Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911):
“The Slave Mother,” “On Learning to Read,” and “Bury Me in a Free Land”
In deference to Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s extraordinarily prolific and largely unsung writing career, I am offering three poems here today.
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‘Capernaum’: Sheer Heartbreak
in the Streets of Beirut
Calling it a "good film" seems incongruous, given the tragic subject matter. But other words come to mind: wondrous, stunning, strangely and irrationally beautiful.
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Is Daily Aspirin Right for You?
New Information Helps Refine the Answer
In the past, aspirin was recommended as a cornerstone for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. However, in modern medicine, risk factors for cardiovascular disease have been better controlled with an emphasis on lifestyle modifications and newer classes of medications.
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Poetry Sunday: “Chocolate,” by Rita Dove
The way the chocolate acquires agency in the poem and becomes capable of deliberately and actively arousing desire is the beginning of the speaker’s identification with it.
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Becoming “Woke” at 65
I have enjoyed steady economic stability and freedom from hardship, and have taken it for granted more than I should have. In recent years, I have become even more aware of how insulated I have been from many obstacles others face by the simple accident of my birth.
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‘Scenes from the Heartland’
Timeless Tales of a Time Gone By
Although the stories in 'Scenes from the Heartland' take place nearly a century ago, the individual characters' emotional lives are all too familiar and contemporary. What may be the most common theme is struggle and how a person maintains his or her dignity in its face.
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Studies Show a Woman Diagnosed with Heart Disease is More Likely to Die Than a Man,
a Cardiologist Explains Why
A woman having a heart attack will wait longer before presenting to the emergency room. She will be less likely to have a diagnostic electrocardiogram upon arrival and she will be much less likely to be diagnosed correctly.
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Poetry Sunday: “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” by Phillis Wheatley
February is Black History Month, and the next four columns will be devoted to work by black women writers. In today’s, contemporary poet Camille Dungy presents a poem by Phillis Wheatley.
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Accepting Imperfection by Embracing Flaws
We have to be aware that as 21st century women, we are especially vulnerable to the distortions of our digital culture emphasizing that a woman is only as valuable as she is pretty.
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‘Egg’: Expectant Mothers Behaving Badly
"Egg" is a film that will likely be appreciated by women more than men. (Not that the reverse ever stopped Hollywood from making a movie.)
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For Weight Loss Management in Perimenopause,
a Personalized Plan Works Best
Recognize that you are in a transition that is not just a hormonal one, but a transition into that second half of life where your wisdom and determination to find and achieve your personal best is certainly attainable.
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Raquel Vasquez Gilliland:
“The Tale of the Earth” and “The Tale of Spice”
Today’s poems are from a new chapbook called "Tales from the House of Vasquez," winner of the 2018 Rattle Chapbook Prize, and they are representative of the book as a whole: 14 spare, free-verse poems about motherhood, feminism, family, and origin.
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Getting Healthy: Self-love and Self-care
If more of us practiced healthy self-care then a less selfish and less angry world would follow.
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The Bingeable Fifth Season of ‘Grace and Frankie’
In season five, Frankie has a fling with the yurt-dwelling man mentioned earlier. Grace is still being courted by her handsome younger man, Nick (Peter Gallagher). The idea that women in their 70s and 80s are still attractive and attracted is refreshing.
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Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
and Understanding African-American History
“African-American history is not somehow separate than the American story. It is not the underside of the American story. It is central to the American story.” — President Barack Obama
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Poetry Sunday: “Whosoever Holds This Hammer,”
by Dawn Manning
By the end of the poem the speaker wholly identifies with Thor, capable of destruction as well as creation and blessing, and the poem ends in a place of tremendous raw power and confidence with her joyfully striking the flat glowing disc of her “own sun.” What a wonderful affirmation of the act of creativity!
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Hollywood’s Pressure to Be Objects of Beauty
If you are only valued for one thing, it scares you to lose it, especially if your career success is dependent on it.
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Women Behind the Camera: ‘Rust Creek’ and ‘State Like Sleep’
In recent years, exploitive movies have featured female victims who turn the table on their attackers. With graphic and violent rape scenes precursing any acts of vengeance, these often feel more like male fantasies than tales of true female empowerment. 'Rust Creek' is different.
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Hot Flashes, Night Sweats and Sleep Disruption Before Menopause
Hot flashes are the most frequent symptom of menopause and perimenopause. More than two-thirds of North American women who are heading into menopause have hot flashes.
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Poetry Sunday: “Frances of the Cadillac,”
by Laura Van Prooyen
This poem reminds me that part of being human is living on to wrestle with the legacy left by the people we love who leave us, sometimes under circumstances we cannot accept or even understand.
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Michelle Obama’s Becoming: The Power of Family
Michelle Obama remains the protagonist in this book. Like her mother, she nurtures her children and her family with consummate skill. Like her family, she encountered racism and discrimination along the way. Unlike her mother, she juggled this with full-time employment, and ultimately with being the most famous woman in the world.
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The Golden Globes: Time’s Not Up Yet
Last year, the press was encouraged to ask women substantive questions about their work, and not to default to the ubiquitous question "Who are you wearing?" Alas, we were back to that fashion-first mentality.
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Surgical Menopause
Dr. Pat offers advice to a woman on how to thrive in the second half of life after she had surgical menopause from a hysterectomy and removal of the ovaries in her early forties.
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