The #metoo movement has been growing exponentially. Calls for accountability against abusive, manipulative, and violent men have touched just about every industry in the United States. At least for men at the top of those industries. There is much more work to be done, especially in industries that do not have the support and benefit of…
Accountability, apologies, and recognition of harm caused is at the center of the #metoo movement, and the heart of building healthy relationships and smashing rape culture and patriarchy. Unfortunately we often struggle to know what true accountability looks like (because many of us have never really experienced it, or seen it modeled), nor do we know how to offer a sincere…
I recently met a very sweet and compassionate 83-year old woman who took a great interest in my work. Despite our age and generational differences, her social and political outlook was not that different than mine. In a few instances where our thoughts were not aligned, we were able to have respectful dialogue, and I…
On April 20, 1999, I was barely a month into my 16th year, a sophomore in high school full of angst, unrequited love, joy, and maybe a little anger. For years one of my favorite songs was Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” the grunge anthem to teen angst and anger, but more so an ode to sadness…
The last several weeks have been, we can hope, only the beginning of a long awaited reckoning in the United States. Every day another man, or two or three, is publicly named as an abuser, a harasser, a rapist, a predator. In many instances, an element of justice has been swift as they are shamed and…
Little one don’t be a fool, I’m a wreck when I look mighty. In Euphoria I’m bruised, In confusion next I’m lightning. In complacence I am small, through oblivion I’m charged. – “Follow My Way” by Chris Cornell, 1999 ~~~ Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1464, prohibits the utterance of any obscene,…
Rethinking the Relationship Between The Words We Use, The Actions We Take, and the Thoughts We Think Part 3. The Thoughts We Think ~~~ Continued from Part 1. The Words We Use and Part 2. The Actions We Take ~~~ Civil Rights vs. Human Rights Legal rights ground legal claims to protect already established legal entitlements. Human…
Rethinking the Relationship Between The Words We Use, The Actions We Take, and the Thoughts We Think Part 2. The Actions We Take Continued from: Part 1. The Words We Use ~~~ Charity vs. Mutual Aid The dictionary tells us that poor is the opposite of rich, and we often think of poverty to mean simply that –…