Yesterday, the Club Q shooter pled guilty to all changres, and was handed five life senrences, to run consecutively. Parole was not mentioned, and I don’t know whether Colorado sentencing law even includes the phrase “without possibility of parole.” If he ever does come up for it, there will be a whole lot of people watching – and protesting. But I’d rather not dwell on him. So I picked a couple of articles about remarkable women to share instead.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
Colorado Public Radio – Miss Cummins goes to Washington: A Colorado teen’s journey into DC lobbying
Quote – When she was two years old, Maddy was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a neurological disorder. She now gets around in a wheelchair and is non-verbal. She communicates with the help of an iPad-like device she operates with her eyes. In between meetings, Maddy practiced. As her eyes flicked across the boxes on the screen, the device recited, “Hi, I’m Maddy Cummins and I am representing Children’s Hospital Colorado.” Around her neck was a nametag, with a green ribbon underneath with the words “I’m fearless” on it.
Click through for story. This story pushes a lot of buttons – but you can’t help but admire Maddy.
ProPublica – How a Grad Student Uncovered the Largest Known Slave Auction in the U.S.
Quote – “The silence of the archives is deafening on this,” [Bernard Powers, the city’s premier Black history expert] said. “What does that silence tell you? It reinforces how routine this was.”… When Davila emailed him, she also copied Margaret Seidler, a white woman whose discovery of slave traders among her own ancestors led her to work with the college’s Center for the Study of Slavery to financially and otherwise support Davila’s research. The next day, the three met on Zoom, stunned by her discovery.
Click through for details. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more there is to uncover by someone who has the patience and determination to go through old newspapers (let’s hope DeSaster doesn’t take a match to the ones in his state.) It wasn’t even the sheer number which impressed me so much as the family connections uncovered by her research. Femily connections beyond what even the family knew (and the family had looked. Hard. Not every family does.).
Food For Thought
