The Globe has been booming with stories about the women who gave you birth.
"Mothers being wooed to restart careers" by Shirley Leung | Globe Staff May 09, 2014
Related: Leung's Eliti$m
It's her day so I'm not going to complain.
After Kelley Devaney had her first child, she went back to work. She had it all, but was it too much?
There was her MBA, executive title, and adorable baby daughter, but there was also the daycare shuffle that began with 7:30 a.m. dropoffs and ended with 5:30 p.m. pickups that had her gripping the steering wheel as she fought through rush-hour traffic.
When number two came along, she quit her job to become a full-time mom. That came with its own set of challenges.
“I found it very isolating,” she recalled. “I was so happy going to work. I could go to the bathroom when I wanted to. Remember when you had control of your life?”
Yet another overachieving skirt arrives at the harsh reality that she doesn’t have it all figured out. High-powered careers would make us happy. No, motherhood would make us whole. Some of us are discovering that happiness might be somewhere inbetween.
Fortunately for us, there is strength in numbers. So many women have left corporate America to raise a family that the female brain drain can no longer be ignored. Employers are starting to woo us back with return-to-work internships and consulting gigs in hopes they will lead to something permanent.
Last fall, Fidelity Investments began hiring women who took career breaks for six-month projects. So far, the Boston mutual fund company has brought in eight women, all into its corporate technology unit. Each works out of the company’s downtown offices, logging about 25 hours a week.
Their time off, Fidelity found, has given the restarters a fresh perspective on solving problems, not to mention a new appreciation for having a career again.
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Steve Neff, Fidelity’s chief technology officer, said the company will probably end up hiring some of the women for part- and full-time positions. The beauty of the temp assignments, he pointed out, is that it reduces risks for both employer and employee....
Fidelity found these women through a partnership with a Concord startup called ReacHIRE, which puts women through a six-week boot camp to refresh their skills and then places them in four- to six- month paid assignments.
ReacHire is also placing women at EMC, Panera Bread, Putnam Investments, and Boston Scientific, among others. Training partners include Google and Microsoft. Not bad for a year-old company.
Serial entrepreneur Addie Swartz launched ReacHIRE after she took an unexpected career break of her own to care for her daughter, who suffered a serious concussion. During that hiatus, Swartz met many stay-at-home moms who wanted to get back in the game, but didn’t know how....
It takes an enlightened employer to look past gaps in resumes....
There must not be any around here.
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Health check:
"Bringing a new cancer drug to market usually takes more than a decade and tests in thousands of patients, and costs more than $1 billion.... Dr. William Maisel, deputy director for science and chief scientist at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said new data show the procedure can dangerously spread undetected cancers more often than previously thought, significantly worsening a woman’s chances for long-term survival. The agency’s review was prompted by media coverage of the case of Dr. Amy Reed, a Boston anesthesiologist who underwent a hysterectomy at the Brigham in October. Reed’s misfortune occurred at about the same time another woman who also had her hysterectomy at the Brigham died. “The clinical community has been aware of risk of cancer spread since the advent of the procedure,’’ Maisel said. “The risk is not new. What is new is that the risk is higher than originally appreciated.’’"
Related:
"House OK’s bid for women’s museum" Associated Press May 09, 2014
WASHINGTON — Citing history textbooks, national parks, and landmarks that mostly leave women out, lawmakers revived a long-stalled effort Wednesday to create a National Women’s History Museum in the nation’s capital.
But they can't pass an equal pay bill.
The House voted 383-33 to create a bipartisan commission to study the feasibility of a museum on or near the National Mall and recommend whether it should be part of the Smithsonian. The vote came just before Mother’s Day, which several lawmakers noted. A similar measure is pending in the Senate.
Congress has allowed previous legislation calling for a women’s museum to die at least twice since 2005....
This political posturing and nothing legislation is what pisses off my mother.
Representatives Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Carolyn Maloney of New York, who have championed the effort, said the contributions of women have been mostly left out of museums, statues, and national landmarks. Not enough is taught about women’s history, they said, including details about how women gained the right to vote less than 100 years ago.
Women's studies are prevalent in so many colleges! WTF?
