More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Republicans in the House and Senate scrambled to pass legislation that will cut $184 billion from SNAP through 2034—by far the largest cut to SNAP in the program’s history—to finance tax cuts for the wealthy big businesses. They also hope to increase funding for pursuit of immigrants.
This extremist budget will drive millions of people into poverty and hunger. It also represents a full-throated assault on women—particularly single mothers, for whom SNAP has been a lifeline.
A new survey reveals that a majority of likely voters oppose policies that grant legal rights to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. They also oppose the criminalization of pregnancy loss, denial of emergency medical care and broader threats to reproductive freedom.
Yet here we are, with bills to codify those rights brewing in a quarter of U.S. states this year.
Even when they do not succeed, we cannot simply ignore them or hope their proponents call it quits. Rather, this is a prime opportunity to double down on educating people and harnessing public opinion.
Profiles in Courage is a Ms. series honoring the extraordinary women and men who have transformed American institutions through principled public service. At a time when trust in government is fragile, these stories offer a powerful reminder of what ethical leadership looks like.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob unleashed chaos and destruction, attacking officers with metal pipes, chemical irritants and other makeshift weapons. Their goal was clear: force their way inside, inflict damage and disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
More than 50 United States Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers were injured, with several hospitalized due to the severity of their wounds. In the face of extreme violence and insurmountable odds, their heroic actions prevented an even greater catastrophe.
Arrest the Midwife, which premiered at SXSW last year, will receive a limited theatrical release at Atlanta’s Tara Theater from July 31 through Aug. 6. It will premiere nationwide on PBS’ POV on Aug. 31.
Elaine Epstein’s film follows Elizabeth Catlin, a beloved certified professional midwife in a small town in upstate New York. Here, Mennonites have a significant presence, and it’s common to see these “plain people” in their simple clothes (usually solid, dark colors) riding in horse-drawn buggies.
Though not Mennonite herself, Catlin developed a good reputation among this community, whose conservative Christian way of life discourages birth control and encourages at-home births outside of a hospital setting. She’s assisted with hundreds of births, including almost half of all Mennonite births each year.
In October 2018, Catlin transported a laboring woman to a hospital in Canandaigua, and the baby was born but died hours later of sepsis. Despite the family’s indication they did not blame Catlin or wish to see her prosecuted, and despite the birth taking place in a hospital, Catlin was arrested in 2019 and indicted on 95 felony counts, including criminal homicide and unauthorized practice of midwifery.
The Mennonite community does not commonly participate in modern political life or utilize technology. But Catlin’s arrest and inability to practice midwifery went against the wishes of many in her community—leading them to organize a (handwritten) letter-writing campaign, fundraise for Catlin’s legal and professional expenses, and eventually lobby state lawmakers for the legal recognition and licensing pathway for CPMs in New York.
Director Elaine Epstein hopes viewers take away something powerful: that meaningful change is often slow, imperfect and comes from unexpected places. “We’re in a time where things are pretty bad and it’s easy to want to bury our heads,” she said. “But we have so much to learn from the Mennonites.”
Earlier this month, a jury of ten men and two women was unable to come to a unanimous decision after a week’s deliberation. They were judging the trial of former correctional officer Darrell Wayne Smith, nicknamed “Dirty Dick,” accused of 15 counts of sexual misconduct. Smith was the last correctional officer to be charged with abuse at the now-shut-down FCI Dublin, as part of a sprawling federal investigation that convicted seven officers, including the prison’s warden and chaplain.
An excerpt from Human/Animal: A Bestiary in Essays (out April 22 from Wilfrid Laurier University Press), Chapter 5: “On Catching and Being Caught.”
“I knew enough stories of violence to know that if I did not try and something happened, I would be to blame. … I went to the police station … The tall white man with a buzz cut who came out to talk to me was dismissive. What do you want us to do, ma’am? I wanted a restraining order. Unless our neighbors were caught in the act of trespassing, unless we could prove without a doubt that we were being followed, there wasn’t anything they would do. …
“The camera was visible from where they parked their car, no branches or shrubs hiding its location, its lens pointed directly at where they stood. … Their yelling entered through our living room window and took up all the air in the room. Since the camera only recorded image, I felt I was watching a terrible movie with surround sound, their voices not coming out of the television, but through the windows, bouncing off the plaster walls. … I didn’t want to watch them anymore. I could not stop watching them. I know you have a crush on me. You want to watch me. You want to look at me. I know it.
“This sounds familiar. When children are teased, especially when it’s boys teasing girls, adults will often use crushes to explain away the trouble. He is pestering you (or worse) because he likes you.”
With far-right agendas gaining traction, anti-rights movements growing and attacks on women’s rights intensifying, the escalating use of the law as a weapon against women—such as through the criminalization of abortion—serves as a stark call for collective action.
Texas’ first abortion-related arrests come after a month-long attorney general investigation, marking the first criminal charges under the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Premiering at SXSW, Uvalde Mom follows Angeli Rose Gomez, the mother who defied police inaction to save her children during the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. The documentary not only captures her heroic actions but also reveals the relentless harassment she faced from local authorities in the aftermath. Through Gomez’s story, the film exposes systemic failures, community trauma and the power of mothers who refuse to stay silent.
Harassment of LGBTQ+ people is at an all-time high, and the New York City subway system is the belly of the beast. But without clear guidelines from the NYPD, how and when should you intervene?