Reflections on films, politics, and everything else.

  Right at the time Roe v. Wade was overturned, I was finishing Jennifer Egan’s recent novel, The Candy House . In the novel, one of the characters is the creator of a social media company who develops a machine that can record your thoughts, including all that you forgot. People could either keep these boxes holding their memories to themselves or upload them to the collective for all to see and experience. No surprise that lots of people shared all. One of the things mentioned about this creation was that it caused an increase in empathy due to people being able to experience what was going on in other people’s minds. It makes me wish we had such an invention now, but I wonder if it actually would change any of the deeply rooted extremists we have dictating our now minority-ruled country of the DSA (Divided States of America). It seems unlikely someone like Alito would change his mind. He reminds me of a boss I had who had such a chip on his shoulder from bei...

  A few weeks ago I was standing at the downtown square with lots of other women, holding signs and shouting. One woman had a sign saying that she couldn’t believe she was still having to fight for the right to control her body. I understand that sentiment. During that day, we rallied and listened to moving speeches, but I left not knowing what to do other than make what donations I could to various organizations helping with the fight. I also left the rally feeling slightly guilty, but fortunate, that I’d never been put in a situation where I either needed an abortion or had to help someone acquire one. When I was an adolescent I remember a neighbor telling my mother that her daughter-in-law was getting an abortion, not seeming to acknowledge that I was present, and maybe this wasn’t something I should be hearing. The woman and her husband had a child already, around my age, and they couldn’t afford another one. Strangely I don’t remember my mother having muc...