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"First lady honors outstanding museums, libraries" Associated Press May 09, 2014
WASHINGTON — Museums and libraries are playing an important role in a country that is aiming to provide a top-flight education to its children, Michelle Obama said Thursday as she helped honor 10 institutions for outstanding community service.
The first lady said the institutions’ programs ‘‘help us expand our horizon and connect us to with the rest of the world.’’
Her hometown library, the Chicago Public Library, received an award.
The other recipients of the 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service are....
One was the Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, Mass.
Related:
"Here’s a surefire recipe for meeting the first lady: collect millions of irreplaceable Yiddish books over the course of 30-plus years, share the collection with 600 university and research libraries around the world, and post the full texts of 12,000 of those volumes online. Aaron Lansky began this task in 1980 and is founder of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, which was one of 10 recipients of this year’s National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The awards were handed out by Michelle Obama on Thursday morning in the East Room of the White House. “The Center’s work chronicling the Jewish story and educating families about Yiddish and Jewish culture is outstanding,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren."
I'm just going to close the book and not comment on that as a favor to a certain lady who loves Liz Warren.
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Speaking of service:
"VMI agrees to plan on harassment" Associated Press May 10, 2014
RICHMOND — The Virginia Military Institute and the Obama administration announced an agreement Friday to address what the government called a sexually hostile environment for female cadets on the Lexington campus....
VMI said it agreed, with reservations, to sign the agreement, stating many of the issues raised by the government had already been instituted at the school. VMI said in a statement that it was in its best interest to ‘‘put an end to this six-year investigation.’’
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Hey, they are just college kids.
Related: U.S. Military Making Their Move
Are you turning into your mother?
Were you named after her?
Embattled Suffolk register asks for reinstatement
Some women are real mothers, and I can see why.
"Ex-husband on stand in case of mom shooting kids" Associated Press May 07, 2014
TAMPA — The former husband of a military wife charged with killing their two teenagers testified Tuesday that after the slayings, she looked at him and made a chilling statement.
‘‘ ‘I guess I stomped your heart flat, huh?’ ’’ Parker Schenecker testified, repeating what he says his now-former wife remarked to him.
Julie Schenecker, 53, is on trial in Tampa in the killing of 16-year-old Calyx and 13-year-old Beau in January 2011.
The Scheneckers are divorced. During his questioning by prosecutors in Hillsborough County Court, Parker Schenecker did not mention Julie Schenecker by name, instead calling her ‘‘the defendant.’’
He was an Army colonel deployed in the Middle East when his children were killed.
Defense attorneys say Julie Schenecker suffered from bipolar disorder and depression. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of first-degree murder.
Uh-oh. Any prescription pharmaceuticals involved?
Parker Schenecker did not show any emotion as he testified for a little more than an hour. He identified various items from the family’s home in photographs, and affirmed that the handwriting in a spiral-bound notebook was Julie’s.
The 50-year-old read one sticky note aloud: ‘‘Tuesday, Feb. 1 Beau is in the van (on the way to practice) Calyx is in her bed tried to make her comfortable.’’
Prosecutors said the note was written by Julie Schenecker and detailed the location of the teens’ bodies.
Parker said he had no concerns about the teens’ safety with their mother while he was deployed, even though his wife had suffered from mental illness, and was taking pills and uncharacteristically drinking.
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"Woman pleads guilty to killing newborn son at D.C. convent" Associated Press March 01, 2014
WASHINGTON — A woman studying to become a nun pleaded guilty Friday to killing her newborn son at a convent in Washington.
Sosefina Amoa, 26, took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Friday in a Washington courtroom. The charge is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, but the prosecutor said she would ask for at least four but no more than 10 years.
Her lawyer, Judith Pipe, said Amoa ‘‘never intended to harm her baby.’’ She said that after Amoa delivered the child in her room at the Little Sisters of the Poor convent in October, she was in a state of panic and shock. She was also in pain and had lost blood after a ‘‘very difficult delivery,’’ her lawyer said.
It was in that state of mind, her lawyer said, that Amoa put her hand over the child’s mouth to ‘‘quiet the baby so she could figure out what she was going to do.’’ Amoa acknowledged putting a wool garment over the baby’s nose and mouth and applying pressure with her hand for two to three minutes, smothering the child.
Amoa is scheduled to be sentenced May 23.
