csmonitor--2020-09-17--Amid pandemic, entrepreneurs find ways to overcome downturn

Julie Campbell had to rethink her new wallpaper business before she could sell her first sheet .
Ms. Campbell launched Pasted Paper in February , but soon after , the coronavirus forced the cancellation of the trade shows where she expected to introduce her wallpaper to prospective retail customers .
Suddenly , the $ 30,000 she ’ d invested in creating the wallpaper was at risk , dependent on her transforming the company to sell directly to consumers .
To save Pasted Paper , Ms. Campbell learned online selling and marketing – skills not immediately in her wheelhouse .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed to sell it .
I was forced to figure this out , ” Ms. Campbell says .
A recession amid a pandemic may seem like the worst time to start a business .
Despite millions of loans and grants from federal and state governments , it ’ s estimated that hundreds of thousands of companies have already failed since the virus outbreak began .
Yet , from people like Ms. Campbell , who ’ d invested too much money to turn back , to others who lost their jobs and saw starting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward , thousands of Americans have opted to take the plunge .
A few have even folded one business and quickly launched another better suited for the “ new normal ” of the pandemic .
Owners of all these fledgling companies face a tough road as they try to bring in customers and thrive .
While nearly 80 % of startup companies had survived their first year in 2019 , according to research by the Kauffman Foundation , those businesses had the benefit of launching in a strong economy .
Prosperity is tougher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spend less and new ventures tend to have large startup costs and low revenue .
The United States gross domestic product plunged by nearly a third from April through July , and there are still more than 13 million people unemployed .
Slightly more than 1 million companies that have employees were launched in 2018 while 925,000 closed , according to the latest available data from the Labor Department .
Despite the ongoing pandemic , interest in starting a business has picked up as parts of the U.S economy reopened .
The number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was down more than a third at the end of March compared to year-earlier levels ; in the week ended Sept. 5 , the most recent data available , they were up 93.6 % .
The applications don ’ t necessarily mean businesses were launched , but the numbers do show that despite the virus ’ s grip on the economy , people were considering starting companies .
Unemployed people needing a source of income likely accounted for some of those applications , says Dane Stangler , a researcher at the think tank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says owners who closed their businesses permanently early in the pandemic might be starting up again with a different entity .
Yavonne Sarber knew her Sugar Whisky Sis restaurant in Covington , Kentucky , wouldn ’ t survive a government-ordered shutdown .
So , she closed it for good and four weeks later opened an entirely new restaurant on the site , one focused on takeout and delivery .
“ We couldn ’ t sit still – we knew we had to do something , ” says Ms. Sarber , who also owns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Ohio .
She opened Papi Jocho ’ s Street Dogs and Cantina on May 5 , less than two months after Kentucky restaurants and bars closed for inside dining .
Business has been so good there that revenue at all her restaurants overall is up 25 % from its pre-pandemic level even as indoor dining capacity at the Agave & Rye branches is limited to half .
Ms. Sarber ’ s husband Wade wanted her to proceed more cautiously before plunging into starting Papi Jocho ’ s .
But , she says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moment – you have to choose to be a victim or you have to pivot.
” Business formations dropped sharply during the Great Recession and its aftermath , but many people , including some who lost their jobs to layoffs , did start companies .
Among the well-known successes from that time are Airbnb and Warby Parker , which sells eyeglasses online .
Within weeks as the pandemic spread across the country in February and March , Amy and Cody Morgan lost their executive-level jobs , Amy ’ s in real estate and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gas industry .
Rather than try to find new jobs , the couple , who live in Cypress , Texas , north of Houston , decided to start a pool servicing company called Pit Stop Pools .
Cody Morgan ran a similar business to help pay his college expenses 25 years ago .
The Morgans anticipated that demand for services like pool cleaning and maintenance would be even greater than usual with people spending more time at home .
“ It became imperative that this pool service company happen , ” Amy Morgan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ received a traditional Small Business Administration loan to fund their startup costs ; because they applied before the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program , they were able to get the money quickly .
They used a broker to help them find customers , and now have about 90 .
They ’ ve been able to hire six workers and have outgrown the shed that housed their office and equipment .
Still , they must keep expanding .
It will take 200 accounts to replace one of the salaries they made pre-pandemic but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ competition for pool services in the city , they ’ ll be able to grow .
Like the Morgans , many new and prospective owners have chosen industries like home improvement or in-home gym equipment , whose services are currently in demand , says Sara Moreira , a strategy professor at Northwestern University ’ s Kellogg School of Management .
“ They are betting on the idea that this demand will be sustained , ” Ms. Moreira says .
“ Even if you have a vaccine in a few months , we will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home for an office , more than in the past.
” Deniz and Yeliz Karafazli were ready to put the finishing touches on their Manhattan cafe , Madame Bonte , and expected to open it in March .
But as the virus spread across New York City , the siblings couldn ’ t get architects , air conditioner installers , and other workers to come to the restaurant .
The work was finally finished in July , allowing the cafe to open , although its business has been limited by the city ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ban will be partially eased starting Sept. 30 as officials allow restaurants to have indoor dining at 25 % of capacity .
The cafe has survived because the Karafazlis ’ landlord and some of their vendors gave them a break on payments .
And Deniz Karafazli is heartened by the fact the cafe ’ s menu lends itself to takeout , with sandwiches and coffee , and revenue has been better than he expected .
“ It was the right place at the right time – once we opened , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Associated Press .

Julie Campbell had to rethink her new wallpaper business before she could sell her first sheet.
Ms. Campbell launched Pasted Paper in February, but soon after, the coronavirus forced the cancellation of the trade shows where she expected to introduce her wallpaper to prospective retail customers. Suddenly, the $30,000 she’d invested in creating the wallpaper was at risk, dependent on her transforming the company to sell directly to consumers.
To save Pasted Paper, Ms. Campbell learned online selling and marketing – skills not immediately in her wheelhouse.
“I had so much inventory and I needed to sell it. I was forced to figure this out,” Ms. Campbell says.
A recession amid a pandemic may seem like the worst time to start a business. Despite millions of loans and grants from federal and state governments, it’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of companies have already failed since the virus outbreak began.
Yet, from people like Ms. Campbell, who’d invested too much money to turn back, to others who lost their jobs and saw starting their own company as the best path forward, thousands of Americans have opted to take the plunge. A few have even folded one business and quickly launched another better suited for the “new normal” of the pandemic.
Owners of all these fledgling companies face a tough road as they try to bring in customers and thrive. While nearly 80% of startup companies had survived their first year in 2019, according to research by the Kauffman Foundation, those businesses had the benefit of launching in a strong economy.
