Elevated Access Flies People Across Texas Border for Reproductive Health Care

Texas made obtaining an abortion virtually impossible since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, . For a state as large as Texas, getting to where abortion is legal can be the challenge.

But volunteer pilots are giving flight to women in need of abortion care.

Elevated Access is an organization that coordinates small plane pilots with people in need of an abortion. The match-ups are done online. Elevated Access embraces anonymity. The pilots don’t even know the names of their passengers.

Privacy and secrecy is baked into the process of connecting people who need abortions with pilots who want to help. Elevated Access started a year and a half ago, and so far they’ve flown more than 600 missions for more than 800 people around the country. 

https://www.tpr.org/public-health/2023-12-28/volunteer-pilots-give-flight-to-women-needing-abortion

Ebony Alerts Will Be Used to Highlight Missing Black Children and Young Adults

Blacks make up 14% of the U.S. population but represent 38% of the missing children in the country.

Beginning in January, Ebony Alerts will debut to highlight missing Black children and young adults between the ages of 12 and 25, a tool to be used by the California Highway Patrol and other agencies. 

A larger percentage of missing Black children are classified as "runaways" in comparison to white children, who are classified as "missing," according to the Black and Missing Foundation. This discrepancy affects the information being sent out in Amber Alerts, which notify the public of missing children that are seen to be at risk.

https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2023/12/28/ebony-alerts-debut-in-january-to-draw-attention-to-missing-women-and-children-of-color

Russian Court Bans "LGBTQ Movement"

As part of global moves against LGBTQ+ inclusivity, Russia’s Supreme Court has moved to classify the “international LGBT social movement” as an extremist organization. 

This ruling criminalizes not just any activist working to advance human rights for queer individuals, but could also enable prosecutors to target anyone who supports LGBTQ+ people. 

“If you speak at all about LGBT rights, whether you do it by protesting peacefully, or just posting comments on social media by saying anything in public, anything at all, you're going to be in trouble,” says Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division.

https://time.com/6342383/russias-court-ban-of-the-lgbtq-movement/?fbclid=IwAR0V8qqZNBPniutOUkIsrbJNwC2f5-vITZDJrq0UBBcCdoHoqHfZYGCfASY

Chinese Women are Saying No to Stifling Patriarchal Roles of Women

Sexist state propaganda in China labels single professional women older than 27 as sheng nu, or leftover women. The Communist party wants China’s women to be docile, baby-breeding guarantors of social, economic and demographic stability.

But young Chinese women are defying rules of their society, delaying or shunning marriage and childbirth altogether, mirroring the journey of women in other, wealthier patriarchal East Asian societies such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. As individuals, these Chinese women are generally unwilling to challenge official policy. But through their reproductive choices, they collectively pose a radical and complicated problem for the Chinese Communist Party.

China's previous one-child policy attempted to rein in population growth. But this led to plummeting birthrates, an aging population and a gender imbalance as millions of female fetuses were aborted because of a traditional preference for male heirs. As of 2020, China still had about 17.5 million more men than women between the ages of 20 and 40. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/26/opinion/china-women-reproduction-rights.html

Blacks in Oklahoma Teach African American History Because School Teachers Can't Legally

Kristi Williams started offering Saturday lessons in African American History early this year in a community center in Tulsa, after an Oklahoma state law —  adopted by Republicans in 2021 — placed restrictions on how race and gender can be taught in Oklahoma's public schools.

The law has had a chilling effect on teachers who now fear that touching on race and racism in their classrooms could cost them their jobs if a student or parent complains that a lesson made them uncomfortable.

"They're just staying away from it and not teaching it," Williams said. "So I had to create a space for families to come in, and teach it."

https://www.klcc.org/npr-top-stories/2023-11-22/oklahoma-restricted-how-race-can-be-taught-so-these-black-teachers-stepped-up

Maya Women Softball Players Become Mexican Superstars

Las Amazonas de Yaxunah is an indigenous, all-female softball team famous throughout Mexico. They have even been invited to play in the U.S. They have worked to overcome the machismo attitude that softball is a sport for men, spreading the message that women are just as capable.

