More spaghetti, I say!
Today…
is National Macaroni Day. One of my least favorite shapes, to be honest. Not as bad as farfalle, but given the choice I’ll almost always go with something else. Cheesy pasta – racchette, from the “short, whimsical pasta family” (like me). Pasta salad – rotini, easy. Soup – ditalini. With sauce – radiatore. Shells would also work in any of these. I could do this all day.
The hell is that picture? It’s from More Spaghetti, I Say, of course. A classic.
Abortion
The Supreme Court gave abortion-rights supporters a win, but those on both sides of the debate say the battle is far from over
Meera Jagannathan | MarketWatch
The Supreme Court last week struck down a Louisiana law requiring that doctors who provide abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. But abortion-rights advocates still see a number of challenges on the horizon, while those who are opposed to abortion see other potential victories ahead in their own work to reduce access to the service.
Hear From Julie Rikelman, the Attorney Who Argued for Abortion Rights Before the Supreme Court
Imani Gandy, Jessica Mason Pieklo | Rewire.News
Julie Rikelman, the litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Rights and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in June Medical Services v Russo, told Rewire.News that arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court was "a very intense process ... I just wanted to feel that I had done everything I could possibly humanly do to be as prepared as possible."
Should women be punished for having abortions? 'Absolutely,' Arlington Rep. Ron Wright says in video
Matthew Adams | The Dallas Morning News
U.S. Rep. Ron Wright, R-Arlington, says on a video released by an abortion rights group that women commit murder if they have an abortion and should "absolutely" be punished.
LGBTQ
Marine Commandant aims to boost Corps' mobility and stay out of politics while addressing social issues
Matt Seyler, Martha Raddatz | ABC News
Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger's tweet thread mentioned expanding the parental leave policy to include adoptive parents and same-sex couples. Martha Raddatz asked him how his thinking has evolved since the times before gays were allowed to openly serve. "I think, based on the people who were my mentors, my coaches, they kept circling me back to what's the standard? Can you do the job? Would you trust them in a firefight? Everything else doesn't really matter.”
‘Patient No More’ Addresses LGBTQ+ Health Care Disparities
Kassidy Tarala | Minnesota Women's Press
The “Patient No More” documentary features health professionals, activists, and other leaders in a discussion about how to make queer health care more equitable. It provides a comprehensive look at LGBTQ+ health care — its past, where it is now, and what advocates are hopeful to see in the future.
Coronavirus Ups Anxiety, Depression in the LGBTQ Community
Steven Reinberg | U.S. News & World Report
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, anxiety and depression are striking many in the LGBTQ+ community for the first time, researchers say.
Halle Berry no longer seeking to play a transgender man after Instagram backlash
Patrick Gomez | The A.V. Club
Halle Berry—apparently having never heard the words Scarlett and Johansson—was recently pursuing a film that would cast her as a transgender man. After getting an earful on social media, that is no longer the case.
Deadline Hollywood | Halle Berry Steps Away From Opportunity To Play Transgender Man After Backlash
Idaho
Idaho AG: Transgender birth certificate bill not a blanket ban
Nathan Brown | Idaho State Journal
The Idaho Attorney General's office is urging a federal judge to deny a request to clarify how the state will implement a new law limiting changes to people's birth certificates.
Illinois
LGBTQ History To Be Taught In Illinois Classrooms This School Year
Maureen McKinney | WCBU-FM (Peoria, IL)
This coming school year, districts will be expected to provide information on LGBTQ figures in history before students graduate eighth grade.
Minnesota
University releases podcast spotlighting transgender activists
Becca Most | Minnesota Daily
Released on June 24, “Transcripts” centers Black voices and draws from over 200 interviews.
Virginia
Antigay Virginia Photographer Sues for Right to Discriminate
Trudy Ring | The Advocate
A photographer in Norfolk, Va., has filed a preemptive lawsuit against the state’s new LGBTQ+ rights law, saying it would force him to go against his Christian beliefs by serving same-sex weddings.
Pregnancy & Parenting
More women like me are choosing to be childfree. Is this the age of opting out?
RO Kwon |The Guardian
Ecological collapse is within sight – and yet parenting is still viewed as a moral imperative. But countless women like me are building a new normal: a life without children
‘Everyone is pulling their hair out.’ Working parents struggle during COVID
Madeleine Brand | KCRW-FM (Santa Monica, CA)
A lot of summer activities are not happening due to coronavirus, and it’s unclear when or if kids will return to school. For working parents, especially moms, that means holding down more than one full time job. There’s the one they get paid for, and the ones they don’t get paid for (teacher and caregiver). It’s impossible to do both well. When will this house of cards come tumbling down? For Deb Perelman, it has.
