These remarks were offered as public testimony to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health held a public hearing on the proposed closure of the North Shore Birth Center at Beverly Hospital by Beth Israel Lahey Health. More than forty members of the public—including several […]
Enough.
Originally published on Medium. It was a Wednesday. I was a high school junior, not yet 17. Throughout the day, I found myself glancing behind me, mentally noting how I could get out of any of my classrooms should the threat arise. At 16, I taught myself situational awareness because just 24 hours before, Dylan […]
I am not your model minority.
Originally published at The Swampscott Reporter. My father is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He came to this country in 1967 from Nara, Japan. He met and married my mother in 1969, in Florida. Five years later, they gave birth to my older sister. “Oh, bless your heart! Did you get her from Vietnam?” My tall, […]
Boston Public Schools’ $461 Million Dollar Question
Originally published on Boston Schools Fund Medium. With nearly a half billion in federal aid available now through FY23, how will BPS leverage this once-in-a-generation opportunity? This is part four of our five-part series on the BPS FY22 Budget Proposal. Read parts one, two, and three. We are just 24 hours away from the FY22 […]
The Real Costs of Soft Landings for Under-Enrolled Schools
Originally published on Boston Schools Fund Medium. Without a long-term plan for fiscal certainty, BPS is headed for a fiscal cliff — with no Soft Landing for itself This is part three of our five-part series on the BPS FY22 Budget Proposal. Read parts one and two. The art of building budgets is no easy […]
Motherhood at Year 5: What It’s Really Like Raising a Kindergartner
Originally posted on Red Tricycle (now Tinybeans). For a long time—too long, it felt like—I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to be a mom. I went through five years of infertility, five years of wondering if someone would ever grow up and call me “Mom.” It’s been 10 years since that day I got the […]
So, About Trump’s “American Carnage” Comment…
Originally published at Romper. Donald J. Trump has just been inaugurated as the 45 President of the United States. In his first speech as president, Trump referred to what’s happening in this country as “American carnage.” Trump’s inauguration speech seems to have colored the nation with a dark wash of doom and gloom, which is […]
2016’s Motherhood Report Card: How Did We Do?
Originally published at Romper. It’s that time of year again — when retrospectives of the year past are as ubiquitous as peppermint mochas. As 2016 draws to a close, you’ll have plenty of lists and roundups on everything from the best and worst of entertainment, to the biggest headlines, to the ever depressing “Here’s All […]
Why Comparing Trump’s Election To Republicans’ Loss In 2008 Is Misguided Gaslighting
Originally published at Romper. It hasn’t even been a week since the election and its results that shocked large swaths of Americans, and still — protestors continue to take to the streets in their communities to protest against President-elect Donald Trump. Responses to Trump’s presidential victory have spanned just about all the five stages of […]
Anti-Trump Protests Around The Country Are About Solidarity & First Amendment Rights
Originally published at Romper. Stronger, Together: That has been former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign slogan and rallying cry for the past year and a half. Even on Wednesday morning, as Clinton gave her concession speech, she encouraged and reminded supporters there is still much work yet to be done, saying, “We need […]
Trump’s Claims The Election Is “Rigged” Against Him Are Un-American, Paranoid, & Dangerous
Originally published at Romper. With only three weeks until the election, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is in that last, desperate dash to snag every undecided voter he can. That sprint to the election finish line has been beset with plenty of hurdles tumbling out of Trump’s own mouth — almost too many almost to […]
September 11 Through My Father’s Lens
Originally published at HuffPost. This is my dad: Akira Suwa. It’s rare to capture a photo of him, as he’s typically behind the camera. In 2014, he retired as a senior photojournalist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, his photojournalism career spanning nearly four decades. September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday: My dad’s regular day off. And […]
Interconnected Teams Are Shaping the Future of Organizations
Originally published at The Windshield Blog on Medium. How NASA’s Mission Control is a model for operational excellence In Deloitte’s Global Human Trends 2016 report, their research revealed a startling chief concern among the 7,000 business leaders surveyed: 92 percent of companies believe “redesigning the organization is very important or important.” Gone are the days […]
The Law Bans IVF For Veterans, But That Could Finally Change
Right there is the gaping logical and moral disconnect caused by the VA ban on IVF: Our servicemen and women are voluntarily willing to give their lives fighting for the country and American families — but when they return home, the very agency that should help them have families of their own is legally banned […]
What Happened When My 3-Year-Old Asked Me About the Orlando Shooting
Originally published on Babble.com. After picking up my son up from daycare, I buckled him into his car seat. “Can we listen to the news?” my 3-year-old asked. “Sure, honey,” I replied. Our local public radio station — like so many media outlets right now — recapped the horrible massacre that happened in Orlando on […]
The #StorkStory That Would Have Been
In another timeline, I would have been thrilled to have The Stork OTC available while we were TTC. I’m the kind of woman who has no problem getting all up in her own business when needed, and The Stork OTC definitely requires a hands-on approach — but far less invasive than something like an IUI […]
Do Kids In The US Need More Recess? Yes, They Desperately Do
Originally published on Romper. A video released Tuesday by attn: — a social impact company whose mission is to “inform and empower the next generation” — has American parents talking and wondering if kids in the U.S. need more recess. The minute-long “Recess Around the World” video has been gaining traction online since it was […]
FLAVNT Streetwear To Launch Trans-Friendly Swimwear & 5 More Companies All About Inclusivity
Originally published at Romper. From Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover debut this past summer as a trans woman to the disappointing defeat of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) Act just last month, trans issues are ever so slowly emerging into mainstream awareness from otherwise marginalized conversation. FLAVNT Streetwear (pronounced “flaunt”) is one such company […]
5 Innovations Disrupting Life as We Know It
Read the rest at Royal PortFolio magazine (archived). How disruptive technologies will change the way we live, work, play, learn—and even how we eat. dis·rupt, v: to cause (something) to be unable to continue in the normal way: to interrupt the normal progress or activity of (something)—Merriam Webster Dictionary. Disrupt: a term so pervasive in […]
Living in a Land of Virtual Reality
Originally published at Royal PortFolio (archived). Oculus Rift—the virtual reality goggles Kickstarted into existence—isn’t just a gamer’s dream, it’s a game-changer that Facebook bet $2 billion will alter the way we interact with technology and with the world around us. When you think of virtual reality, what comes to mind? Maybe you’re picturing cyberpunk techno-goggles strapped […]