Four years ago men chastised them for playing a sport. Many men believed that women should stay at home or tend animals in the backyard – not run around the bases

In September, the Amazonas were invited to play the Falcons from Phoenix University in Arizona. Several hundred spectators and tens of thousands online saw them make history at Chase Field, home of major league baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks, in a stunning 22-3 win over the Americans.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/10/11/1203974955/these-maya-women-softballers-defy-machismo-from-their-mighty-bats-to-their-bare-

Debate Over Disability Services in Voucher Schools in Texas

Some disability advocates have raised concerns about funneling public dollars into private schools when the state’s public school system, which serves most special needs students in Texas, remains underfunded.

Texas Senate Bill 1 would use taxpayer dollars to create education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that would give families access to $8,000 a year to pay for private school tuition and other educational expenses.

Voucher proponents argue that education savings accounts would allow students with disabilities access to specialized schools if public schools are not meeting their needs. 

Given the fact that Republican-sponsored bills almost always harm people lower on hierarchies, most likely this bill will not end up helping the students it says it will help, a false "noble cause" in an effort to gain more support.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/10/texas-school-vouchers-disabilities-special-session/

Many Women in Iran See Leaving as Their Only Choice

The oppression of women and a feminist movement is helping to drive an exodus of female graduates in Iran. 

This exodus, particularly of women academics, has intensified in recent years. The director of the Iran Migration Observatory in Tehran pointed to the high level of unemployment among women as the main driver.

Official figures show 60% of students in Iran are women, but that share drops to just 15% on the job market. Massive repression of nationwide protests late last year after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini and a crackdown on women's rights have further fueled female brain drain. 

https://www.dw.com/en/iran-crackdown-on-womens-rights-fuels-female-brain-drain/a-66932202

Birckhead Becomes First Black Female State Military Leader

Growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Maj. Gen. Janeen Birckhead looked hard for a way to finance a college education.  Accepting an ROTC scholarship, she began her military career and is now holds the top military position in the state. 

She now is the only Black woman to lead a state military, responsible for the combat readiness of 4,600 soldiers and airmen. 

In early 2021, Birckhead was appointed by the National Guard Bureau as the task force commander for over 14,000 guard members guarding the U.S. Capitol after the Jan. 6 attack. She also led the Maryland National Guard's security mission for President Biden's inauguration.  

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/24/1173815128/maryland-national-guard-janeen-birckhead-adjutant-general

Father of Daughters Champions the Birth of Girls in India

Sunil Jaglan is responsible for saving the lives of hundreds of girls in Haryana in India, and is gaining national recognition for his efforts.

Because of his work, his village and many others across Haryana, the birth of girls is now celebrated with the banging of pots and pans by family members, a ritual earlier reserved for the birth of a boy.

In four years, the sex ratio in the village improved from 37 girls/63 boys per hundred newborns to 51 girls/49 boys, according to government health records.

Despite an official ban on prenatal sex testing, advertisements for the service were pasted on market walls and highways across Haryana, and aborting fetuses because they were female was common. 

In India, gender inequality remains deeply entrenched. In many households, especially in rural areas, girls are considered a social and financial burden whose parents still pay thousands of dollars in dowry gifts to a husband’s family after arranging a marriage.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/world/asia/sunil-jaglan-india-haryana-womens-rights.html

Watching the Only All-Black Swim Team in the US is Popular

Since taking over this once-moribund program eight years ago, head coach Nic Askew, a former Howard swimmer, has created arguably the most electric collegiate swimming environment in the U.S at Howard. 

He’s pulled recruits from across the country, from Canada and the Caribbean, and developed a team now on the cusp of winning the Northeast Conference title, which would be its first banner in more than 30 years—the nation’s only historically Black school with a swim program now showing out in this predominantly white, country club sport.

