At a time when so many of us, including me, are often reduced to screaming instead of listening, to fighting instead of loving, we need Fred Rogers’ example more than ever. In Morgan Neville’s astonishing documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Fred Rogers, the host of the long-running children’s program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, testifies before […]
I’m angry at the world’s eagerness to see Tony as your rock instead of seeing you as the rock—for yourself and for all women. And I wish we were doing a better job of thanking you for it, Asia. Dear Asia Argento, Like millions of people far-flung across the globe, I am a rabid fan […]
It strikes me there’s a reason she’s so easy to talk to about race: Practice. Like every person of color, she lives the issue day in and day out. “You thought they were all rednecks!” That’s my friend, Sheryl Jones, describing my 7th grade debut. It was 1977 and I had just arrived in Cincinnati from […]
No one is telling you not to flirt. We’re telling you not to be an oblivious, egocentric asshole while flirting. Dear Henry, I’ll admit that when I saw your name flicker across today’s headlines, I had to look up who you were. Please don’t be offended – I’ve never been into Superman. So because I […]
Disabled people with neurological, muscular, and movement disorders often rely on plastic straws to safely drink liquids. Far from “non-essential,” these straws provide a critical conduit for hydration. Seattle made news when it became the first major city to ban plastic straws July 1. Monday, Seattle-based company Starbucks announced that it too will eliminate plastic […]
As some people face losing their rights while other people look away, we will find ourselves at a crossroads. We will have to make decisions less by our political ideologies and more by our moral compasses. I remember when mass shootings started to become part of our everyday news cycle, when one of Trump’s first […]
In order to take real action against the stunning array of life-threatening emergencies that have always been part of the fabric of this nation, we must let go of the illusion that any single one of us can defeat them. It’s like standing in the doorway between two rooms, listening to conversations in both. In […]
It’s a cultural symbol, a proud manifestation of Chinese-American identity in a country that has painted painfully ignorant stereotypes of Asian-Americans. I never went to prom. I was too introverted, and I thought it was a ridiculous American tradition, so I never wore a qipao. But I did wear a qipao to my college’s Senior Gala, because […]