Prosperity is tougher in a downturn – consumers and businesses spend less and new ventures tend to have large startup costs and low revenue. The United States gross domestic product plunged by nearly a third from April through July, and there are still more than 13 million people unemployed.
Slightly more than 1 million companies that have employees were launched in 2018 while 925,000 closed, according to the latest available data from the Labor Department.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, interest in starting a business has picked up as parts of the U.S economy reopened. The number of applications for business tax identification numbers was down more than a third at the end of March compared to year-earlier levels; in the week ended Sept. 5, the most recent data available, they were up 93.6%. The applications don’t necessarily mean businesses were launched, but the numbers do show that despite the virus’s grip on the economy, people were considering starting companies.
Unemployed people needing a source of income likely accounted for some of those applications, says Dane Stangler, a researcher at the think tank Bipartisan Policy Center. But he also says owners who closed their businesses permanently early in the pandemic might be starting up again with a different entity.
Yavonne Sarber knew her Sugar Whisky Sis restaurant in Covington, Kentucky, wouldn’t survive a government-ordered shutdown. So, she closed it for good and four weeks later opened an entirely new restaurant on the site, one focused on takeout and delivery.
“We couldn’t sit still – we knew we had to do something,” says Ms. Sarber, who also owns four Agave & Rye restaurants in Kentucky and Ohio.
She opened Papi Jocho’s Street Dogs and Cantina on May 5, less than two months after Kentucky restaurants and bars closed for inside dining. Business has been so good there that revenue at all her restaurants overall is up 25% from its pre-pandemic level even as indoor dining capacity at the Agave & Rye branches is limited to half.
Ms. Sarber’s husband Wade wanted her to proceed more cautiously before plunging into starting Papi Jocho’s. But, she says, “you need to seize the moment – you have to choose to be a victim or you have to pivot.”
Business formations dropped sharply during the Great Recession and its aftermath, but many people, including some who lost their jobs to layoffs, did start companies. Among the well-known successes from that time are Airbnb and Warby Parker, which sells eyeglasses online.
Within weeks as the pandemic spread across the country in February and March, Amy and Cody Morgan lost their executive-level jobs, Amy’s in real estate and Cody’s in the oil and gas industry. Rather than try to find new jobs, the couple, who live in Cypress, Texas, north of Houston, decided to start a pool servicing company called Pit Stop Pools.
Cody Morgan ran a similar business to help pay his college expenses 25 years ago. The Morgans anticipated that demand for services like pool cleaning and maintenance would be even greater than usual with people spending more time at home.
“It became imperative that this pool service company happen,” Amy Morgan says.
The couple applied for and received a traditional Small Business Administration loan to fund their startup costs; because they applied before the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program, they were able to get the money quickly. They used a broker to help them find customers, and now have about 90. They’ve been able to hire six workers and have outgrown the shed that housed their office and equipment.
Still, they must keep expanding. It will take 200 accounts to replace one of the salaries they made pre-pandemic but the Morgans are optimistic that despite the competition for pool services in the city, they’ll be able to grow.
Like the Morgans, many new and prospective owners have chosen industries like home improvement or in-home gym equipment, whose services are currently in demand, says Sara Moreira, a strategy professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
“They are betting on the idea that this demand will be sustained,” Ms. Moreira says. “Even if you have a vaccine in a few months, we will think about having a nice place at home for an office, more than in the past.”
Deniz and Yeliz Karafazli were ready to put the finishing touches on their Manhattan cafe, Madame Bonte, and expected to open it in March. But as the virus spread across New York City, the siblings couldn’t get architects, air conditioner installers, and other workers to come to the restaurant.
The work was finally finished in July, allowing the cafe to open, although its business has been limited by the city’s continuing ban on indoor dining. That ban will be partially eased starting Sept. 30 as officials allow restaurants to have indoor dining at 25% of capacity.
The cafe has survived because the Karafazlis’ landlord and some of their vendors gave them a break on payments. And Deniz Karafazli is heartened by the fact the cafe’s menu lends itself to takeout, with sandwiches and coffee, and revenue has been better than he expected.
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
“It was the right place at the right time – once we opened,” he says.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.


csmonitor--2020-09-17--‘Monogamy’ reveals conflicted emotions over a long marriage

What makes a good marriage ?
That ’ s the question driving Sue Miller ’ s 11th novel , “ Monogamy.
” And without spoiling anything , I can tell you that the book ’ s title isn ’ t the full answer for the couple in this story .
Beginning with “ The Good Mother ” in 1986 , Miller has garnered a devoted readership for her character-driven , psychologically astute domestic novels , many of which delve deeply into how marriages and families work – or don ’ t .
Fans will not be disappointed with “ Monogamy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tracks a woman ’ s conflicted feelings about her long marriage following her husband ’ s sudden death .
Miller ’ s first novel since “ The Arsonist ” ( 2014 ) hits many of her recurrent themes – including how impulsive behavior , sexual or otherwise , can fracture relationships , and how memories can change over time .
Annie and Graham McFarlane are not an obvious match .
When they first meet in their mid-30s at a party celebrating the opening of his bookstore in Cambridge , Massachusetts , both are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marriages .
Graham is outsized in every way – physically large , gregarious , Rabelaisian in his appetites and enthusiasm .
Annie is petite and self-contained , a photographer sometimes accused of coldness or detachment .
As their daughter Sarah later explains , “ My mother holds it all in , my father lets it out.
” Annie is drawn to Graham ’ s joyfulness and “ his honest embrace of pleasure , ” but she sometimes finds him overwhelming and worries that he will consume her whole .
A third party in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wife , Frieda , who left him because their open marriage and his many affairs were causing her too much pain .
But Graham , “ a person who never wasted a friendship , or a relationship , ” has remained close with her , and , remarkably , Frieda and Annie have become good friends over the three decades of his second marriage .
“ He ’ s been much more careful in his marriage to Annie , ” Miller writes .
“ More careful and more faithful.
” But , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not entirely faithful.
” And that ’ s the rub .
It ’ s also what ’ s troubling Graham on what turns out to be his last day alive : He feels bad about an impulsive affair that was meant to be a lighthearted fling but has turned into an albatross .
He chastises himself for being “ such a fat , sad , needy man.
” Annie , missing the import of what he ’ s trying to tell her until much later , tries to jolly him .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ man , ” she ribs .
Miller takes us through the waves of emotions Annie experiences after the shock of Graham ’ s death and her realization of his infidelity .
Among them is rage – at both Graham and herself – for allowing herself to be subsumed by him .
Her life feels shapeless , empty , depleted without his energy .
If she ’ d been more separate and independent , she thinks , “ Then she wouldn ’ t feel so hollowed-out now.
