the League of Women Voters. If you are like me, you’ve waited, maybe because of young kids, a career, school, a bevy of commitments to your church or other community organization. I want to say that after two years of involvement, it’s worth the small amount of…
Read MoreMicro-homing could transform housing, even here
“Imagine a combat vet in his small town where there’s low crime and a high military population. He should fit into the community, but he’s unhomed. He has a disability and complex trauma.” Ted Brinegar, founder of Foxhole Homes, began explaining his objectives by focusing on the challenges that result in homelessness. Brinegar, who has…
Read MoreAgreeing to Disagree, How Local Leaders Lead
When the street department announced it would put a four-way stop just around the corner from Dari-Licious at Oak and Market streets, a Facebook acquaintance lamented that he’d not attended city meetings. He wasn’t enthused about the change to traffic there. When the county divided over wind farms, those who opposed them attended more meetings…
Read MoreWe are still here
“I am a Hoosier born and raised,” wrote Beth Saligugi Elam, “but first and foremost I am Chickamauga Cherokee and descendant of the Powhatan Confederacy. I would like White Hoosiers to understand that we are still here.” “We’re still here,” echoed EagleWolf, a member of an Alabama-recognized band of Cherokee, who asked his last name…
Read MoreGifting – A thrifty plan for the holidays
“When do you open your Christmas presents?” When David Sedaris asks in an essay about international Saint Nicholas traditions, he links when families open gifts with how many gifts they give and get. Some families prioritize other traditions – meals and church services, for instance – trending toward restraint in gifting. “It’s nothing I’d want…
Read More