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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “An Epidemiologist’s View on Personal Liberty and Mask-Wearing”
“The tricky part is that we can’t eliminate COVID-19 by focusing only on our individual liberty — we have to exercise a kind of generous, communal commitment to liberty as a principle. We have to believe in protecting the liberty of another as much as protecting the liberty of ourselves, and that belief has to drive us to make some necessary personal sacrifices.” MWEG member Chantel Sloan is an infectious disease epidemiologist who has a front-row seat to COVID-19. Read more of her thoughts on the pandemic, mask-wearing, and freedom in this Deseret News opinion piece. “An Epidemiologist’s View on Personal Liberty and Mask-Wearing” • May 27, 2020 • Deseret…
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Are You Aware? How to Be an Advocate
This is part IV in our Awareness Wednesday series on disability. Read the other posts in the series here. My third child, a daughter named Marisa, was born in 1991. The pregnancy and delivery went well, but after she was born, we began to see behavior that was much different than our first two children. She would tantrum (screaming at the top of her lungs) frequently as a baby, and a toddler. Because of the intensity of her crying, I kept thinking she must be ill. So she was taken to many doctors and was poked and prodded, so very many times. All her medical tests came back normal. But she…
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Are You Aware? Five Lessons from Raising an Autistic Child
This is part II in our Awareness Wednesday series on disability. Read the other posts in the series here. Like all parents, my world changed forever when I had my first son in 2002. Like a growing number of parents, my world changed forever yet again when I discovered, in 2004, that my son was autistic. Navigating the world of public education, private insurance, and social interaction as the mother of an autistic child for the past 15 years has been a challenging experience, one that has taught me several lessons with respect to how our system works in practice. I share five of these lessons below. Although much of what…
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “America’s New Threat Might Be Middle-Class Hunger”
“In late March, when the Javits Center in New York was converted into a hospital, I became obsessed with protecting my parents from the coronavirus. I didn’t want my 86-year-old mother to die on a cot in a convention center. Then images of farmers ploughing their crops under gave me a new goal: to make sure my mom, who experienced chronic hunger as a child in postwar Europe, doesn’t go to bed hungry in her old age, too.” MWEG member Stefanie Condie is concerned about the tremendous strain COVID-19 is putting on our food system. Read her op-ed to learn more about why rationing may become more and more necessary, despite the…
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “Can the Democrats Avoid Trump’s China Trap?”
“Before the pandemic, before the Great Recession, before proliferating hurricanes and fires, the United States began a global war on terrorism. Its leaders fixated on a shadowy enemy abroad as life at home crumbled for millions of Americans. The war on terrorism did not end terrorism; the war itself became endless. What it did shatter was the myth that a triumphant United States could bend the world to its will.” Click here to read the New York Times op-ed where MWEG member Rachel Esplin Odell decries the folly of turning this pandemic crisis into a geopolitical struggle that will further drain America’s resources and endanger our security. “Can the Democrats…
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “Romney’s Reckless China Rhetoric Risks New Cold War”
“Tough talk on China is all the rage in Washington. Senate Republicans are directing GOP candidates to answer questions about America’s disastrous coronavirus response by blaming Beijing for the outbreak, while presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is accusing President Donald Trump of being soft on China.” Click here to read MWEG member Rachel Esplin Odell’s Deseret News op-ed explaining how Senator Romney’s recent writings on China distort truth and exaggerate dangers. Romney’s Reckless China Rhetoric Risks New Cold War • May 4, 2020 • Deseret News
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “Trump’s Name Is All Over This Catastrophe”
“It’s unusual, to say the least, that Donald Trump’s name is on the stimulus check being mailed to millions of Americans starting this month. No previous U.S. president has put his name on a Treasury check, as if the money in the Treasury were his own and he were a personal benefactor to American citizens. And yet, in a symbolic sense, it’s fitting that the president’s name should be on that check.” Click here to read MWEG member Stefanie Condie’s Salt Lake Tribune op-ed outlining why Trump’s name is all over the catastrophic loss of life and livelihood we’re seeing as a result of COVID-19. Trump’s Name Is All Over This Catastrophe…
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MWEG Member Op-Ed :: “Congress Does Not ‘CARE’ About My American Family”
“Intentionally disqualifying millions of Americans from much-needed stimulus funds during this unprecedented health crisis is both unnecessary and cruel. It also further contributes to the demonization of immigration and labeling of immigrants—and their citizen family members—as unworthy.” MWEG member Dr. Jane Lilly López will not receive the stimulus funds due to her, despite the fact that she is a U.S. citizen who paid thousands in taxes in 2019. Read her op-ed to learn more about the American families who are being excluded from the “CARES” relief bill. “Congress Does Not ‘Care’ About My American Family” • April 24, 2020 • The Appeal
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The Way of Openness :: Conventions for Productive Dialogue
Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye was the plenary speaker at the 2020 Mormon Women for Ethical Government spring conference. These are her remarks. To view the video of her presentation, click here. Thank you very much for the privilege of speaking to you today. I am very humbled to have this opportunity to share useful tools for difficult conversations. First, I will explain where I’m coming from, the experiences that shape my worldview. Then I’ll explain the Way of Openness, which is a set of conventions for productive dialogue, and give examples of how these conventions work in practice. Finally, I’ll leave you with some thoughts from where I am right now,…
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Easter Sabbath Devotional :: All Glory, Laud, and Honor Anyway
During my time in college, I spent a semester on a study abroad in Jerusalem and the surrounding Holy Land. In Jerusalem, one of the most popular sayings on tourist tchotchkes is a verse of scripture: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither. It’s written on wall hangings, keychains, and T-shirts in almost every shop in the Old City. The words come from Psalm 137, traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who relates in narrative verse the lament of the Israelites taken captive into Babylon. The psalm begins, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the…