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Related: Throwing the Globe Out With the Bathwater
"Police: ‘Voices’ told mother to sit on sons in tub" Associated Press April 03, 2014
MCCANDLESS, Pa. — A woman said she heard ‘‘crazy voices’’ telling her to push her sons underwater before she sat on the boys in the bathtub, drowning her 3-year-old and leaving his 6-year-old brother in critical condition, police said.
Laurel Michelle Schlemmer, 40, told detectives she ‘‘thought she could be a better mother’’ to a third son, the oldest, ‘‘if the other two boys weren’t around, and they would be better off in heaven,’’ a police complaint said.
Schlemmer, a stay-at-home mom in this town about 10 miles north of Pittsburgh, was jailed without bond Wednesday on charges including criminal homicide and attempted homicide as prosecutors also began reviewing another episode involving her and her children.
Prosecutors would not discuss what they were looking into, but Schlemmer’s pastor said....
Prescription pharmaceuticals?
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"Mother accused of trying to drown 3 teens in N.J." by Kathy Matheson | Associated Press April 18, 2014
FLORENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Three teens frantically used their cellphones to call for help from a sinking van after their troubled mother drove them into a river, their father said Thursday.
Ultimately, a passer-by helped all four escape from the cold Delaware River in Florence Township, N.J., after one sibling kicked out a window.
‘‘They did all the right things,’’ said the father, Jeffrey Smith. ‘‘I just thank God that they got out safely.’’
Police said Joann Smith of Florence tried to drown the children, ages 13 to 15. She was charged with attempted murder and child endangerment and held on $600,000 bail.
Jeffrey Smith said he received a call from his daughter around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after the car went off a boat ramp. He said his two sons in the van were simultaneously trying to call 911, but one was cut off when the phone got wet.
Smith said he was about 15 miles away running an errand with the couple’s eldest son when he got the call.
About the same time, township resident Darnell Taylor said he and his wife were driving by the boat ramp when he noticed the partially submerged van in the river. He told WCAU-TV that he got out of his car, heard screaming and jumped in the water.
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"Woman accused of bizarre revenge plot" Associated Press April 10, 2014
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego woman distraught over losing out on her family’s dream house carried out a perverse revenge scheme to have the home’s new owner raped, prosecutors said.
The defendant, Kathy Rowe, claims the scheme was a childish prank that got out of control and she intended no harm.
Rowe, 52, began by carrying out mild hoaxes on the young husband-and-wife homebuyers — like putting a stop on their mail and sending religious missionaries to their doorstep, U-T San Diego reported Tuesday.
Her actions soon became criminal, according to prosecutors. Rowe allegedly posed as the wife in online adult entertainment ads, inviting strange men over to the couple’s home for sex and describing scenarios of a rape fantasy to those who responded.
One man decided to follow up on the offer, but was thwarted once by a locked gate and a second time when the husband answered the door.
The state appeals court last week ruled that Rowe will have to answer to felony counts of solicitation of rape and solicitation of sodomy.
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Also see: US judge overturns 6-week abortion ban
It defines what is a woman.
"Mom seeks charges for Bridgewater State Hospital guards in son’s death; ‘09 case sparked reforms" by Dan Adams | Globe Correspondent May 11, 2014
The mother of Joshua Messier, the 23-year-old mental health patient whose 2009 death at Bridgewater State Hospital has sparked outrage and reforms, is demanding that prosecutors hold guards at the facility criminally responsible for her son’s death.
I'm going to restrain my anger today in honor of mother.
Lisa Brown appeared at a National Alliance on Mental Illness fund-raising walk in Boston’s Artesani Park Saturday to circulate a petition calling on prosecutors to convene a grand jury on her son’s death.
I would sign it.
“Martha Coakley needs to stand up and do this,” Brown said. “It’s on video. It shows them killing my son with excessive force. If we don’t hold these people accountable, it’s going to keep happening . . . He can’t die in vain.”
Responding to Brown’s comments, Coakley spokesman Christopher Loh said, “The death of Joshua Messier was a tragedy. We’re happy to speak with his mother about this case and hear her concerns.”
Messier died while strapped to a bed, as seven prison guards who had placed him in four-point restraints following a schizophrenic outburst looked on.
