Owning guns, not NRA dogma

Featured at The Washington Post

When the NRA brought its annual meeting to Charlotte in 2010, I covered it for Politics Daily, but even if I hadn’t had the assignment, I might have stopped by. The convention center floor was certainly a spectacle, filled with displays of guns, ammunition, camouflage clothing and more. It would have made an entertaining afternoon out, especially with my husband – the serious gun owner in the family — who loves gadgets of every type.

I knew, though, that having to wade through the signs warning of an Obama gun grab would be a turn off for him. Excuse the weaponized puns, but he would have recoiled from the loaded rhetoric predicting ominous government conspiracies. I advised him that if he just wanted to see the “stuff,” he should stay away.

Compared to this year’s NRA meeting in Houston, the 2010 extravaganza seemed positively quaint in retrospect.

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May072013 TAGS: , , ,

From Mississippi to Boston, it’s the accusation that lingers

Featured at The Washington Post

What is the lasting effect if you’re caught “trending” as the news of the day? Your name lives on, part of an electronic and social media trail that lasts forever.

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Apr242013 TAGS: , , , ,

Annette Funicello never lost her smile

Featured at The Washington Post

As fans of Annette Funicello mourn her death at 70 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis, I realized that although the after-school, black-and-white memories belong to those who grew up with the Mousketeers (I didn’t watched the show), her smile belonged to everyone.

It’s a smile she wore even after she announced her MS diagnosis in 1992, when she greeted fans with kind words and good humor at events and shows. When she could no longer walk, and used a wheelchair, I would see photos of her taking care with each person who showed up with a doll or a lunchbox, a record or picture.

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Apr082013 TAGS: , , , ,

A state religion? What’s next, North Carolina, secession?

Featured at The Washington Post

As a North Carolina resident also proud to be a United States citizen, I’m starting to worry.

Since Republicans swept the North Carolina state government, from the statehouse to the House and Senate, the tilt right has been unmistakable. But the latest move out of Raleigh has even a lot of die-hard conservatives shaking their heads. Two representatives from Rowan County have filed legislation that would give North Carolina, its counties and towns  the right to establish an official religion.

You know you’ve stepped over religious and constitutional boundaries when evangelist Franklin Graham thinks you’ve gone too far.

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Apr042013 TAGS: , , ,

Note to Ben Carson: It’s not racism or a ‘plantation’ mentality; it’s just politics

Featured at The Washington Post

Compared to politics, separating babies conjoined at the head in a 22-hour-long surgical procedure is nothing. I wonder if Dr. Ben Carson is thinking that right about now.

Carson has had a pretty rough time lately. The pediatric neurosurgeon studied hard and worked his way out of rough circumstances to make a name for himself at the top of his field. Today that name is being pummeled, and all because he opened his mouth.

Carson knows who to blame for the metaphorical beating he’s taking, though. White liberals. “They’re the most racist people there are,” he told radio host Mark Levin on Monday. “Because they put you in a little category, a box: ‘You have to think this way, how could you dare come off the plantation?’”

That was a quick turnaround.

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Apr032013 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,

What kind of state is North Carolina? Democrats and GOP make high-stakes bets

Featured at The Washington Post

Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina are in an ideological standoff, with future elections in the balance. That explains why Kay Hagan, a Democratic senator facing a tough 2014 reelection race, endorsed same-sex marriage, and Republicans in control of the statehouse made moves to tighten voting restrictions – all in one week.

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Apr012013 TAGS: , , , , , , , , ,

A ‘military spouse of the year’ closely watches the Supreme Court

Featured at The Washington Post

This week, Ashley Broadway is paying close attention to the Supreme Court as it hears two cases on the politically charged issue of same-sex marriage. For her, it’s about family: her spouse, Army Lt. Col. Heather Mack, their son, two weeks’ shy of 3 years, and two-month-old daughter.

“Regardless of how someone feels about same-sex marriage or their religious convictions, we can’t have second-class citizens, especially people defending our country and our constitution,” she said.

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Mar272013 TAGS: , , , , ,

Do black women need lessons on ‘leaning in’?

Featured at The Washington Post

Although Sheryl Sandberg’s book came out just weeks ago, it seems we’ve been talking “Lean In” forever. Is the manifesto about women not doing enough or trying to do too much? Will busy working women be able to spare the time to see its lessons as valuable rather than additions to already crowded to-do lists? If women feel guilty about shortchanging home or work, is that really Sandberg’s fault?

As women decide which points in her message to hold close and which ones might be wiser to disregard, black working women, as well as all women in jobs light years away from the Facebook chief operating officer’s lofty perch, are taking at least one piece of advice from Sandberg: They are speaking up.

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Mar252013 TAGS: , , , ,

Authentically black and Catholic – with something to say about Pope Francis

Featured at The Washington Post

It was a funny though welcome text message, congratulating me on “my” new pope. From 3,000 miles away, my friend knows how much my Catholic faith means to me and wanted to share the good news. Though she was raised Baptist and doesn’t really practice any religion now, she understood. What did I think of Pope Francis? Wait and see, I told her. The church is wading through earthly and spiritual challenges, and this conservative pope likely won’t rock the theological boat. But I said I was impressed by his humility, his commitment to social justice and his Jesuit pedigree.

It felt good to be a part of the discussion during such an important transition, in a church that has not always been so welcoming to black Catholics.

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Mar152013 TAGS: , , , , ,

Condi Rice, Valerie Jarrett and Lesley Stahl on, inevitably, ‘having it all’

Featured at The Washington Post

Do women separated by party, principle and vocation have more in common than not? When the conversation turns to the challenges faced and rewards gained when working toward leadership roles, it seems so. Or perhaps, as one of the high-powered women in a discussion on “CBS This Morning” offered, women strive for consensus. In Wednesday’s installment of the show’s “Eye-Opening Women” series, Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state for President George W. Bush and CBS contributor, Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, and “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl were joined by interviewers Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King, who added thoughts of their own. Charlie Rose sat this one out.

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Mar072013 TAGS: , , , ,
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