1,200 people were watching last February—most likely the most-attended dual meet anywhere in the nation last season. 

https://www.si.com/college/2023/02/01/howard-swimming-daily-cover?fbclid=IwAR0ibml7Ff7HW2IU6mnYCHn6tp1bmhOI7V82ZaYcC7TcaVF_QLSHzYkhOxo

It's Fine if Only Whites Control a Small Alabama Town, But Not Majority Blacks

Patrick Braxton become mayor in 2020 of tiny Newbern, Alabama, winning since he was the only one running. In its 166 year history, no Black man had become mayor of the town.

But the white folks eventually decided that wouldn't do, held a secret election, and locked Mr. Braxton out of the town hall, and blocked him from official town business.

Now Mr. Braxton is suing. The whites aren't talking.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/06/us/newbern-alabama-mayor-dispute/index.html

Will Trump Really Be Held Accountable?

Being on top of the hierarchy in so many ways, and garnering support because of his top actions and views, Donald Trump and his supporters expect that he will not be held accountable for trying to overthrow our democracy. In hierarchies, the top is not held accountable because the hierarchy would fall if they were. 

People of the United States are so accustomed to Trump and his Republican retinue being allowed to mostly do whatever they want, that many of us are skeptical that any accountability is a very long shot.

We have reason to believe that the indictments will not hold, that some way Trump and his co-conspirators will weasel out at the top is expected to do. Only time will tell. 

Florida Feeling Heat of Convention Cancellations

The policies of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that have been approved by Republican-dominated legislatures has draped the Sunshine State in controversy, spurring protests, lawsuits and travel advisories warning the state is “openly hostile” toward people of color, immigrants, women and LGBTQ+ community members.

The fallout is starting to spread to a key economic artery for an income-tax-free state heavily reliant upon tourism taxes: Florida’s convention business, with dozens of organizations cancelling in recent weeks. The fallout may be seen for years to come as organizations book their conventions years ahead. 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/06/economy/florida-convention-business-cancellations/index.html

Women's World Cup - Yes It is Just as Exciting as the Men's

If you don't know much about the Women's World Cup in Soccer, here is a place to find information. 

Women deserve the same money, publicity, media coverage as the men. In our hierarchy where men are considered more valuable than women, we have a long way to go to even scratch the surface at equality in athletic opportunity in the United States.

For women there is NOTHING that compares to the fan following, media coverage, facilities, money, training opportunities, fame, etc. than Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, National Football Association, etc. etc. etc.  Just because women have achieve a slight parity in their one national soccer team, parity doesn't occur in women's professional soccer in the United States by all the standards listed above. 

https://theathletic.com/4644056/2023/07/18/womens-world-cup-2023-united-states-team-guide/?source=fbpcadsbc&ad_id=23856784577070092&fbclid=IwAR0FIzJL1_p3jYmhvyEvlh_-VqTEi1IRDvXed05pvcw-DGaCcLH5cH6pcoc

University of Oregon Appears to Ignore Title IX

In Eugene, Oregon, opposition to Title IX is alive and well at the University of Oregon.

The women's varsity beach volleyball is being treated not any better than a club sport, despite empty promises from the huge $153 million budget athletic department with some of the best sports facilities in the country that things will change.  

The team practices and plays home games in a city park. The players, who do not receive athletic scholarships, have had to use a public restroom with no doors on the stalls. At times, they have driven hundreds of miles for games and stayed three or four to a room and had to share beds.

The beach volleyball team is one of 20 varsity sports at the University of Oregon. It is the only team that receives no athletic scholarship funding. No other public university team among the nation’s largest athletic conferences, the Power Five, spends zero on athletic scholarships. UO has persistently awarded more athletic scholarships to men over women beyond the threshold permitted by Title IX, public records show.

Interviews with more than a dozen former players and coaches and analysis of financial records detail how extreme an outlier Oregon’s beach volleyball program is compared to UO’s other teams, as well as its peers in the Pac-12 Conference.