The death was originally ruled a homicide, but Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz never convened a grand jury, saying medical examiner Mindy J. Hull unofficially told investigators she had changed her findings and believed Messier was responsible for his own death because he resisted the guards. Cruz’s office did not immediately return a call seeking comment Saturday.
Blaming the victim, wow. Imagine the outrage were it rape.
A Globe investigation found officials avoided creating written reports on the incident and sought multiple extensions of a deadline to produce a document justifying guards’ use of force on Messier.
It's called a cover up.
Saturday, Brown and a group of supporters with clipboards worked the crowd of nearly 5,000 walkers, collecting names and signatures. Coakley has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case. In addition, Cruz has the authority to reopen a criminal investigation and present the matter to a grand jury.
Many of those in attendance had heard Messier’s story; they offered Brown tearful hugs and stories of their own frustrating experiences with the state’s mental health system.
Brown said she is driven by the desire for justice in her son’s death and her wish to help others still incarcerated at the prison.
Kind of watered up in the eyes thinking the kid must be so proud looking on down. What a mom!
Brown said she is heartened that some good may come of recent publicity on Messier’s death, such as a class-action lawsuit filed this month seeking the release or transfer of 175 Bridgewater inmates.
“This is now being followed nationally,” said Howard Trachtman, the director of the alliance’s Boston chapter. “We’ve been doing what we can, but it’s definitely been slow.”
Pelletiers know that can help.
Brown has also taken solace in the words of strangers who reached out to her, some of whom became friends.
“She’s an inspiration to me,” said Betty Jenness, the parent of a mentally ill 11-year-old boy who befriended Brown through online messages after reading about Messier and helped collect signatures Saturday. “Her story struck a chord with me. I thought, ‘That’s going to be my boy if something doesn’t change.’ ”
But Brown deflects any praise.
“I’m not brave, I’m just doing what I have to,” she said. “I’m a warrior mom. I have to be there for my child.”
Following the Globe’s report, Governor Deval Patrick’s administration initiated disciplinary proceedings against three guards involved in the incident, fired an official who had overruled an internal report that cited two guards for misconduct, and formally reprimanded two other high-ranking Department of Correction officials.
During a visit to the Bridgewater facility this week, Patrick announced that a nationally recognized specialist would be hired to help reduce the prison’s use of seclusion and restraint. About 325 men are held in the facility.
Related: Kayyem Pepper
Brown and Messier’s father are set to receive $3 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit they had filed against the state. As attorney general, Coakley represented the Department of Correction and eight of the nine guards who were defendants in the case.
How do you quantify the forever loss of a loved one?
But Brown called the settlement a “slap on the wrist” that would do little to deter the state from repeating its mistakes. Justice, she said, will only come when guards face criminal charges.
I agree! Authority needs to be held accountable' otherwise, you get what has become AmeriKa.
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God bless you moms.
And let's not forget father....
"Attorney: Castro allowed Cleveland women an escape" WKYC-TV May 07, 2014
CLEVELAND — Ariel Castro intentionally left doors unlocked at his house in the months before three women escaped after nearly a decade of captivity because he knew the end was near, his former defense attorney said.
Castro felt that the young girl he fathered with one of his captives was getting older and needed to be in school with a life outside the house, attorney Craig Weintraub told WKYC in Cleveland.
No home school?
‘‘He didn’t have the courage to go to the Police Department and surrender, and the only way this was going to happen is if he was negligent and allowed them to leave the house and be able to find a way out while he was gone a few hours,’’ Weintraub said.
Tuesday was the anniversary of the escape from the house by Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus, whose breakout and subsequent recounting of the horrors they suffered during their time in captivity drew substantial attention. Castro pleaded guilty to a long list of charges last August; soon after that, he committed suicide in prison.
Related: Castro Commits Suicide
Did he?
Weintraub, one of two attorneys who represented Castro, said that Castro decided not to kill the three women because he had become close to the child he had with Berry.
Stop it with the love story, will ya?
DeJesus, Berry, and Knight disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 in Cleveland. They were rescued from Castro’s run-down house May 6, 2013, after Berry broke through a screen door. Police found DeJesus and Knight upstairs.
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Well, I'll be going out for the night and may not get back here to post.
Sorry.