” There ’ s a lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scenes , backstories that are dutifully spelled out .
But “ Monogamy ” pulls you in , especially when Miller shifts her sympathetic gaze from one McFarlane to another in tight third-person perspectives – Graham , Annie , Frieda , Frieda ’ s son Lucas , and Annie ’ s daughter Sarah .
They all come to realize that , encouraged by Graham , they had relied on him too much .
This is a novel that works not through dazzling images or narrative pyrotechnics but through the steady accretion of clear-eyed observations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Graham ’ s magnetism , a centrifugal force even in his absence .
He ’ s a man who overcompensated for his unhappy , fatherless childhood – yet was unable to make up for the lack of affection from his abandoned , abusive mother .
Annie comes to realize that “ She could never have surrendered enough of herself to make it perfect for him.
” On her twisty road to a gentler , more straightforward grief , Annie recalls that her bookseller husband believed that reading fiction was consoling because it “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ... That it has sequence and consequence , ” which “ made life seem to matter.
” She also recalls that Graham called her an open book – not in an insulting way , but fondly , “ A book , open to him.
” The key to a happy marriage , Miller ’ s moving story suggests , lies in just this : two people opening themselves up to one another – like inviting books .
In addition to The Christian Science Monitor , Heller McAlpin reviews books regularly for NPR , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ publications .

What makes a good marriage? That’s the question driving Sue Miller’s 11th novel, “Monogamy.” And without spoiling anything, I can tell you that the book’s title isn’t the full answer for the couple in this story.
Beginning with “The Good Mother” in 1986, Miller has garnered a devoted readership for her character-driven, psychologically astute domestic novels, many of which delve deeply into how marriages and families work – or don’t. Fans will not be disappointed with “Monogamy,” an emotionally perceptive book that tracks a woman’s conflicted feelings about her long marriage following her husband’s sudden death. Miller’s first novel since “The Arsonist” (2014) hits many of her recurrent themes – including how impulsive behavior, sexual or otherwise, can fracture relationships, and how memories can change over time.
Annie and Graham McFarlane are not an obvious match. When they first meet in their mid-30s at a party celebrating the opening of his bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, both are ashamed by the failures of their first marriages. Graham is outsized in every way – physically large, gregarious, Rabelaisian in his appetites and enthusiasm. Annie is petite and self-contained, a photographer sometimes accused of coldness or detachment. As their daughter Sarah later explains, “My mother holds it all in, my father lets it out.”
Annie is drawn to Graham’s joyfulness and “his honest embrace of pleasure,” but she sometimes finds him overwhelming and worries that he will consume her whole.
A third party in their marriage is Graham’s first wife, Frieda, who left him because their open marriage and his many affairs were causing her too much pain. But Graham, “a person who never wasted a friendship, or a relationship,” has remained close with her, and, remarkably, Frieda and Annie have become good friends over the three decades of his second marriage.
“He’s been much more careful in his marriage to Annie,” Miller writes. “More careful and more faithful.” But, we learn in the next sentence, “not entirely faithful.” And that’s the rub. It’s also what’s troubling Graham on what turns out to be his last day alive: He feels bad about an impulsive affair that was meant to be a lighthearted fling but has turned into an albatross. He chastises himself for being “such a fat, sad, needy man.” Annie, missing the import of what he’s trying to tell her until much later, tries to jolly him. “I thought you were a fat, happy man,” she ribs.
Miller takes us through the waves of emotions Annie experiences after the shock of Graham’s death and her realization of his infidelity. Among them is rage – at both Graham and herself – for allowing herself to be subsumed by him. Her life feels shapeless, empty, depleted without his energy. If she’d been more separate and independent, she thinks, “Then she wouldn’t feel so hollowed-out now.”
There’s a lot of explication in the novel’s early scenes, backstories that are dutifully spelled out. But “Monogamy” pulls you in, especially when Miller shifts her sympathetic gaze from one McFarlane to another in tight third-person perspectives – Graham, Annie, Frieda, Frieda’s son Lucas, and Annie’s daughter Sarah. They all come to realize that, encouraged by Graham, they had relied on him too much. This is a novel that works not through dazzling images or narrative pyrotechnics but through the steady accretion of clear-eyed observations relayed in limpid prose.
Miller captures Graham’s magnetism, a centrifugal force even in his absence. He’s a man who overcompensated for his unhappy, fatherless childhood – yet was unable to make up for the lack of affection from his abandoned, abusive mother. Annie comes to realize that “She could never have surrendered enough of herself to make it perfect for him.”
On her twisty road to a gentler, more straightforward grief, Annie recalls that her bookseller husband believed that reading fiction was consoling because it “suggests that life has a shape. ... That it has sequence and consequence,” which “made life seem to matter.” She also recalls that Graham called her an open book – not in an insulting way, but fondly, “A book, open to him.”
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
The key to a happy marriage, Miller’s moving story suggests, lies in just this: two people opening themselves up to one another – like inviting books.
In addition to The Christian Science Monitor, Heller McAlpin reviews books regularly for NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.


csmonitor--2020-09-17--Who is right? Trump, Biden disagree on masks, COVID vaccine.

A potential vaccine for COVID-19 – and how it will be evaluated and distributed when it ’ s ready – has taken center stage in the presidential race with seven weeks to go until the November election .
Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Robert Redfield said on Wednesday that all 50 states were sent a “ playbook ” for distribution of a vaccine to all Americans free of cost when one is proven safe and effective – which is not yet the case .
Dr. Redfield told a congressional hearing that health care workers , first responders , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine first , perhaps in January or even late this year , but it was unlikely to be available more broadly , again assuming approval , before late spring or summer of 2021 .
Dr. Redfield , masked at times in a Senate hearing room , also spoke emphatically of the importance of everyone wearing protective masks to stop the pandemic , which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans .
He floated the possibility that a vaccine might be 70 % effective in inducing immunity , and said , “ I might even go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.
” On Wednesday evening , however , President Donald Trump raised new questions about the administration ’ s rollout of a vaccine when he publicly contradicted the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
Mr. Trump said Dr. Redfield had misspoken and that the United States could start distributing a vaccine starting in mid-October .
“ I think he made a mistake when he said that .
I think it ’ s just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Dr. Redfield ’ s comments .
“ When he said it , I believe he was confused.
” He said he called Dr. Redfield after his testimony .
“ I think he just made a mistake .
He just made a mistake .
I think he misunderstood the question , probably.
” Joe Biden , campaigning in Wilmington , Delaware , said Wednesday that while he trusts what scientists say about a potential coronavirus vaccine , he doesn ’ t trust Mr. Trump .