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2023/07/oregon-ducks-beach-volleyball-players-detail-disparate-treatment-that-experts-say-could-violate-title-ix.html

Homophobic Action at San Diego Library Met with Protest

Two homophobic San Diego residents cleared out the Pride month display at their library and said such materials shouldn’t be available to children, one of several recent clashes over L.G.B.T.Q. issues in California.

In response, Stacks of Amazon boxes containing new copies of the books the protesters checked out started to arrive at the library after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the homophobic actions. Roughly 180 people, mostly San Diegans, gave more than $15,000 to the library system, which after a city match will provide over $30,000 toward more L.G.B.T.Q.-themed materials and programming, including an expansion of the system’s already popular drag queen story hours.

The Right Wing of this country will try to maintain and build any hierarchy they can. In this case, they have chosen sexual orientation. They will stop at nothing to make the sexual orientation they favor stay on top of our nation's hierarchies. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/us/pride-books-library-protest.html

Over One Million Tickets Already Sold for Women's FIFA World Cup

This year's Women's World Cup in soccer is on track to become the most attended women's standalone sporting event ever. To be held in Australia and New Zealand starting July 20, so far 1,032,884 tickets have been sold.

Australia's opening match against Ireland had to be moved to an 83.500 seat stadium because of ticket demand.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/over-one-million-tickets-sold-for-womens-world-cup-fifa/articleshow/100867080.cms?from=mdr

Southern Baptist Church Believes Women Can't Teach Men or Become Pastors, Sexual Abuse Mishandled

Earlier this year, the Southern Baptist Convention expelled several congregations in which women serve as pastors. Now, the denomination has a strict rule - women cannot be senior or lead pastors. And that's because they believe that the Bible prohibits women from teaching men and having authority over them. And a few of the churches expelled do have senior pastors who are women, in violation of church rules.

A number of Southern Baptist congregations, in fact, employ women who perform all sorts of ministry, but they're not senior pastors. For instance, they could be the education pastor who oversees Sunday school - lots of women in that position. They may teach boys and girls and other women, but they may not teach men.

Last year the church's sexual abuse task force released a very strongly worded report that detailed how Southern Baptists had mishandled sex abuse claims and mistreated victims.

Southern Baptists are losing members. A recent study shows about half a million fewer members between 2021 and 2022, and it's lost 3 million members since the year 2006. It's still the largest Protestant denomination in the country, with just over 13 million people, but smaller than it used to be. The conservative beliefs and values of Southern Baptists still make up a huge part of the Republican political agenda.

https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-06-11/southern-baptist-leaders-will-decide-the-fate-of-congregations-with-women-pastors

Families are Moving Out of States with LGBTQ+ Discrimination Laws

Susan and her husband Brian, who asked that their last names not be used for safety reasons, decided the family needed to move out of Texas in light of the child abuse investigation threats. They say they weren’t sure how far the government would go to separate families like their own or affect Elsa’s access to care as she gets older.

When their daughter told them she did not want to leave Texas, and as long as they were together, they could handle anything, Susan told her: “I feel the same way. I think we could handle anything when we're together. But the reason that we have to go is that they could make it so we can't be together anymore.”

Debi Jackson has long been an advocate for her nonbinary child, testifying against anti-LGBTQ legislation in Missouri alongside them. “Because we don't know what's going to happen and because we don't trust them, it's time to go,” Jackson said. “I don't want my child to have to live through another one of the years of ‘what ifs.’”

https://abcnews.go.com/US/genocidal-transgender-people-begin-flee-states-anti-lgbtq/story?id=99909913

Kids and Adults Can Now Build Women's Soccer Games with Legos

As of June 6, Lego will be offering an international version of women's soccer. Featuring four star players, Megan Rapinoe (USA), Yuki Nagasoto (Japan), Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria), and Sam Kerr (Australia), the kit features half a soccer field with a goal and VAR station, stands with a scoreboard, a ceremonial stage and more.

