Marissa Mayer and C-Suite Motherhood Culture
Ambitious women, like Mayer, who want to climb the corporate ladder will see her example and conclude simply that taking maternity leave is an unwise career choice. And this is where “do as I say not...
View ArticleDear Xi Jinping, I Am Writing to You as an American Mom of a 19-Year-Old...
As China’s president is headed to the White House for a formal State Dinner with President Obama, we should focus on how China really treats women and girls. Will our president give this some thought?...
View ArticlePaid Leave: From Political Talking Point to Serious Election Issue
New poll numbers underline the rising support for a policy guaranteeing workers paid family leave. The support crosses all demographics and political lines. And more voters say the issue will...
View ArticleI Hate National Coming Out Day
What I hate is coming out with no context. I also hate feeling like I have to come out when sometimes I just don’t freaking feel like it. But on National Coming Out Day, I always feel obliged to find...
View ArticleIs Congressman Paul Ryan the Unlikely New Face of Work/Life Balance?
“I cannot and I will not give up my family time.” That’s what Paul Ryan declared when asked to be the new Speaker of the House. Kind of ironic coming from a guy so opposed to paid family leave for the...
View ArticleCan Hillary Clinton Lock Down This Election by Facing Off With the NRA?
What kind of “hero” can change truly our country’s conversation about gun violence? To find out, let’s start by changing our own cultural consciousness about a woman’s place in society. I ask my...
View ArticleRecovery, Generosity & Financial Graces
Those first few months were at once exhilarating and terrifying. I loved being on my own, and never felt the fear I imagined I might feel coming home alone in the dark. It was wonderful to shut my...
View ArticleIt’s Not Her Fault You’re Distracted By Her Outfit
Now listen, if I happen to be in a business meeting and there’s a woman with a kick ass pair of shoes, those shoes might very well distract me. But it would be absurd of me to ask her to never wear...
View ArticleSuffragette: Why All Girls Should See This Film
This is one of those films where – for just a moment – you really do stop taking for granted something you always took for granted. LONDON – In the full flurry of mid-life – between the job and the...
View ArticleThe Casual Feminist: In the Name of Tiny Hineys
A clean baby butt is a basic need that is hard to meet for many. Can you imagine how much you can lighten the burden of one hardworking family by solving this one problem? I’m a little obsessed with...
View ArticleWhy TV Needs More People “On the Spectrum”
“The Bridge” asks us empathize with its lead character, and we do. In a world where more and more of us discover that we – or our loved ones – can be located somewhere “on the spectrum,” what a gift...
View ArticleTaking a Moment, While Being Grateful
That day, I was feeling really happy. Until I got a call from my son, now in college, that he had been robbed on his way to school. The words that shook me to my core, however, were, “They put a gun...
View ArticleWhat Does the Success of Donald Trump’s Presidential Bid Say to Our Kids… and...
Enter Donald Trump and the inherent paradox of his growing popularity with the anti-bullying movement and the message we’re trying to send our children. “Sweetie, bullies are bad. People don’t like...
View Article#SnowZilla and Blizzard-proof Parenting
Keeping my daughters – ages five and two – occupied for this long period of isolation during the current blizzard or Snowmageddon or Snowzilla or whatever you are calling it – has been more of a...
View ArticleThe Empty Nest Goes Awry
Sometime in the last eight years, our Empty Nest turned into a palace for this rescue cat. Fala and his littermate Sisy joined our home the day before our son’s eighth birthday. When they came to live...
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