Social Justice
When Adversity Strikes Be Sure You’re Framing It Properly
New York Times health columnist Jane Brody writes about a new book, The Gift of Adversity: The book’s titular message — that adversity can be a gift — is especially relevant now, as millions of Americans who have lost jobs struggle to reinvent themselves. After 20 productive years as a researcher at the National Institute…
Read MoreWhy You Shouldn’t Mock Beauty Pageant Contestants
[Note: I’m pretty sure none of my readers would mock a contestant, so please don’t think I’m speaking to you personally, so much as the entire Internet. – Hillary] It seems to be evolving into a seasonal pastime to mock beauty pageant contestants who garble their speeches, but here’s why you shouldn’t do it: 1)…
Read MoreMy Dad’s Finest Hour
My Dad’s finest hour may have been during the famous U.S. Postal Workers Strike of 1970. Per Wikipedia: “At the time, postal workers were not permitted by law to engage in collective bargaining. Striking postal workers felt wages were very low, benefits poor and working conditions unhealthy and unsafe. APWU president Moe Biller described Manhattan…
Read MoreInger Mewburn on Racism in Academia
A very good and honest piece from Inger Mewburn, a.k.a., The Thesis Whisperer, about waking up to racism in academia, and her own white privilege: At the time Joe and I were both looking for more permanent work in academia. It has to be said that neither of us were having much luck. I barely…
Read MoreFather’s Day Post: Betty Ming Liu on Making Peace with an Authoritarian Father
Betty Ming Liu on making peace with her deceased dad: The war is over. Even though my father was a tyrant who made me miserable, I’ve fought hard to reclaim my life and get to happiness. So after all the years of weeping and blowing my nose at the shrink’s office, letting go is possible.…
Read MoreA Failed Bird Rescue Attempt
Saturday morning, I idly looked out my window and saw, as usual, my elderly neighbor Vinnie sitting on his folding chair on the sidewalk doing his sudoku. And then something extraordinary happened–a stunning, yellow cockatiel flew down and landed on the sidewalk not ten feet from him. I watched for a few moments while Vinnie…
Read MoreIn Defense of Self-Help Books
I’m totally loving this Psychology Today post by Deborah Hill Cone on how it’s snobbish to put down self-help literature: I will come clean. At my grimmest moments I would turn again and again to books which helped change my perspective and get “another way of thinking about life” although they might not be the…
Read MoreThe Eroticization of Equality and Social Justice
Note from Hillary: this is a reprint of an article I published elsewhere a few years back that I wanted to archive on this blog. The topic remains timely; thanks for reading! To begin with, check out the romantic presidential couple at the bottom of the right-hand group of pictures (near the date)…
Read More“Mean” Duck Mom and Unhelpful Bystanders!
So…check out this video of a mother duck forcing her ducklings to jump down a high ledge onto a concrete walkway: Ouch! I found it painful to watch. The Mom Duck is just doing her thing, but I’ve seen similar videos where a kindly bystander finds a plank or other mechanism to give the baby…
Read MoreTiger Moms Don’t Just Suck, They Don’t Even Exist as a Category
Slate writes up the study by University of Texas psychology professor Su Yeong Kim analyzing children of so-called Tiger Moms. Yes, “tiger parenting” stinks: “Authoritarian parenting combines coercion with less responsiveness, and leads to higher depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem…. [they] produced kids who felt more alienated from their parents and experienced higher instances of…
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