This sports centered toy is marketed not just for females, but for all soccer enthusiasts. Just as the assumption has been made for years that men's sports will appeal to everyone, Lego has assumed the same for women's sports.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/icons-of-play-40634

No More Diversity Training in Florida Public Higher Ed

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made sure that the  state's public colleges and universities will not teach diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

"If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination," DeSantis said. 

Earlier this year, DeSantis put conservative allies in control of the board of New College of Florida to put it in a more conservative direction. DeSantis signed the bill at the college.

Hierarchy supporters are going to amazing means to keep hierarchies alive, now insisting that diversity itself is negative, and recognizing that fact hurts the top of the hierarchy. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/15/1176210007/florida-ron-desantis-dei-ban-diversity

Lewis Hamilton to Wear Rainbow Flag on Helmet in Miami Grand Prix

"It's no different to when we were in Saudi." 

Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton blasted Florida’s recent slate of anti-LGBTQ laws Thursday ahead of the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. 

The lead driver for Mercedes compared legislation signed by Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, including the "Don't Say Gay bill, to conditions that Hamilton has protested when F1 races in the Middle East.

https://www.outsports.com/2023/5/5/23712008/lewis-hamilton-f1-miami-grand-prix-florida-anti-lgbtq-protest?fbclid=IwAR2svdVYEKqGJY-HBr_qE0bHQpDUeV4Ol38_HKc8egkmtdZVXXKab1hwStU

Oklahoma Governor Vetos Funding for Public Broadcasting Saying "Clifford the Dog" Included a Lesbian Character

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has vetoed H.B. 2820, a routine bill that would have approved funding for the Oklahoma Education Television Authority (OETA) – which broadcasts PBS in the state – through 2026. 

“I don’t think Oklahomans want to use their tax dollars to indoctrinate kids,” Stitt said at a press conference. “And some of the stuff that they’re showing, it just overly sexualizes our kids. There are parents defending child transition on PBS that’s being played. There’s elevating LGBTQIA2S+ voices.”

A Stitt spokeswoman provided examples of this LGBTQ+ “indoctrination” explaining that OETA had put on Pride Month programming over the past few years and also mentioned a PBS Newshour segment in which the parents of a trans child spoke about the benefits of gender-affirming care. She also decried episodes from two children’s cartoons (Work it out Wombats! and Clifford the Big Red Dog) that included lesbian characters.

These Republicans are certainly committed to keeping hierarchies alive, in this case sexual identity. 

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/gop-governor-rejects-funding-for-pbs-because-clifford-the-dog-indoctrinates-kids/?fbclid=IwAR2rsmgs6UmgxQwBl679-cvUpMx20qXLmKk1R8h9K4mh-mkMFNTmXDPeZqo

Not Close: Gun Violence Higher in Red States

The region where New York City is located is far and away the safest part of the U.S. mainland when it comes to gun violence, while the regions Florida and Texas belong to have per capita firearm death rates (homicides and suicides) three to four times higher than New York’s. On a regional basis it’s the southern swath of the country — in cities and rural areas alike — where the rate of deadly gun violence is most acute, regions where Republicans have dominated state governments for decades. 

Violence and the threat of violence has always been control tactics of hierarchies. In the United States, it appears from this article that states dominated by Republicans, who are mostly hierarchy-builders, have a higher level of gun violence than blue states. No surprise at all. 

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/23/surprising-geography-of-gun-violence-00092413

Most Adults Value Reproductive Rights When Deciding Where to Go to College

A new poll shows that incoming and current college students are thinking about whether their school is in a state with reproductive rights and available health care. 

Among adults in the United States ages 18 to 59 who are not enrolled in a college and do not have a degree, 60% said reproductive health laws are at least somewhat important to their decision about whether to enroll in a particular college or university.

