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The UAW won the strike, so why doesn’t Donald Trump want to talk about it?
This commentary originally appeared in the Michigan Advance. After decades of eroding wages and benefits, UAW workers last month won blockbuster contracts with the Detroit Three that few thought possible. During the “Stand Up Strike” — an homage to the Sit-down Strike against General Motors in Depression Era Flint that spawned the first industry collective […]
For the mothers the pandemic has left behind
This commentary originally appeared in the Michigan Advance. Moms are tired. Bone-tired. That’s the word that comes up again and again whenever I talk to other mothers these days. No matter how strong you think you are, the last few years have taken a crushing toll. Everyone bears the scars of the pandemic in different […]
The persistence of tragedy, the preservation of memory
This commentary originally appeared in the Michigan Advance. For many years, the only piece of artwork I could afford to frame was a dorm-room-quality print of Dali’s “Persistence of Memory.” I’ve been thinking about that painting a lot lately. Sometimes the melting clocks seem jolting and sinister; sometimes there’s an odd comfort in the infiniteness […]
As other states attack LGBTQ+ kids, Michigan emerges as a safe haven
This commentary originally appeared in the Michigan Advance. After decades of fighting for basic rights and dignity, LGBTQ+ people last week finally became full and equal citizens in Michigan. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday signed a landmark bill expanding the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) that bars discrimination based on gender identity and sexual […]
What we owe our children after the horror at MSU
This commentary originally appeared in Michigan Advance. Michigan State’s sprawling campus has been home to thousands, like my daughter, during some of the most exciting and demanding years of their lives. It can feel like just about everyone in the state has a connection to the school in one way or another. And so, there […]
Republicans served up ‘red wave’ Kool-Aid. Pundits drank it up.
This commentary originally appeared in the Michigan Advance. The election was four weeks out. Every sign pointed to Republican Michigan gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon careening toward an epic loss. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was, by all indications, running a smart campaign that connected with voters on kitchen-table issues, which does, as she often pointed out, include […]
Adults who choose to bully LGBTQ+ children are weird — and profoundly broken
This commentary originally appeared in the Michigan Advance. Twelve years ago, the LGBTQ+ community started a powerful campaign to help young people with three simple words: “It gets better.” Growing up gay or trans is often devastatingly hard, from enduring slurs hurled by kids at school to having abusive parents who kick you out of […]
Forcing 10-year-old rape victims to give birth isn’t moral, just or ‘pro-life’
For the first decades after Roe v. Wade was decided, anti-abortion forces made the case that they were the real pro-women movement. They claimed to love the sinner (the fallen woman) but hated the sin of abortion. They just wanted to save female babies. And some promised to be there with the first box of […]
We’ve coddled ignorance for years. Now we’re all paying the price with COVID.
A version of “We’ve coddled ignorance for years. Now we’re all paying the price with COVID” first appeared in the Michigan Advance. Sane America has had enough. After almost two years of a horrific pandemic that’s killed almost 620,000 Americans and deadly, faster-spreading variants emerging because selfish and ignorant people refuse to get vaccinated — […]