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have been trading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trust in a potential coronavirus vaccine .
Mr. Biden has expressed concerns that the vaccine approval process could be politicized , while Mr. Trump and his allies counter that such comments from Mr. Biden and other Democrats are turning off the public to a potentially lifesaving vaccine when it ’ s released .
Mr. Biden , after being briefed by public health experts about a potential vaccine , cited Mr. Trump ’ s “ incompetence and dishonesty ” surrounding the distribution of personal protective equipment and coronavirus testing .
The U.S. “ can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when it comes to a vaccine , ” he said .
“ I trust vaccines , I trust scientists , but I don ’ t trust Donald Trump , ” Biden said , “ and at this moment , the American people can ’ t , either.
” Mr. Trump also contradicted Dr. Redfield on the use of masks .
Dr. Redfield told lawmakers Wednesday that masks are a more effective means of protection against the coronavirus than a potential vaccine , but Mr. Trump said he spoke to Dr. Redfield afterward about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ask him , he ’ d probably say that he didn ’ t understand the question.
” “ There are a lot of problems with masks , ” Mr. Trump said .
For his part , Mr. Biden has said he would take a vaccine “ tomorrow ” if it were available but that he would want to “ see what the scientists said ” first .
His running mate , Sen. Kamala Harris , has said she wouldn ’ t trust Mr. Trump to be honest about the safety of any potential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be “ muzzled ” by the president because he ’ s so eager to get a vaccine approved by his stated goal of Election Day .
The Trump campaign has accused Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris of sowing doubt about a potential vaccine by expressing concerns that the approval process could be tainted by politics .
On Wednesday , Mr. Trump said Mr. Biden has “ started talking negatively ” because “ they know we have it or we will soon have it , and the answer to that is very soon.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ during his Delaware event to the question of whether his comments could undermine trust in scientists .
“ No , ” Mr. Biden said , because Americans “ know [ Trump ] doesn ’ t have any respect for scientists.
” He added that the vaccine approval process should be “ totally transparent ” and evaluated by a “ board of scientists ” that could give the public an unbiased opinion .
Mr. Biden also discussed a vaccine distribution proposal crafted by public health experts and shared with him during his briefing Wednesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responders and those “ at the greatest risk ” – including those in nursing homes and people with serious preexisting conditions – would get the vaccine first and not necessarily people in minority communities , which have been disproportionately hit by the impacts of the virus .
Mr. Biden said that “ children , ironically , might be the last people to get the vaccine ” because it would take time to safely test the vaccine on them .
“ It has to be done fairly and well , ” he said of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be based on your tax returns , figuratively speaking ; it ’ s got to be based on who is most vulnerable.
” Mr. Biden also talked about his proposal to instate a national mask mandate , which he says could save tens of thousands of lives .
When Mr. Biden first proposed it , Mr. Trump decried the idea of bringing “ the full weight of the federal government on law-abiding Americans ” to enforce mask-wearing .
During his event Wednesday , Mr. Biden acknowledged that he wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to sign an executive order imposing a federally mandated nationwide mask mandate , but said he had sought legal advice on the issue .
“ Our legal team thinks I can do that , based upon the degree to which there ’ s a crisis in those states and how bad things are for the country , and if we don ’ t do it what happens , ” Mr. Biden said .
He added that , regardless , he would invite governors to the White House and “ make the case ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a mask mandate at the state level .
This story was reported by The Associated Press .
Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe , Will Weissert , Matthew Perrone , Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar , Mike Stobbe , and Kevin Freking contributed to this report .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .

A potential vaccine for COVID-19 – and how it will be evaluated and distributed when it’s ready – has taken center stage in the presidential race with seven weeks to go until the November election.
Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Robert Redfield said on Wednesday that all 50 states were sent a “playbook” for distribution of a vaccine to all Americans free of cost when one is proven safe and effective – which is not yet the case. Dr. Redfield told a congressional hearing that health care workers, first responders, and others at high risk would get the vaccine first, perhaps in January or even late this year, but it was unlikely to be available more broadly, again assuming approval, before late spring or summer of 2021.
Dr. Redfield, masked at times in a Senate hearing room, also spoke emphatically of the importance of everyone wearing protective masks to stop the pandemic, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans. He floated the possibility that a vaccine might be 70% effective in inducing immunity, and said, “I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.”
On Wednesday evening, however, President Donald Trump raised new questions about the administration’s rollout of a vaccine when he publicly contradicted the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mr. Trump said Dr. Redfield had misspoken and that the United States could start distributing a vaccine starting in mid-October.
“I think he made a mistake when he said that. I think it’s just incorrect information,” Mr. Trump said of Dr. Redfield’s comments. “When he said it, I believe he was confused.”
He said he called Dr. Redfield after his testimony. “I think he just made a mistake. He just made a mistake. I think he misunderstood the question, probably.”
Joe Biden, campaigning in Wilmington, Delaware, said Wednesday that while he trusts what scientists say about a potential coronavirus vaccine, he doesn’t trust Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have been trading accusations that the other is undermining public trust in a potential coronavirus vaccine. Mr. Biden has expressed concerns that the vaccine approval process could be politicized, while Mr. Trump and his allies counter that such comments from Mr. Biden and other Democrats are turning off the public to a potentially lifesaving vaccine when it’s released.
Mr. Biden, after being briefed by public health experts about a potential vaccine, cited Mr. Trump’s “incompetence and dishonesty” surrounding the distribution of personal protective equipment and coronavirus testing. The U.S. “can’t afford to repeat those fiascos when it comes to a vaccine,” he said.
“I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump,” Biden said, “and at this moment, the American people can’t, either.”
Mr. Trump also contradicted Dr. Redfield on the use of masks. Dr. Redfield told lawmakers Wednesday that masks are a more effective means of protection against the coronavirus than a potential vaccine, but Mr. Trump said he spoke to Dr. Redfield afterward about his comments and that “if you ask him, he’d probably say that he didn’t understand the question.”
“There are a lot of problems with masks,” Mr. Trump said.
For his part, Mr. Biden has said he would take a vaccine “tomorrow” if it were available but that he would want to “see what the scientists said” first. His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, has said she wouldn’t trust Mr. Trump to be honest about the safety of any potential vaccine and worries that experts and scientists would be “muzzled” by the president because he’s so eager to get a vaccine approved by his stated goal of Election Day.
The Trump campaign has accused Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris of sowing doubt about a potential vaccine by expressing concerns that the approval process could be tainted by politics. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Biden has “started talking negatively” because “they know we have it or we will soon have it, and the answer to that is very soon.”
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, responded during his Delaware event to the question of whether his comments could undermine trust in scientists.