The survey results may foreshadow a particular problem for states that are hostile to reproductive rights. The data show that students may be more likely to consider leaving their state for college or ruling out going to school in a state that otherwise would have been a contender.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/health/reproductive-rights-college-decisions-wellness/index.html

What's The Matter With Men

Idrees Kahloon, in an article in the New Yorker, states that "In academic performance, boys are well behind girls in elementary school, high school, and college, where the sex ratio is approaching two female undergraduates for every one male. (It was an even split at the start of the nineteen-eighties.). Men have a greater tendency to drop out of the workforce, and have a higher suicide rate than women. 

He also states that how men are faring in school and at work may not arouse everyone’s concern, but how men choose to pursue politics inevitably affects us all. For instance, the turn to support of the Republican Party by Hispanic voters is mostly because of Hispanic men. 

Our studies have shown that as men are being forced to relinquish many of the perks they received from the gender hierarchy, they have not been historically made to cope with such possibilities. They have, instead, relied on control tactics of the hierarchy, not taking responsibility for the results of their actions expecting someone else to pick up the pieces. 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/whats-the-matter-with-men?source=Paid_Soc_FBIG_CM_0_DPA_0_NYR_US_Prospecting%28Broad%29_CM_PAC_Facebook_Desktop_Feed_NYR&utm_source=facebook&utm_meduim=Paid_Soc_FBIG_CM&utm_brand=tny&utm_campaign=DPA&fbclid=IwAR1k7wHl7L_x4xuX5B1siCSZM18q-RnY4CLlzejs_y-6MBNiQIjGWWonBvY

Two Spirits in Mexico, Neither Woman or Man

In the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza, located on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, one variation of a local legend goes something like this.

San Vicente Ferrer, the patron saint of Juchitán, was carrying three bags of seeds meant to be distributed around the world. The first contained male seeds, the second contained female seeds and a third bag contained a mixture of the two. But as San Vicente was passing through Juchitán, the third bag ruptured – and from it sprang the town’s famed community of muxes.

Muxes, a group long recognized within the indigenous Zapotec people of Mexico, are often referred to as a third gender. Embodying characteristics of both men and women, their existence challenges the gender binary that is so deeply entrenched in Western society.

“We are people of two spirits,” Felina Santiago says in the Oaxaca episode of “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico.” “We are the duality, neither man nor woman. You are neither less nor more.”

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/muxes-mexico-gender-binary-cec/index.html

U.N. Male Workers Stay Home As Taliban Disallows Female U.N. Workers

 The United Nations said the 3,330 Afghan men and women it employs stayed home for a second day Thursday to protest the Taliban's ban on U.N. female staff working in the country as it continued to press for the decision to be reversed.

The United Nations on Wednesday called the ban an “unparalleled” violation of women’s rights, unlawful under international law, and unacceptable to the 193-member international organization.

Amazing what men will do to keep the gender hierarchy alive.

https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-women-un-taliban-ban-ffd060752e5f0d48c4eb60ff79aa2dbb

Florida NAACP Votes to Urge Black People Not to Visit or Move to Florida

The Florida arm of the NAACP has suggested to its national board that they issue a travel advisory for Florida, urging Black people to avoid visiting or moving there.

“All of this is a tipping point,” Yvette Lewis, the NAACP Hillsborough County Branch president, told Yahoo News. “We encouraged more people to vote and that didn’t work because [extremist Republicans] gained more power and this is where we’re at. We had to take a strong stand because it has gone too far.”

https://news.yahoo.com/florida-naacp-black-people-critics-african-american-desantis-the-plan-backfire-185133748.html

Crip Camp Star and Disability Activist Judy Heumann Dies

For a great, inspiring documentary, watch Crip Camp, a movie about a summer camp for children with disabilities that includes original footage taken at the camp decades ago. Judy Heumann, who attended Camp Jened from the time she was 8 and was a counselor at the time of the original film footage, quickly emerged as the documentary's star. Ms. Heumann has died unexpectedly at the age of 75.

Ms. Heumann contracted polio as a child. From not being able to find a job as a teacher because her "wheel chair was a fire hazard" to becoming an assistant secretary of education under Bill Clinton, she was a pillar for breaking down the hierarchy imposed on people with disabilities. 

