Pat Taub
Abortion Nightmare!
This week the Supreme Court held a hearing on a challenge to Mississippi’s draconian abortion law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court’s conservative majority indicated a willingness to uphold the Mississippi law. In a very “A Handmaid’s Tale” moment, Justice Amy Cone Barrett suggested “safe haven laws” could be a solution to forced pregnancies, where unwanted babies are placed in designated locations for others to adopt. What is wrong with her? Doesn’t she recognize the trauma of carrying a child to term in a situation where the woman may have become pregnant from rape, or be overwhelmed with other children and living at a poverty level? 75% of all abortions are with poor women.
Amy Coney Barrett thinks rather than have an abortion, a women should carry her baby to term and then place it in a safe haven box.
Josephine Baker
This week Josephine Baker, the singer, human rights activist and member of the French Resistance during WW ll, was inducted into France’s Pantheon. This is the highest honor given to a French citizen. While Baker was born in St. Louis, she moved to France at 25, becoming a citizen and quickly achieving stardom, famous for her racy banana skirt. At the Pantheon, Baker finds herself among legends like Voltaire and Marie Curie.
Josephine Baker in her famous banana skirt, 1920’s
This is Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, which I read in one day last weekend. It’s a short, concise, riveting tale of Lucy Barton’s ex-husband, William. Barton has appeared in several Strout novels. There were so many perfect descriptors in this slim book that I frequently looked away from the page to sit with a moving passage. The renowned British writer, Hillary Mantel, describes Strout as having “perfect attunement to the human condition.”
Joanne Shenandoah
This week we lost the brilliant Native American singer and activist, Joanne Shenandoah. In the 90’s I interviewed her for the Syracuse NPR program, “Women’s Voices.” It was a moving interview. Joanne sang two songs, and in between spoke movingly of the inequalities facing her community on the nearby Onondaga Reservation. When the station manager learned that Joanne would be a guest, he panicked, worried that she would be too radical for his comfort level. Hence, he recorded a message, we were forced to play as our tag line at the end of each show. It read, “The views and opinions expressed on Women’s Voices do not reflect the management.” We were all furious but carried on.
Joanne Shenandoah around the time I interviewed her
