Larger than life is not a phrase that means much in terms of Cubans. Everything about us is over the top. I joke with my partner that when you look up "exaggerate" in the dictionary there is a picture of Cuba. I'm never one to represent my experience as the Cuban monolith. I know there is no such thing, but when I share the joke with people who grew up like me, in exile, they get it.--read more >>

Not so very long ago girl power ruled. Sisterhood was powerful and Girls Kicked ASS! Well, we still might mouth the words but we've forgotten the tune. The Spice Girls vanished into tales of eating disorders, rumors of sapphic love and custody battles. The usual tabloid fodder, which, perversely enough, is closer to the realities of most ordinary girl's lives. At least according to Girl Culture (Chronicle Books; $40.00) a new book from L.A. photographer Lauren Greenfield who has been shooting photographs of girls and women all over the US for the past five years.--read more >>

The stigma still exists.

The saying remains among black folks that we do not see therapists.

"Chile only needs a kick in the ass. That should straighten her up!"

"There's nothing wrong with her. Should just quit acting a fool!"

There is a saying that black folks do not have nervous breakdowns, that we are not entitled to have them. Our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers did not have them, neither should we. Look at our history. They have been though more than you ever will.

Bullshit.--read more >>

First Comes Love--read more >>

St. Mary's was vibrant with children during the service we attended. The mariachi band shook the rafters -- violins, horns, cello, guitars and incredible vocalists. Children cried, squealed, laughed, chattered, and ran up and down the aisles and wriggled over the pews. Some had hair festooned with bright, shiny ribbons and others were dressed as Juan Diego. A beautiful brown-eyed girl toddled over to my daughter during the service and the two of them played with a donation slip together, creating a tender memory I will never forget.--read more >>

For though many instincts are held more or less in common by both sexes, to fight has always been the man's habit, not the woman's. Law and practice have developed that difference whether innate or accidental. Scarcely a human being in the course of history has fallen to a woman's rifle; the vast majority of birds and beasts have been killed by you, not by us; it is difficult to judge what we do not share.--Virginia Woolf, from Three Guineas--read more >>

Hoping to Teach Joy: An Erotica Writer Tackles Sex Ed
By Anne Regentin--read more >>

I attend a peace rally in Sylvester Park on Wednesday afternoon and I am joined by a bunch of Catholics with ashes on their foreheads. I decided to join the rally at the last minute. Baby Tate still has boysenberry jam on his face from his afternoon snack. It looks as though it will rain so we have bundled up in fleece, long johns, gloves and snow hats. A woman walks toward us. She is wearing a white t-shirt with a large fluorescent orange peace symbol on the front. The shirt reads, "Don't kill innocent babies".--read more >>

6:30 am: Alarm clock rings. Life signs register on other side of the bed. I ignore the alarm and wish furtively for Toddler to not wake up. Papa leans over and smacks the clock, stopping the radio from blaring alt-pop through the bedroom.

7:16 am: Papa wakes up again and elicits a groan of irritation, as he is late for work. He sits on my back while searching for clothes. I call him a jerk. He moves. I apologize. He tosses the blankets that have been kicked onto the floor in the night, back on the bed in a messy pile. We kiss goodbye.--read more >>

I got married in a cow pasture on a day I don't remember. It was around Christmas two years ago and we wanted to make sure we got our tax deduction for next year. And it was cold. Eight degrees. The wind off Wisconsin's Rush River stiffened our fingers until they proved useless as we tried to put the bands on each others fingers.--read more >>