“No,” Mr. Biden said, because Americans “know [Trump] doesn’t have any respect for scientists.”
He added that the vaccine approval process should be “totally transparent” and evaluated by a “board of scientists” that could give the public an unbiased opinion.
Mr. Biden also discussed a vaccine distribution proposal crafted by public health experts and shared with him during his briefing Wednesday. According to the proposal, first responders and those “at the greatest risk” – including those in nursing homes and people with serious preexisting conditions – would get the vaccine first and not necessarily people in minority communities, which have been disproportionately hit by the impacts of the virus.
Mr. Biden said that “children, ironically, might be the last people to get the vaccine” because it would take time to safely test the vaccine on them.
“It has to be done fairly and well,” he said of the vaccine distribution. “It can’t be based on your tax returns, figuratively speaking; it’s got to be based on who is most vulnerable.”
Mr. Biden also talked about his proposal to instate a national mask mandate, which he says could save tens of thousands of lives. When Mr. Biden first proposed it, Mr. Trump decried the idea of bringing “the full weight of the federal government on law-abiding Americans” to enforce mask-wearing.
During his event Wednesday, Mr. Biden acknowledged that he wasn’t sure if he had the legal authority to sign an executive order imposing a federally mandated nationwide mask mandate, but said he had sought legal advice on the issue.
“Our legal team thinks I can do that, based upon the degree to which there’s a crisis in those states and how bad things are for the country, and if we don’t do it what happens,” Mr. Biden said. He added that, regardless, he would invite governors to the White House and “make the case” to them on the importance of issuing a mask mandate at the state level.
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This story was reported by The Associated Press. Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe, Will Weissert, Matthew Perrone, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Mike Stobbe, and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
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csmonitor--2020-09-18--Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Fierce women’s advocate, and icon in her own right

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was getting very little sleep .
It was the early 1970s , and she was teaching at Columbia Law School while founding the Women ’ s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union and litigating historic gender discrimination cases nationwide .
She was also a parent , raising two children with husband Marty .
Their youngest , James , was a handful .
And when James had a problem at school – a common occurrence – it was Ruth ’ s phone , not Marty ’ s , that would ring .
One day the school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after she had been up all night writing a brief .
She ’ d had enough .
Picking up the phone she said , tartly , “ This child has two parents .
Please alternate calls .
It ’ s his father ’ s turn.
” Then she hung up .
After that the school called perhaps once a semester , Justice Ginsburg recounted gleefully in 2018 onstage at the Sundance Film Festival .
They ’ d been fine with bothering her , but had been reluctant to interrupt Marty , a lawyer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attorney , law professor , judge – and yes , as a parent – Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , who passed away Friday , was always a fierce advocate for the equal treatment of women in every aspect of life .
“ My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed , ” her final message was reported as saying .
Piece by piece , case by case , she helped dismantle and rebuild for the better the ways women work , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participate in American political and economic society .
“ Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature , ” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said in a statement .
“ We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague .
Today we mourn , but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her – a tireless and resolute champion of justice.
” In doing so Justice Ginsburg became an icon of achievement .
Rare is the Supreme Court justice able to create a distinct legacy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to create a distinct legacy , shape an entire area of the law , and become a pop culture icon recognized around the country : the fiery , jabot-wearing Notorious R.B.G .
There is truth in the caricature .
Justice Ginsburg ’ s dissents could flick like switchblades .
As a young attorney arguing a case before the Supreme Court , she told justices that she asked for no favor for her sex – only that men “ take their feet off our necks , ” quoting abolitionist Sarah Grimké .
Petite and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the page , it is not an understatement to say Justice Ginsburg was one of the most significant legal minds of modern American history .
“ There are only a few modern justices who would been significant figures in American law even if they had never served on the Supreme Court , ” said Richard Primus , a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and a former Ginsburg clerk , in an email to the Monitor .
“ Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one.
” Nominated by President Bill Clinton in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Senate 96-3 , becoming the second female Supreme Court justice , following Justice Sandra Day O ’ Connor to the high court bench .
Among a minority of liberal-leaning justices for much of her time on the high court , she has few landmark opinions to her name .
But as a reliable vote for progressive interpretations of the law , and in fiery dissents later in her career , she left an indelible mark on American jurisprudence , building on her work as a law professor and advocate .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1996 decision in United States v. Virginia , she wrote that the Virginia Military Institute ’ s male-only admissions policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment ’ s equal protection clause .
It was in dissent , however , where Ginsburg often made her voice heard on the Supreme Court .
In a 2007 gender pay discrimination case , the court ruled 5-to-4 against Lilly Ledbetter , an employee at a tire company , because she had filed suit after the time limitation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act had expired .
Reading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criticized the majority for “ a cramped interpretation of Title VII ” and suggested that Congress “ may act to correct this Court ’ s parsimonious reading of Title VII.
” Two years later , Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and it became the first bill signed into law by then President Barack Obama .
In 2013 a pair of Ginsburg dissents cemented her status as a pop culture icon : the jabot-wearing , crown-toting “ Notorious R.B.G.
” In the Hobby Lobby case – a decision in which the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ companies can refuse on religious grounds to provide contraceptive care to their employees – she wrote that “ the court , I fear , has ventured into a minefield.
” And in Shelby County v. Holder – in which the court ruled , 5-to-4 , to invalidate a portion of the Voting Rights Act requiring some states to get pre-cleared by the Justice Department before changing their voting laws – she wrote that throwing out pre-clearance “ is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Dahlia Lithwick wrote in 2015 , “ became a cri de Coeur popularized in viral Facebook memes and a tribute song .
Notorious R.B.G.
, crown and all , became the face of female employees in Hobby Lobby , and female workers everywhere whose bosses ’ religious preferences might trump their right to birth control.
” A Notorious R.B.G .
book followed , as did numerous write-ups of her workout routine .
Then , with progressives desperate for a hero in the Trump years , came the “ RBG ” documentary and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Sex ” , both released in 2018 , not to mention countless “ Saturday Night Live ” skits starring Kate McKinnon .
Her celebrity rubbed some the wrong way , but she reportedly enjoyed it , and others credit her with making the Supreme Court accessible for a whole generation of young people .
She had a crossover appeal that may not be seen on the high court for some time .
“ Her life story combined with the work has created the story , and a lot of the other justices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Tracy Thomas , a professor at the University of Akron School of Law .
“ Larger-than-life people maybe don ’ t come around all that often.
” Justice Ginsburg ’ s influence on American law began long before she reached the Supreme Court .
As a young girl in Brooklyn , Joan Bader – she started going by her middle name , Ruth , after starting school and discovering several other girls named Joan in her class – cited her mother , Celia , as a strong influence who told her “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her that meant to be your own person , be independent.
