Viva la Feminista

My mom took my sisters and me to visit a friend’s child who was in the hospital. I was maybe 12. I remember the age because I was shocked that the x-ray technician asked me if there was any way I could be pregnant and I was aghast. Wait? How did I go from visiting a friend’s kid to getting an x-ray? I fainted.  Why did I faint? Because I thought I saw a needle.  A nurse walked into this kid’s room to check on them, and I still swear on my life that she had a needle in her hand. And that is when I realized I was scared of needles.  Each vaccination was tortuous for me. I would tense up and make things worse.  My fear of needles wasn’t always bad though. It is coupled with, I suspect, sensitivity to anesthesia. When I had surgery to remove some fibroids, I passed out as soon as I got the IV. When I had my wisdom teeth removed, I passed out as soon as I got the injection.  I got better about needles during my pregnancy. As a pregnant person, you get stabbed a lot. ...

Like a lot of people I turned to Planned Parenthood during college.  Those were the days when Planned Parenthood sold birth control pills that fell under some weird rules that ended in the Dubya era so a pack of pills was maybe $10, maybe a bit less if I bought more than one at a time. But most of the time I bought a pack each month, having to hike over to the clinic off campus and say hi to the staff. Which might be why I love Planned Parenthood so much and ended up volunteering with them soon after college. via GIPHY Ah, the good old days of the late 1990s when passing out free condoms seemed to be the height of being a radical. That's how I spent one summer...passing out free condoms at street fairs in Chicago. But of course that was just to get people to the table. To get them talking. Once we lured people in with the free condom we would register people to vote, talk to them about how even with a Democrat in the White House, reproductive rights were being threaten...

While everyone is obsessed with how much damage the Fake Tanned One has done in 100 days , I'm more interested in what WE have done in the 100 days since the Women's March. Let's recall that 250,000 women, men, and children descended on Grant Park on one of the most beautiful days Chicago has seen in January. This so exceeded expectations that the march part of the March was officially cancelled, but you know when you have a quarter million people show up somewhere and they move, it's kinda a march. I've been to a lot of marches and few compare to the optimism this one had. I know it was too happy for a protest and all the marches had issues, but the turn out was a great way to kick off four years of resistance. And the diversity of those in attendance made me hopeful that no matter how bad things would be getting, we would fight every fight and maybe even win a few.  I think in 100 days feminists have put on quite a resistance. I truly be...

This post reflects a compensated editorial partnership with Voices for Healthy Kids , a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. My favorite class was gym or PE. Even though I got As in math & science, gym was still my favorite. I loved being able to run around, hit balls, jump, & just move. Now I know I can thank gym class & recess for my good grades. See, research shows that kids who are physically active, even for just an hour a day, do better in school. For many years my daughter’s school did not have recess and only weekly gym class. That is why I joined the Protect PE campaign as I see all physical activity as part of restoring and maintaining our children’s overall health. Sadly, when our public schools have their budgets cut, physical exercise – gym and recess - is one of the first things to go. According to the Voices for Healthy Kids , only 4% of elementary schools, 8% of middle schools, and 2% of high schools ...

Well Thanksgiving is over and that means full steam ahead on the winter holiday season! For many of us that means managing our holiday card list. I keep my list in an excel spreadsheet. Although now that I type this out, I think I need to still update my 2015 list. Oops. Oh well. I missed a year. While holiday cards are tedious, they are one of the highlights of my year. I love sending cards to friends I see often and friends I only see via holiday cards. I even love reading holiday letters that come attached! But managing the writing, the addressing, and the picking out of cards while working & parenting can be a PITA. That's where Paperless Post can come in! In addition to the holidays , Paperless Post offers great cards for other occasions, such as baby shower invitations or housewarmings. Although snail mail cards are my fave, sometimes it can be too tedious or life throws you a curve where  you find yourself days from a holiday still needing to send out a pile of c...

One of the toughest stops along the parenting journey is talking about sex. A recent study found that teens really don't like it when school-based sex ed is taught by a teacher they will have in the future. They prefer for sex ed professionals to teach them then fade out of their lives. It seems fairly logical if you remember what it was like when you were 12 and your health teacher asked if you had any questions. The study notes that teens were disappointed in sex ed programs that only focused on heterosexual relationships and said that humor is something they wished was included. Again, you're a 14 learning about sex, a pretty awkward subject even for adults. A little laughter would go a long way at putting you at ease. Also...kids who hear that sex is bad are less likely to plan for sex meaning that they won't use any protection against pregnancy and STIs. Now most parents I know are supportive of comprehensive sex ed in our children's schools, but we also kno...

Photo by CARE I was surprised to learn that after World War II CARE was sending care packages from people in the USA to refugees in Europe. And since March 2016 marks the 5th anniversary of the conflict in Syria, a war which has caused the largest refugee crisis since World War II, CARE reached out to some of those original CARE Package recipients who now live in the USA to write letters to Syrian refugee children. Photo by CARE Reading and hearing the letters sent from WWII refugees is touching. Especially in light of the fact that Syrian refugees are not only fleeing from their war-torn homes, but running towards vast amounts of racism and fear of their religion. So many elected officials fuel the flames of hate and ignoring the fact that refugees are fleeing the same violence we are trying to reduce. CARE continues to support refugees with care package s. And you have an opportunity to write your own letter of hope to Syrian refugees. My letter to Syrian refugees: ...

I am proud to be part of the CDC's national communication campaign - We Can Stop HIV One Conversation at a Time / Podemos Detener el VIH Una Conversación a la Vez - to bring awareness of HIV and encourage conversations about HIV prevention in the Latino community as a paid ambassador. The numbers can be scary. Hispanics/Latinos continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV. Although representing 17% of the total US population, Hispanic/Latinos account for 21% of the estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States and 23% of new diagnoses. What the Latino community needs to realize is that the first step to stopping HIV in the our community is talking about it, but so many people in our community still remain silent. Research indicates that talking openly about HIV can be a simple but powerful way to eliminate some of the stigma, negative stereotypes, and shame that are too often associated with HIV within some segments of our community that prevent ma...

You may notice an ad on the sidebar that says "We Can Stop HIV". That is because I have been asked to join the CDC's HIV Awareness campaign. One Conversation at a Time , a CDC campaign, is a call to action for our community to talk about HIV and AIDS, increase HIV and AIDS awareness, and decrease HIV-associated stigma and shame. Now you might ask why we need a special emphasis in the Latino community. The fact is that " [m]ore than 1.1 million people are living with HIV in the United States and about 50,000 people become infected each year. As Hispanics/Latinos, we account for 21% of these new HIV infections. "Compare this to the fact that Latinos make up 17% of the population in the United States. This is unacceptable. Stay tuned throughout the campaign as I share more information about HIV and its impact in the Latino community. Join LATISM’s Twitter chat on Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 9:00 ET. Use either use the #OneConversation or #UnaConversación ...