I first heard of Josephine Baker in the 1980s, when my sister wrote a story about her in the New Haven Courier Register. Debby was a feature writer there, and her story mostly focused on the 12 children Baker had adopted from countries around the world. Josephine Baker and 10 of her 12 children on … Continue reading ‘Josephine Baker’s Last Dance’ tells an important story at the right moment
Category: opinion
Sweetheart’s answer to where he went to school to become an arborist is, “I learned on the street.” We have that in common. To this day, I’ve never taken a journalism class. I learned to be a reporter on the street. Literally, somewhat, as part of my first job at a daily paper involved finding … Continue reading Talk to the understudy and other ‘stuff reporters do,’ starring Danny Arnold
Update (January 24): I wrote this post on January 20th shortly after the first two videos were released. Rereading the post after all the other information occurred, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I'd gotten right. I'm leaving the post as is and adding a couple of thoughts: The teen I named "Smirkboy" … Continue reading Covington students latest link in long, depressing chain: a post with images & an update
I used to do way more book reviewing than I do these days. I also did a lot more feature writing. But that’s hardly a surprise when your job title is reporter. I still write the occasional book review at work – in fact, I have 10 to write in the next couple of weeks … Continue reading Hat tricks & ‘Palestinian Neighbors:’ a crash course in book review protocol
#RacistinRecovery 2018 is almost in the rear-view mirror. On that front, at least, I think I made some progress. Professionally, I attended a pre-conference workshop on dismantling institutional racism in libraries, and was able to do that beautiful fusion of personal and professional when I took a six-week class called “Unlearning Racism” at our local … Continue reading #RIR2018 exits stage left, chocolate cupcake flowers wave in the wind as #WJDisaggregation2019 makes its entrance
Life has never been better. Or more frustrating. Every morning, I wake up with a list of things to do and hardly any of them get done. Some of that is laziness. Some is fear, some is inertia. This house is in the neighborhood, but it carols at us, not the other way around. Also, … Continue reading Speak the truth & sing the songs: ups and downs of everyday life, Government shutdowns & Christmas carols
Remember when you were a little kid and your parents told you not to be a sore loser? What? Your parents never told you that? Or they did, and you blew them off? Well, hello there, Robin Vos, Joel Kleefisch, Alberta Darling, Scott Fitzgerald and all but three of your Republican colleagues in the Wisconsin legislature. … Continue reading Sore losers in need of history lesson: an open letter to the Wisconsin legislature
Back in October, I got to represent the library system I work for as a panelist for a League of Women Voters event. It was called "Truth, Trust & Democracy."I got the gig because a manager at one of our branches knew I'd been a reporter Back in the Day, still commit occasional Acts of … Continue reading Truth, Trust & Democracy or ‘Me, on a panel with four amazing women’
In the first part of this post, Debby went to Italy in 2012 and bought a pair of shoes she'd been coveting forever. They turned out to be slightly too small and, because she'd worn them outside, not returnable. She posted a small rant, accompanied by a photo from her hotel room in Rome. "Slightly … Continue reading A Cinderella story starring my sister, the Fairy Godmother of Shoes – Part Two
There is no such thing as cheap shoes in my universe. Which is what happens when a man with 9C feet makes babies with a woman who wears a7½ AAAA shoe. My sister somehow managed to dodge the narrow-footed bullet. She wears a nice, common size in a nice, common width. She also has amazing taste … Continue reading A two-part Cinderella story starring my sister, the Fairy Godmother of Shoes
the sentence factory 