Money Issues Links

Rose Madeline Mula: If You Can’t Stand the Heat

Rose Madeline Mula Writes: “It was with considerable trepidation, therefore, that I entered the kitchen of my hostess, the legendary actress, Joan Fontaine, one long-ago Thanksgiving morning, to offer my assistance. Acting was not Miss Fontaine’s only talent. Not by a long shot. She was also a hole-in-one golfer, a prize-winning fisherwoman, a hot air…
An Undocumented Childhood by Rose Madeline Mula

Rose Mula Writes: Some people never leave home without their American Express card; I never leave home without a camera. Digitized pictures of the twenty-five countries and forty-plus states of America that I’ve visited since my first tour of exotic New Hampshire constantly flash on my computer monitors and digital frames throughout my home, helping…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mind’s eye can still see the face of the Children’s Librarian, although I have long since forgotten her name. We will be wise to continue to back up our knowledge of history and literature and art and science with hard copy. She kept up with my reading level, suggesting writers and…
Julia Sneden Wrote: If The Shoe Fits … You Can Bet It’s Not Fashionable

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mother was a mini Imelda Marcos. She kept upwards of 40 pairs of shoes well into her 80’s, and was crushed when she had to give up high heels following a heart attack at the age of 89. Her sole criterion in buying shoes was style, not comfort, and she was…
Joan L.Cannon Wrote: A Family Inheritance: More Than ‘Things’ … Emblems of Our Lives

Joan Cannon wrote: As one advances in years, one accumulates possessions the way a caddis fly larva accumulates grit. The glue that makes us carry it all along with us is in a way self-secreted as well. However, it’s psychic rather than physical — emotional rather than material. Perhaps the most obvious example is a…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks

Julia Sneden wrote: At the age of 37, I started a new career as a kindergarten teacher. My first day on the job, the lead teacher, who was in her 70’s and scared me every bit as much as she scared the children, watched me writing a note. “You’ll have to change the way you…
Joan Cannon Writes: Finding the Right Excuse; Committing Words to Paper Because …

Joan Cannon Writes: Think of the poets and novelists and playwrights whose words sink into the consciousness of thousands and even millions and remain there, as emblems, guides, beacons of hope or warnings of disasters, and the excuse (as if one is needed) presents itself. Maybe there’s information or a revelation for some unknown viewer…
Joan Cannon Asked: What is a Book Club? An Old-Fashioned Book Report? A Program Given By an Author? What Is the Accepted Practice?

Joan L. Cannnon wrote: A year or so ago, I was invited to attend a tea given by the combined membership of all the book clubs in the town where I now live. A presentation was scheduled for the proprietor of the much-loved local independent book store cum gift shop. She is a legend in…
Weekly Legislative Update: Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Preventing Act and Congressional Bills Introduced

Bills Introduced: A bill to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide for better protections for children raised in kinship families outside of the foster care system; A bill to amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998; A bill to improve the effectiveness of tribal child support enforcement agencies; A…
Sanditon by Jane Austen And Another Lady: “Women drive this … They’re so well written …”

“Inspired by Jane Austen’s unfinished final novel, Sanditon is a compelling depiction of a developing Regency seaside town at the forefront of the great social and economic changes of the age. When a carriage accident introduces the young Charlotte Heywood to the Parker family, she embarks on a journey from the only home she has…
Young Women Still May Be Getting Unnecessary Pelvic Exams; UCSF and CDC Study Finds Millions of “Outdated” Tests Being Performed on Healthy Females 15 to 20 Years Old

Cervical cancer screening is not recommended for individuals under age 21, according to the US Preventive Services Task Force, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Cancer Society. Additionally, leading professional organizations recommend against performing pelvic examinations in asymptomatic women who are not pregnant. “Parents of adolescents and young women should be…
Horse, Horse, Tiger, Tiger; It’s the Tone of the Character That Makes the Word

Ferida Wolff writes: In America, we accept many different pronunciations and still understand what is meant; it is the word itself that conveys its meaning. In China, it is the tone of the character that makes the word and, depending upon which is used, the meaning changes. The character ma, for instance, can mean you…
Grab That Museum Pass! Could Arts Engagement Have Protective Associations With Survival?

“Could arts engagement have protective associations with survival? We analysed the longitudinal relation between receptive arts engagement and mortality across a 14 year follow-up period in a nationally representative sample of adults aged 50 and older. Risk of dying at any point during the follow-up period among people who engaged with cultural activities on an…
Being forced to engage in any activity where you cannot leave is illegal. This includes: commercial sex, housework, farm work, construction, factory, retail, restaurant work, or any other activity

Editor’s Note: “If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave—whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, construction, factory, retail, or restaurant work, or any other activity—text 233-733 (Be Free) or call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or the California Coalition to Abolish Slavery…
New Year’s Peeve! A Resolution to Learn Italian — and Not Just the Entrees on the Olive Garden Menu

Rose Mula writes: But when I wake up, it’s New Year’s Day, which is not so wonderful, because I feel compelled to make those cursed resolutions that I know are doomed to failure. If I didn’t lose those stubborn ten pounds last year, why will turning a page on the calendar help me shed them…
Pew Research Center: Stats Informed, Inspired and Challenged Us to Take On Some of Today’s Most Pressing Issues

The public renders a harsh judgment on the state of political discourse in this country. And for many Americans, their own conversations about politics have become stressful experiences that they prefer to avoid. 85 percent said it had become “less respectful”; 76 percent said “less fact-based”; 85 percent said it had become “less respectful”; 60…
Women Exposed to Persistent Organic Pollutants Had Slightly Smaller Fetuses than Women Who Haven’t Been Exposed

Latest findings suggest that the chemicals, which are no longer produced in the United States but persist in the environment, may have lasting health effects even at low levels. Persistent organic pollutants are chemicals once used in agriculture, disease control, manufacturing, and industrial processes. They include the pesticide DDT and dioxin, a byproduct of herbicide…
Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture Awarded to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg for Her Work in Pioneering Gender Equality and Strengthening the Rule of Law

“By grit and determination, brains, courage, compassion and a fiery commitment to justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most respected, and most beloved, jurists of our time. She inspires women and men of all ages to realize that a democracy thrives to the extent that it provides every…