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/04/1161169017/disability-activist-judy-heumann-dead-75

Diversity in Food Toys Expand Children's Knowledge and Interests

Gone are the days when parents could only find play food for children from the dominant culture eating habits of the United States. 

Parents across North America are eagerly buying their children food toys that reflect their own increasingly global tastes and evolving dining habits. Because children are growing up in a world that is more connected, toy manufacturers are taking notice that children are being exposed to a more diverse array of food.

These toys have made their children more interested in trying new foods and learning about their cultural significance. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/03/dining/food-toys.html

Fisk University debuts as first HBCU team in NCAA gymnastics

In the Super 16 Gymnastics meet in Las Vegas in January, Fisk University became the first Historically Black College and University team to compete in NCAA gymnastics.

Facing North Carolina, Southern Utah and Washington at the Super 16 event in Las Vegas, the Bulldogs made their eagerly awaited debut just 14 months after the school initially announced the formation of the team.

Morgan Price, the Bulldogs' five-star recruit who had initially committed to Arkansas before switching to Fisk, was the team's strongest performer on the day.

https://www.espn.com/olympics/gymnastics/story/_/id/35392354/fisk-university-debuts-first-hbcu-team-ncaa-gymnastics

Republican Thinks Children Dying from Abuse Could Be Beneficial

An Alaska lawmaker has been censured after asking whether fatal child abuse could actually serve as a "benefit to society".

Representative David Eastman asked the experts how they would respond to what he said was an argument that "in the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it's not good for the child, but it's actually a benefit to society because there aren't needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of that child's life?"

Farther and farther out these hierarchy supporters have to go in order to stay on the seesaw. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64726727

Transgender Dignity is Everyone's Dignity

In his OpEd in the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie states that in Republican-led states, conservative lawmakers have passed or introduced many laws that would give religious exemptions for discrimination against transgender people, prohibit the use of bathrooms consistent with their gender identity and limit the access to gender-affirming care. 

"To deny equal respect and dignity to any part of the citizenry is to place the entire country on the road to tiered citizenship and limited rights, to liberty for some and hierarchy for the rest. "

"Put plainly, the attack on the dignity of transgender Americans is an attack on the dignity of all Americans. And like the battles for abortion rights and bodily autonomy, the stakes of the fight for the rights and dignity of transgender people are high for all of us. There is no world in which their freedom is suppressed and yours is sustained."

Mr. Bouie states again what we have stated for decades. Every individual hierarchy is interrelated with all others. When we use the common language of hierarchies, new alliances will emerge and we will transcend our differences. We are all in this together. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/opinion/trump-desantis-transgender-rights.html

This is not 1963. It's 2023. Fighting the Republican Agenda in Florida

Florida's Black leaders and national civil rights activists vow to ignite voter energy and unleash a grassroots movement to remind people that "this is not 1963. It's 2023."

In Florida, protesters marched to the Florida Capitol for the second rally in three weeks to oppose what they say is Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “assault” on Black history. Florida's battle over the future of education is taking shape as a war over the future of civil rights in America.

On one side is DeSantis and the Republican-led Legislature — with coaching from Christopher Rufo of the conservative Manhattan Institute. They vow to move the nation with “a new conservative counter-revolution.” Their goal: ending what they say is a “neo-Marxist” focus on “wokeness” in education, corporate America and government that discriminates against individuals.

On the other side are people working against the hierarchical agenda of the Republican party. Their goal: halting what they see as the effort to reverse the gains of the civil rights era, particularly as it relates to education and voting — which they have long viewed as the two pillars of a multiracial democracy.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/02/18/face-desantis-anti-woke-rhetoric-black-leaders-go-back-60s/

Racism Doesn't Pay Off for Dilbert Creater

Now the distributor of the comic strip "Dilbert" has joined many newspapers in dropping the comic strip. This comes after creator Scott Adams made the racist and white supremist comment that described people who are Black as part of a "hate group" that white people should "get away" from. He stated on his that white people should stop "trying to help Black America."

