Author Archives: vestalvespa

This is what I grew up with. Back in the 70s and early 80s (when I was little), Sesame Street was pretty progressive. Unlike other kids shows, it was about urban life. It was about the variations that you saw … Continue reading →

The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself. -Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933 This sentiment used to ring hollow to me. It seemed to me to be a rather simplistic notion tracking back to the idea of bravery. Which, as my … Continue reading →

OK, I know that “Video Games” sounds like a 23-year-old’s journal set to a remix of the music you hear at your massage therapist’s. And I know she takes herself far too seriously. And I know she can’t dance worth a … Continue reading →

Mitt Romney recently said, in a room full of people, that he would end federal funding to Planned Parenthood. But what he really told this room full of people, all semantic analysis aside, is that he would “end” Planned Parenthood. He … Continue reading →

You already knew that the contraception “controversy” wasn’t about “Religious Freedom.” You know that it’s not about reducing abortions, even if that’s what people think contraception does, because contraception prevents countless abortions that we can all agree are actually abortions, … Continue reading →

I have a problem with this assessment of the reasons behind conservatism/liberalism. The author here asserts that there are hard-wired, genetic reasons that cause “threat-averse” people to be more conservative-minded, and an “exploratory” nature can be cited for liberal ideologies. … Continue reading →

My husband’s father had been battling some kind of illness or another since I’d first met him. He’d lived a rough life, a tradesman’s life, surrounded by chemicals and characterized by long hours and tough conditions in body and paint … Continue reading →