Regular readers - plus friends and family - know that I've been writing for publication since way back in high school. My career, such as it was, has been circuitous, as children and many moves across states had me freelancing here and there and all over the place. While I spent a good number of …
Respect for – and from – the homeless
Homelessness is a super complicated issue, made more so by addiction (thank you Sackler family and pharmaceutical greed). That said, when I read about the protests against fixing up a local park so the families in the neighborhood could use it --- protests that homeless advocates think will unfairly punish the unhoused who congregate en …
Are you tired? Me, too.
We were lucky enough to spend 28 days in Canada this summer and so I am late posting the Arizona Daily Star column that ran in late July. If you, like me, have felt sort of at the end of your rope lately, you're not alone. I'm right there with you, as you can see …
Talking across the gun divide
For the past year, I’ve had an ongoing, mostly text-based conversation with a 40-something relative on the opposite side of the political aisle. I do this for many reasons, the most important of which is that I remember his tiny hand in mine during a walk around his neighborhood when he was 3. We’d seen …
Photos only way toward action on gun safety
When I was about 10 years old, my uncle, drunk and distressed — as most of my male relatives were in those days — put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He was found by his two pre-teen children, blood and brains all over the room. Naturally, they were never the same. …
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If you’re pro-life, you need to divorce the GOP
It's not often I write a column I think is nearly a home run, but today's column in the Arizona Daily Star is pretty darn close. It took hours of work and, honestly, I'm not sure I can write columns much longer. I've been doing some version of this type of work for 30 years, …
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Feel trapped by 24-7 grind of parenting? Know there is another way.
In case you’ve missed it, there’s a new-old show being pushed on Netflix called Old Enough! The episodes can be nerve-wracking because – well, look at that photo! That tiny guy is sent off to cross traffic with nothing more than a yellow flag to get cars to stop. They do stop, which is probably …
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The Rest of the Story (updated)
My column in Sunday's Arizona Daily Star on ending masking for children had to be cut by many inches. Below is the entire column with the things that had to be cut highlighted in bold italic. The National Public Radio announcer read the report with appropriate concern, emphasizing the final three words: A Bronx apartment …
Teachers save lives – let them keep doing it.
Sometimes, you read the news and you just have to yell into your empty kitchen, “Have we lost our minds?” This was my reaction midweek reading Howard Fischer’s story on House Bill 2161, which an esteemed panel at the Arizona State Legislature approved this week. If it becomes law, it will punish teachers for doing …
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Yes, 2021 sucked. And, there was progress.
It was easy to get discouraged in 2021 after getting this close to seeing a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, but who wants to always be depressed? Not me, Mister. So, I'm coming into 2022 with my optimistic dukes up, determined to make a difference in climate policy if nothing else, inspired …
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Renee Wrote This 