” As a student at Harvard Law School she became the first female member of the Harvard Law Review , something she achieved while caring for her husband Martin Ginsburg as he fought cancer , and attending both of their classes .
It was during her often-overlooked career as a law professor that she began to articulate her legal approach to achieving gender equality .
When she became an assistant professor of law at Rutgers University in 1963 , she became just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be appointed to a tenure or tenure-track position at a law school approved by the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools .
Nine years later , she became Columbia University ’ s first tenured woman law professor .
She began teaching courses focused on civil procedure , but issues of gender equality were intruding on her life nonetheless .
She was paid less than male colleagues at Rutgers when she joined , and when she became pregnant in 1964 she was so frightened her contract wouldn ’ t be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ condition by wearing clothes “ from my ever supportive , one size larger mother-in-law ” until she signed a new contract .
James Steven Ginsburg was born a few months later .
But it wasn ’ t until 1971 that she began to focus her scholarly energies on the legal status of women .
It was around then , she said in a 1995 talk at Rutgers , that women at the school , encouraged by the civil rights movement , asked for a seminar on Women and the Law .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the space of a month , I read every federal decision ever published involving women ’ s legal status , and every law review article , ” she said .
“ That was no grand feat .
There were not many decisions , and not much in the way of commentary.
” By the time she reached Columbia , she was an activist .
In her first month , she learned that as part of a money-saving effort , the University sent lay-off notices to 25 maids but no janitors .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recalled in 1994 , “ which happily ended with no lay-offs.
” “ Ginsburg did her most significant law reform work at Columbia , ” writes Herma Hill Kay .
“ She melded her teaching , scholarship , and advocacy in the service of a cause that engaged her completely… To put women into the United States Constitution.
” These experiences prepared her for what many gender law experts to be her most defining period : her eight years as general counsel of the Women ’ s Rights Project at the American Civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Project participated in hundreds of gender discrimination cases – often cases involving discrimination against men – and she argued six cases before the Supreme Court , winning five .
“ That was really where she invented new concepts to litigate these [ gender discrimination ] cases , ” says Professor Thomas .
In 1973 she argued that a Florida law allowing a property tax exemption for widows but not widowers was unconstitutional .
In 1974 she won a case for a widower who couldn ’ t apply for social security benefits , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ murderer in Idaho had his right to a trial by jury violated because of a state law allowing automatic jury service exemptions for women .
The feminist legal scholar Joan Williams describes Ginsburg ’ s approach as “ reconstructive feminism , ” meaning an approach that instead of focusing on women and discrimination they face , it focuses on “ the gender dynamics within which [ gender ] identities are forged ” more generally .
“ Ginsburg ’ s goal was not merely formal equality .
Her goal was a society in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reserved for men , and men could gain access to roles traditionally reserved for women , ” writes Professor Williams [ LINK : https : //digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi ?
referer=https : //www.google.com/ & httpsredir=1 & article=1295 & context=yjlf ] .
“ We can see her as perhaps the first reconstructive feminist.
” Years later , in Time Magazine , Justice Scalia would praise her [ LINK : http : //time.com/3823889/ruth-bader-ginsburg-2015-time-100/ ] as “ the leading ( and very successful ) litigator on behalf of women ’ s rights – the Thurgood Marshall of that cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a comparison that made Ginsburg said made her “ uncomfortable ” .
She did copy the approach to overturning an existing legal order followed by Marshall and the NAACP .
But the social and cultural context in which she pursued women ’ s rights was much different than the one that faced the civil rights pioneers .
“ My life was not in danger , as his was , ” she said in a 2017 interview on CBS .
As inspiring as her mother was to her , there is no doubt that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life was the one she had with her husband , Martin Ginsburg .
She was a Cornell undergraduate and he was a first-year law student when they met .
They married a few days after her graduation .
She often said he was the first man interested in her brain .
They attended law school together , first at Harvard , then at Columbia .
Later in life he often said proudly that he did not make law review at Harvard , while she had .
“ He was secure in his abilities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of threat , ” Justice Ginsburg said in a Women in Legal Education oral history in 2014 .
As a law professor and tax specialist in private practice Martin eventually became the family ’ s chief breadwinner – and bread maker .
When they were a young couple a cousin of Ruth ’ s sent them “ The Escoffier Cookbook , ” the Bible of French cooking , as a gift .
Marty , a former chemistry major , worked through it like a textbook , starting with basic stocks , moving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the entire volume .
He did it , he said , because he knew his wife was a terrible cook .
His nutritional support was symbolic of the intellectual and logistical help he provided to help Ruth rise to the highest rung of her profession .
Eventually Martin became a semi-famous amateur chef .
After he died in 2010 , the spouses of the other Supreme Court justices got together and published his favorite recipes in the tribute “ Chef Supreme : Martin Ginsburg.
” Throughout her life Justice Ginsburg opposed the boxes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these ended up making women subservient to men , she felt , or were evidence of unconscious bias .
Take symphony musicians .
Justice Ginsburg loved opera and other classical music , and growing up she noticed that symphonies had virtually no women members , except for harpists , a traditionally female role .
Male music critics swore they could tell whether a woman or man was playing an instrument , with their eyes closed .
Then in the 1960s and ’ 70s , as the women ’ s movement gained momentum , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting auditioning musicians behind a drop curtain .
As Justice Ginsburg noted often in interviews and speeches , this simple act was transformational .
Critics couldn ’ t tell a player ’ s gender .
Almost overnight the number of women in symphony orchestras began to climb .
“ I wish we could have a drop curtain in every field of endeavor , ” she said in a 2018 conversation with National Constitution President Jeffrey Rosen .

“There are only a few modern justices who would have been significant figures in American law even if they had never served on the Supreme Court,” said law professor Richard Primus, a former Ginsburg clerk. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one.”
It is not an overstatement to say Justice Ginsburg was one of the most significant legal minds of modern American history.
Her influence on American law began long before she reached the Supreme Court. It was during her often-overlooked career as a law professor that she began to articulate her legal approach to achieving gender equality. In 1971, “I repaired to the library. There, in the space of a month, I read every federal decision ever published involving women’s legal status, and every law review article,” she said in a 1995 talk at Rutgers. “That was no grand feat. There were not many decisions, and not much in the way of commentary.”
Rare is the Supreme Court justice able to create a distinct legacy. Rarer still is the justice able to create a distinct legacy, shape an entire area of the law, and become a pop culture icon: the fiery, jabot-wearing “Notorious RBG.”
Piece by piece, case by case, she helped dismantle and rebuild for the better the ways women work, are paid, acquire responsibility, and participate in American political and economic society. In doing so Justice Ginsburg became an icon of achievement.
