Category: Activists

This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism by Ashton Applewhite (2019): “Make noise about this!”

This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism by Ashton Applewhite (2019): “Make noise about this!”

Posted by | Oct 27, 2020 | ,

Last Christmas one of my sisters gave me a copy of the book This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, by Ashton Applewhite. Perhaps it’s because I’m creeping closer to turning 60 that I finally decided to read it, or perhaps it’s because I’m creeping closer to 60 that I kept it at bay for so long, collecting dust on a shelf for the better part of a year. Either way, I’m elated that I finally read it and I’m ready to make noise about this! Ageism, like other forms of discrimination, becomes more noticeable and intolerable once it’s...

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Breaking the Bronze Ceiling: One Inspiring Public Sculpture at a Time!

Breaking the Bronze Ceiling: One Inspiring Public Sculpture at a Time!

Posted by | Aug 4, 2020 | ,

We have entered a monumental month: August 2020. August 26, 2020, is the centennial of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which guarantees women the right to vote. On May 19, 1919, the 19th amendment proposed to the Constitution extended the right of suffrage to women. The article reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” On August 18, 1920, the needed 36th state (Thank you, Tennessee!) signed on to the amendment and it was officially certified a...

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Austin Channing Brown: Leading Conversations About Racial Justice

Austin Channing Brown: Leading Conversations About Racial Justice

Posted by | Jun 23, 2020 | ,

Scrambling to educate myself after being faced with the realization of what I don’t know and of the ways in which I am complicit in racism, I came across a name:  Austin Channing Brown. Brown is the author of a must-read book, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, published in 2018. I also heard she hosts a web series called The Next Question. My stack of books growing and my arms and eyes in need of respite, I decided to listen to an episode. What I discovered is an incredible resource: a space to...

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You say: “I’m #antiracist” but do you actually know what that means? Here are some highlights, in case you missed them….

You say: “I’m #antiracist” but do you actually know what that means? Here are some highlights, in case you missed them….

Posted by | Jun 16, 2020 |

So you say you are #antiracist. Are you ready to commit to what that means? This week’s post breaks from #NastyWomenWriters usual focus on women to allow for timely reconsideration and action on the issues of #BlackLivesMatter, racism in America, important and righteous protests in our streets, police brutality and the call for justice. The book, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, has come to the forefront, and is a leader in the conversation that needs to be had. It is this book I will use and refer to in this post about antiracism. Kendi puts...

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Sonia Sotomayor: A Leader for our Time (American b.1954)

Sonia Sotomayor: A Leader for our Time (American b.1954)

Posted by | Feb 18, 2020 |

Sonia Sotomayor is a hard-working woman. Her autobiography, My Beloved World, recounts her story of growing up in the South Bronx, achieving in school, getting into Princeton, then Yale Law School, being hired as a prosecutor by the DA’s office of the County of New York and then onto a private law firm before being appointed a federal judge, then an appellate judge and then achieving the highest honor of becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 2009. Sotomayor’s display of intense focus and dedication to justice is almost exhausting to read. She meets every new encounter with appropriate trepidation...

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