A Moment of Silence
I’d like to have a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting in Florida this weekend. The hate crime took place at reggaeton/bachata/merengue/salsa night at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub in Orlando. 50 people are dead, and over 50 more are injured. I am not part of the LGBTQ community, but know and love many people who are. I am an ally and I stand in solidarity with them. My heart breaks. I am part of the community that...
The Unseen Impact of Forgotten Interactions
A few days ago, I was reading an article in the NYT called Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved with Women in Private. None of it was particularly surprising – his private interactions with women reflect the same deplorable values and convictions as his public interactions – but when I got to this line, I stopped. “They appeared to be fleeting, unimportant moments to him, but they left lasting impressions on the women who...
If These Two Win, This is Going To Be The Shittiest Election in US History
Dear God When Will It Be Over Please Make It Stop Repost of an article by Steve Five, published on Medium on April 27th, 2016. After last night’s sweeping wins by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, it appears even more likely that the two will become their respective party’s nominees. But according to multiple different polls and recent data, these are the shittiest candidates in recorded history and this election will be a total mess....
In Which Men Have No Responsibility
Fair warning – this week’s article has a pretty solid dose of indignant rage. Today I would like to talk about the messages being sent to women as a result of two separate yet related situations: the recent infographic published by the CDC as part of their campaign to reduce rates of foetal alcohol syndrome, and the rampant and terrifying spread of the Zika virus (recently declared a global emergency by the WHO). For...
The Paris Climate Agreement: A Big Deal
In an uplifting follow-up to last week’s article, the international community has finally come together to take a stand against global warming. On Saturday, December 12th in Paris, France, 195 countries agreed to the first international climate accord in history that holds all nations accountable. The timing here is critical, because we are very close to seeing the average global temperature rise by 2°C since pre-industrial...
Tragedy and Toxic Waste in Brazil
About a month ago, Brazil experienced one of the worst environmental disasters in recent history. 60 million cubic meters of toxic industrial mining waste broke through two different dams and traveled 500km along the Doce river towards the Atlantic Ocean, destroying everything in it’s path. I don’t use the word “destroying” lightly. The deadly mudslide wiped out the entire village of Bento Rodrigues, with 12-17...