Last weekend I watched the film Julie and Julia and I loved it.  I adore Meryl Streep anyway and watching her in this movie was a treat.  She played Julia Child and as usual her acting was fantastic.  Julie (well-played by Amy Adams) is a young professional looking for something to give her life meaning.  She decides she’s going to cook all of Julia Child’s recipes and her husband suggests she blog about both the food and the experience.  It is a wonderful and entertaining film and I thoroughly enjoyed …

C         is for Coalition, working together is the only way
A         is for Association, leveling the field so all can play
S          is for women Soaring, finding wings so we can fly
H         is for the Heroine, helping her to reach the sky
Okay, I know the verse is pretty corny (I wanted to do a little rhyme) but the sentiment expressed therein is correct.  As you know The New Agenda works hard to challenge misogyny and sexism in the media, in political campaigns, in advertising, wherever we see it.  Often we’re the …

Sarah Palin’s book is slated to be released soon and I hope it’s a rousing success!  She deserves it.  I love the title of it:  “Going Rogue,” because I think Governor Palin has done that.  She’s taken on her own Party in her home state cleaning out the corruption she saw there, and resigning from her position as Governor because she saw it was being detrimental to her office and the people of Alaska because of all of the frivolous lawsuits and their ensuing costs and time to the people …

Remember this slogan used by Virginia Slim cigarettes, which showed a trendy woman smoking this extra long cigarette, and touting the fact that now women had their very own cigarette?  Have we come a long ways or do we only think we have?
As I’ve mentioned in several previous posts, when I was growing up Donna Reed, June Cleaver, and Margaret Anderson ruled the airways.  Cooking, cleaning, and collating life’s little homilies in the half-hour show.  But while Donna Reed was actually able to do more than vacuum her living room …

The last few days of news have been thought-provoking.  Roman Polanski, who drugged and raped a young girl finally arrested and hopefully will be extradited back here to face his sentencing, and yet, there are still people who support and protect this man.  Who actually started and signed a petition to release this fellow from jail.  Whoopi Goldberg talking about what Polanski did not being real rape-rape?  Did I read that correctly?  Did she really mean that?
And then there’s that guy, Letterman, again.  Weren’t we all just recently treated to …

My friend and mentor, Henry, talked me into joining the local feminist group after the campaign he and I were working on was over.  I finally went to a meeting and was surprised at the participation.  The guest was the president of the state organization and she was a dynamic and charismatic speaker and I felt motivated and enjoyed myself, so I continued to participate.  I had attended the meetings regularly for about five months when Henry told me the election of officers was at the next meeting and was …

In the past few weeks I have been amazed and thoroughly disgusted to see videos all over the web which depict a young couple, posing as a prostitute and her pimp, at different ACORN offices applying for help in getting a house so they could have a place where they could engage in their “business.” The couple stated that they would be using several underage girls, from El Salvador, to “service” their clientele. These statements were not met with outrage or a quick call to a law enforcement …

The following piece is the follow up to From Police Academy to Feminist Activist.
When I left the Sheriff’s Office, I went to work for a non-profit.  We were hugely political and I loved that aspect of the job.  I immediately began to volunteer for different campaigns mostly doing canvassing or literature drops.  It was good exercise, especially when the weather was nice, and I would sometimes bring my nieces along to help me out.  It gave us all an opportunity to spend time together while helping a cause we believed …

I was in the 5th grade when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected as the 35th President of the United States.  I remember watching his inauguration with interest and, along with the rest of my family and the country, being swept up in the exuberance, the excitement, the exhilaration of the new young President and his family.  I remember reading everything I could get my hands on about them, especially “Profiles In Courage,” which I ordered through my school’s Young Reader program.  It was a time of renewed promise and infinite …

I was one of the first six women to attend the Police Academy in my state many years ago and it was quite an experience.  I was in my early twenties and breathless with excitement.
I had already worked for the Sheriff’s Office for a couple of years, starting at age 20, too young to be sworn in even.  The old sheriff, however, decided to take a chance on me and hired me.  He was a great guy, although I saw very little of him.  Instead I worked for the Chief …