Nonprofit Quarterly | How to Drive Women from the Workforce: The Childcare Problem Intensifies
Teacher's Take on Reopening Schools Goes Viral: 'I Don’t See ANY Consideration for the Adults'
Audrey Goodson Kingo | Working Mother
A teacher for Charlottesville City Schools in Virginia says one very important group has been neglected during these very important discussions: teachers and other support staff who keep schools running.
The Atlantic | A Better Fall Is Possible
The Atlantic | Reopening Bars Is Easy. Schools Are Difficult.
Little Things | Educators Believe ‘Parents Should Be Panicked’ About Schools Opening Back Up In The Fall
Wichita Eagle | Keep working or homeschool kids? Some parents face difficult choice during coronavirus
Illinois
In Illinois, 7 out of 10 COVID-19 Cases During Pregnancy Affected Black and Latinx Women
Anne Branigin | The Root
A new report from the Chicago Tribune finds Black and Latinx birthing parents represented the vast majority of COVID-19 cases while pregnant in Illinois
Massachusetts
House passes bill against racial inequities in maternal health
The Winchester Star (Lexington, MA)
State Rep. Michael S. Day, D-Stoneham, and his colleagues in the House of Representatives recently passed legislation designed to understand and eliminate racial inequities in maternal health. H.4818 will create a special legislative commission to make recommendations that reduce or remove the kind of inequities that result in women of color dying of pregnancy-related causes at more more than double the rate of white women.
Missouri
80% of pregnancy-related deaths in Missouri are preventable, health officials say
KMOV-TV (St. Louis, MO)
Missouri health officials released a new report looking at maternal mortality and they say 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2017 could have been prevented.
Reproductive Health & Justice
The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated period poverty
Theresa Gaffney | STAT
Period poverty isn’t new: Menstrual hygiene products aren’t covered by national food stamp programs and are subject to sales tax in 30 states, excluded from the list of essential items exempt from taxes like food and medication. But the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn that followed have only exacerbated the problem, leaving marginalized populations who were already struggling to afford menstrual products at even more of a loss.
Women were left out of clinical trials until the '90s
Kelsey Ogletree | Well+Good
Up until 1993, women were excluded from clinical research and trials—a fact that has had a serious, continual impact on women’s health today. Things have improved over the last several decades, but the medical community still has a lot of catching up to do in terms of gender equality in research.
Work & Money
🠲 When returning to work doesn’t make sense
Amy Glasmeier, Thom Goff, Zack Avre | Boston Globe
Choosing between staying home and going back to work at a low-wage job, Americans are making the correct decision should they decide to sit out of the labor market until conditions improve.
Bail should be lowered for incarcerated women, who make less money than men
Alangoya Tezel | The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
Our ability to mobilize and support protesters in this time is commendable. Yet, for decades, we have overlooked the inequity of our bail system, a silence that has had detrimental impacts on Black women.
The default nonprofit board model is archaic and toxic. Let’s try some new models
Vu Le | Generocity
How could boards not be crappy? We are talking about a structure where groups of volunteers who barely know one another, see one percent of the work, often don’t reflect the communities we serve, and who may have little to no experience running nonprofits, being given vast power to supervise leadership and determine values, policies, and practices. Why did we think this weird structure would work?
Why the majority of women want to be their own boss
Marie Haaland | New York Post
Three-quarters of women aspire to open their own business, according to new research.
More, More, More
🠲 7 Inequities: A Weeklong Look at the Biases Women Face
Francesca Donner | New York Times
Women are living in a world that’s made for men. Whether it’s the cars they drive or the medicines they take, they’ve almost all been developed with men in mind. And that can have life-threatening consequences for women.
What ‘Defund the Police’ Means for Sexual Assault Victims
Kylie Cheung | DAME Magazine
Amid an antiracist uprising across the country in the wake of recent police murders of Black victims including Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and too many others, people are increasingly demanding defunding of police as a crucial step toward abolition. But many are confused by what this actually means.
Is This The Beginning Of The End Of White-Centric Identity Politics In America?
Emma Gray | HuffPost
I spoke with Zerlina Maxwell about her new book, “The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide,” what the “white resistance” looks like in progressive circles, and why Democrats need to learn how to speak to Black women as we head into the final months of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Young Women of Color Have Always Stood at the Forefront of Radical Change
Kylie Cheung | Ms. Magazine
In times of crisis and seemingly insurmountable loss, it can feel like things will never change—that we’d be wise to throw up our hands and give up. But thankfully, in the years since Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, that hasn’t at all been what I’ve seen from young people, and especially young women, around me.
Climate woes growing for women, hit worst by displacement and migration
Megan Rowling | Reuters
From sexual violence in displacement camps to extra farm work and greater risk of illness, women shoulder a bigger burden from worsening extreme weather and other climate pressures pushing people to move for survival.
🠲 Black female voters say they want what they’re owed: power
Errin Haines |Washington Post
In this moment, Black women seem to be both at the center of American politics and at the crossroads of society.