The Andrews McMeel Universal distributors announced it is cutting ties with Adams because of incompatible "vision and principles." Though stating that they value free speech, they refuse to support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate. 

Clueless Adams stated on Twitter, "Dilbert has been cancelled from all newspapers, websites, calendars, and books because I gave some advice everyone agrees with."

In hierarchies, it is common from top groups to project their own perspectives on other groups, in this case a hateful white male calling Blacks hateful. Adams appears to see Blacks as "other" and separate from the rights and privileges offered to and controlled by the higher groups in our hierarchies, who can deem where resources go. People on the top see lower groups as "charity" that they have an option to "help" or not. People on top also falsely think that people below support their actions and views, and if they don't, something is wrong with lower people, not the opposite. 

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/3875636-dilbert-distributor-severs-relationship-with-creator-scott-adams-over-race-comments/

Ranking of States as Best Places for Women to Thrive

Based on 25 key standards of living, including unemployment, median earnings, share of women in poverty, and percentage of who voted in the 2020 presidential election, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Connecticut were ranked as the five best states for females to build a good life. 

The worst states for women to live are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, with Oklahoma coming in dead last. 

Not surprising, the study found that blue states are more friendly for women. Our research shows that Republican polices are usually based on the support of hierarchies, supporting the status quo of higher groups having more power and resources. 

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-women/10728

Catholics Denied Communion for Wearing Rainbow Masks

A priest denied communion to two women as they wore rainbow masks to a Feb. 11 Mass at All Souls Parish in Englewood, a city just south of Denver.

Susan Doty said the rainbow face coverings were intended "to show empathy and compassion" for Maggie Barton, who the Denver Archdiocese fired from her teaching job last month at All Souls School after learning she was in a same-sex relationship. Ms. Doty is a former Regis University professor who holds a doctorate in Scripture and a master's degree in theology.

Doty said she donned the rainbow mask not only to support Barton and her allies, but also to honor her late brother, who was gay.

"I did this partially for Timmy; he suffered a lot because he was gay and Catholic," said Doty, adding she hopes Aquila might "reconsider his point of view" about LGBTQ people "because of all the feedback around this incident."

"I don't know if that's possible," she said. "But my hope endures."

The Roman Catholic Church is based on hierarchy of many groups of people, including women and LGBT. As in any hierarchy, if the people with power at the top, who tend to be clueless about the problems they create for everyone else not like themselves, strive to keep the hierarchy strong, change is long in coming. 

https://www.ncronline.org/news/denver-area-catholic-women-say-priest-denied-them-communion-over-rainbow-masks

Hijab - It's Nobody's Business

The hierarchical Islamic religion in Iran based in oppression and patriarchy is hopefully being successfully challenged and eroded.

"I told them that times have changed, and I respect my daughter's choice not to wear a hijab. It's nobody's business."

These are the words of Maryan who posted pictures online of her Iranian daughter not wearing a scarf. 

“The core and heart of this movement is really the revolutionary act of these women turning their head scarves into the most effective and most powerful weapon against religious dictatorship and deep layers of misogyny and patriarchy,” said Fatemeh Shams, a women’s rights activist and an assistant professor of Persian literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/world/middleeast/iran-women-hijab-hair.html

Nine of the world’s top 20 most performed living composers are women

Where would our arts world be today if music composition had been equally open to everyone else in addition to white males over all these centuries? Now we know.

In 2022, according to an annual classical music statistics report, nine of the top 20 most performed living composers were women. 

In 2014, just one composer in the top 20 most performed living composers was a woman (Sofia Gubaidulina).  

In 2013, just one conductor of the 100 busiest conductors was a woman (Marin Alsop at No. 70), but now there are 12 women.

Progress.

https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/report-most-performed-living-composers/?fbclid=IwAR2h4SzR3B_MCHU5g6otNiSAdU2iHsjQqqvzn6kZ_pE6F0dtGSSK1hyxXkM