As an attorney, law professor, judge, and parent, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was always a fierce advocate for the equal treatment of women in every aspect of life.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was getting very little sleep. It was the early 1970s, and she was teaching at Columbia Law School while founding the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union and litigating historic gender discrimination cases nationwide. She was also a parent, raising two children with husband Marty. Their youngest, James, was a handful. And when James had a problem at school – a common occurrence – it was Ruth’s phone, not Marty’s, that would ring.
One day the school called Ms. Ginsburg’s Columbia office after she had been up all night writing a brief. She’d had enough. Picking up the phone she said, tartly, “This child has two parents. Please alternate calls. It’s his father’s turn.”
Then she hung up.
Why We Wrote This Rare is the Supreme Court justice able to create a distinct legacy. Rarer still is the justice able to create a distinct legacy, shape an entire area of the law, and become a pop culture icon: the fiery, jabot-wearing “Notorious RBG.”
After that the school called perhaps once a semester, Justice Ginsburg recounted gleefully in 2018 onstage at the Sundance Film Festival. They’d been fine with bothering her, but had been reluctant to interrupt Marty, a lawyer with a private firm.
As an attorney, law professor, judge – and yes, as a parent – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, was always a fierce advocate for the equal treatment of women in every aspect of life. “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” she reportedly dictated to her granddaughter in her final days.
Piece by piece, case by case, she helped dismantle and rebuild for the better the ways women work, are paid, acquire responsibility, and participate in American political and economic society.
In doing so Justice Ginsburg became an icon of achievement. Rare is the Supreme Court justice able to create a distinct legacy. Rarer still is the justice able to create a distinct legacy, shape an entire area of the law, and become a pop culture icon recognized around the country: the fiery, jabot-wearing “Notorious RBG.”
There is truth in the caricature. Justice Ginsburg’s dissents could flick like switchblades. As a young attorney arguing a case before the Supreme Court, she told justices that she asked for no favor for her sex – only that men “take their feet off our necks,” quoting abolitionist Sarah Grimké.
“Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said in a statement. “We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her – a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
Soft-spoken in person while steely and passionate on the page, Justice Ginsburg, it is not an overstatement to say, was one of the most significant legal minds of modern American history.
“There are only a few modern justices who would have been significant figures in American law even if they had never served on the Supreme Court,” said Richard Primus, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and a former Ginsburg clerk, in an email to the Monitor. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one.”
The SCOTUS years
Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was approved by the Senate 96-3, becoming the second female Supreme Court justice, following Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to the high court bench.
Among a minority of liberal-leaning justices for much of her time on the high court, she has few landmark opinions to her name. But as a reliable vote for progressive interpretations of the law, and in fiery dissents later in her career, she left an indelible mark on American jurisprudence, building on her work as a law professor and advocate.
In perhaps her most significant opinion, the 1996 decision in United States v. Virginia, she wrote that the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only admissions policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
It was in dissent, however, where Justice Ginsburg often made her voice heard on the Supreme Court. In a 2007 gender pay discrimination case, the court ruled 5-4 against Lilly Ledbetter, an employee at a tire company, because she had filed suit after the time limitation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act had expired. Reading her dissent from the bench, Justice Ginsburg criticized the majority for “a cramped interpretation of Title VII” and suggested that Congress “may act to correct this Court’s parsimonious reading of Title VII.”
Two years later, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and it became the first bill signed into law by then-President Barack Obama.
“Notorious”
In 2013 a pair of Ginsburg dissents cemented her status as a pop culture icon: the jabot-wearing, crown-toting “Notorious RBG.”
In the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case – a decision in which the court ruled 5-4 that private companies can refuse on religious grounds to provide contraceptive care to their employees – she wrote that “the court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield.” And in Shelby County v. Holder – in which the court ruled 5-4 to invalidate a portion of the Voting Rights Act requiring some states to get pre-cleared by the Justice Department before changing their voting laws – she wrote that throwing out pre-clearance “is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
The Hobby Lobby dissent, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick wrote in 2015, “became a cri de Coeur popularized in viral Facebook memes and a tribute song. Notorious R.B.G., crown and all, became the face of female employees in Hobby Lobby, and female workers everywhere whose bosses’ religious preferences might trump their right to birth control.”
A Notorious RBG book followed, as did numerous write-ups of her workout routine. Then, with progressives desperate for a hero in the Trump years, came the “RBG” documentary and the biographical film “On the Basis of Sex,” both released in 2018, not to mention countless “Saturday Night Live” skits starring Kate McKinnon.
Her celebrity rubbed some the wrong way, but she reportedly enjoyed it, and others credit her with making the Supreme Court accessible for a whole generation of young people. She had a crossover appeal that may not be seen on the high court for some time.
“Her life story combined with the work has created the story, and a lot of the other justices don’t have that,” says Tracy Thomas, a professor at the University of Akron School of Law. “Larger-than-life people maybe don’t come around all that often.”
An incremental warrior
Justice Ginsburg’s influence on American law began long before she reached the Supreme Court.
As a young girl in Brooklyn, Joan Bader – she started going by her middle name, Ruth, after starting school and discovering several other girls named Joan in her class – cited her mother, Celia, as a strong influence who told her “to be a lady. And for her that meant to be your own person, be independent.”
As a student at Harvard Law School she became the first female member of the Harvard Law Review, something she achieved while caring for her husband, Martin Ginsburg, as he fought cancer, and attending both of their classes.
It was during her often-overlooked career as a law professor that she began to articulate her legal approach to achieving gender equality.
When she became an assistant professor of law at Rutgers University in 1963, she became just the 19th woman in the country to be appointed to a tenure or tenure-track position at a law school approved by the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools. Nine years later, she became Columbia University’s first tenured woman law professor.
She began teaching courses focused on civil procedure, but issues of gender equality were intruding on her life nonetheless. She was paid less than male colleagues at Rutgers when she joined, and when she became pregnant in 1964 she was so frightened her contract wouldn’t be renewed she told no one, hiding her condition by wearing clothes “from my ever supportive, one size larger mother-in-law” until she signed a new contract. James Steven Ginsburg was born a few months later.
But it wasn’t until 1971 that she began to focus her scholarly energies on the legal status of women. It was around then, she said in a 1995 talk at Rutgers, that women at the school, encouraged by the civil rights movement, asked for a seminar on Women and the Law.
“I repaired to the library. There, in the space of a month, I read every federal decision ever published involving women’s legal status, and every law review article,” she said. “That was no grand feat. There were not many decisions, and not much in the way of commentary.”
By the time she reached Columbia, she was an activist. In her first month, she learned that as part of a money-saving effort, the university sent lay-off notices to 25 maids but no janitors. “I entered the fray,” Justice Ginsburg recalled in 1994, “which happily ended with no lay-offs.”
“Ginsburg did her most significant law reform work at Columbia,” writes Herma Hill Kay. “She melded her teaching, scholarship, and advocacy in the service of a cause that engaged her completely ... To put women into the United States Constitution.”
These experiences prepared her for what many gender law experts say is her most defining period: her eight years as general counsel of the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. In those years the project participated in hundreds of gender discrimination cases – often cases involving discrimination against men – and she argued six cases before the Supreme Court, winning five.
“That was really where she invented new concepts to litigate these [gender discrimination] cases,” says Professor Thomas.
In 1973 she argued that a Florida law allowing a property tax exemption for widows but not widowers was unconstitutional. In 1974 she won a case for a widower who couldn’t apply for social security benefits, and in 1978 she argued that a convicted murderer in Idaho had his right to a trial by jury violated because of a state law allowing automatic jury service exemptions for women.
The feminist legal scholar Joan Williams describes Justice Ginsburg’s approach as “reconstructive feminism,” meaning an approach that instead of focusing on women and the discrimination they face, focuses on “the gender dynamics within which [gender] identities are forged” more generally.
“Ginsburg’s goal was not merely formal equality. Her goal was a society in which women could gain access to roles traditionally reserved for men, and men could gain access to roles traditionally reserved for women,” writes Professor Williams. “We can see her as perhaps the first reconstructive feminist.”
Years later, in Time magazine, Justice Scalia would praise her as “the leading (and very successful) litigator on behalf of women’s rights – the Thurgood Marshall of that cause, so to speak.”
This was a comparison that Justice Ginsburg said made her “uncomfortable.” She did copy the approach to overturning an existing legal order followed by Marshall and the NAACP. But the social and cultural context in which she pursued women’s rights was much different than the one that the civil rights pioneers faced.
“My life was not in danger, as his was,” she said in a 2017 interview on CBS.
Ruth and Marty
As inspiring as her mother was to her, there is no doubt that the defining relationship in Justice Ginsburg’s life was the one she had with her husband, Martin Ginsburg.
They met at Cornell University as undergraduates, she as a freshman, he as a sophomore. She often said he was the first man interested in her brain. They married a few days after her graduation. Later, they attended law school together at Harvard University. When he got a job in New York upon graduation, she transferred to Columbia Law School, where she got her degree. Later in life he often said proudly that he did not make law review at Harvard, while she had.
“He was secure in his abilities, he never regarded me as any kind of threat,” Justice Ginsburg said in a Women in Legal Education oral history in 2014.
As a law professor and tax specialist in private practice, Martin eventually became the family’s chief breadwinner – and bread maker. When they were a young couple, a cousin of Ruth’s sent them “The Escoffier Cookbook,” the Bible of French cooking, as a gift. Marty, a former chemistry major, worked through it like a textbook, starting with basic stocks, moving on to sauces, and continuing through the entire volume.
He did it, he said, because he knew his wife was a terrible cook. His nutritional support was symbolic of the intellectual and logistical help he provided to help Ruth rise to the highest rung of her profession.
Eventually Martin became a semi-famous amateur chef. After he died in 2010, the spouses of the other Supreme Court justices got together and published his favorite recipes in the tribute “Chef Supreme: Martin Ginsburg.”
Throughout her life, Justice Ginsburg opposed the boxes of stereotypical gender roles. Too often these ended up making women subservient to men, she felt, or were evidence of unconscious bias.
Take symphony musicians. Justice Ginsburg loved opera and other classical music, and growing up she noticed that symphonies had virtually no women members, except for harpists, a traditionally female role. Male music critics swore they could tell whether a woman or man was playing an instrument, with their eyes closed.
Then in the 1960s and ’70s, as the women’s movement gained momentum, some symphony director had the idea of putting auditioning musicians behind a drop curtain. As Justice Ginsburg noted often in interviews and speeches, this simple act was transformational. Critics couldn’t tell a player’s gender. Almost overnight the number of women in symphony orchestras began to climb.
“I wish we could have a drop curtain in every field of endeavor,” she said in a 2018 conversation with National Constitution Center President Jeffrey Rosen.


csmonitor--2020-09-18--UN or not, a need for united nations

UN or not, a need for united nations

The photographs in this week ’ s cover story tell their own tale .
The article they accompany , by our foreign affairs correspondent Howard LaFranchi , looks at the United Nations , now in its 75th year .
Like so much these days , the United Nations is subject to wildly varying opinions .
One can make a credible argument that it has been a primary driver of global health and human rights at a time when global health and human rights have advanced faster than in any other period in human history .
One can also make a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inefficient and bloated bureaucracy whose best path forward involves a self-destruct button .
But look at those pictures .
There is the somber black-and-white photo of delegates in San Francisco at the first session of the organizing conference .
The date , of course , is telling : 1945 .
After the catastrophe of two world wars , that picture is a statement : We must try to find some way to move forward together – prosperity and peace demand it .
Then look at the photos that follow .
These are images @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vibrantly dressed women of Somalia carry a sack of corn .
The hijab-wearing girl attends school in a Palestinian refugee camp .
But they also bring the world ’ s challenges close .
Somalia faces hunger .
The Middle East deals with ancient hatred and war .
Whether or not the U.N. is worth celebrating or tossing into the dustbin , the photos underline a fact deeper than any human institution .
We are all interconnected .
This is not to endorse one policy path over another .
The attempt to balance self-reliance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Yet we must find those answers , now and in the future .
The U.N. is the world ’ s most ambitious attempt yet at finding an answer .
The experts in Howard ’ s article have an array of opinions about how well it is succeeding or failing .
But by this point in human history , we can answer one question with clarity : As a general rule , we are better off together than apart .
The sense of common purpose that sprang from World War II launched an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And we know that is no fluke .
It is demonstrably true that everyone is better off when everyone is better off .
The Economist magazine recently examined why some societies are more economically successful than others .
That , too , is an immensely complex and multilayered question .
But some part of the answer appears to be : Societies that are more open , trusting , and collaborative have an advantage .
“ In areas where people do not really trust those outside their family , it may be hard to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from economies of scale and which can drive the adoption of new technologies , ” the magazine says .
The work of building trust is an accelerant .
The work of finding common purpose is an accelerant .
Whether the U.N. is the best institution to do these things is an open question .
The necessity of doing that work is not .

The photographs in this week’s cover story tell their own tale. The article they accompany, by our foreign affairs correspondent Howard LaFranchi, looks at the United Nations, now in its 75th year.
Like so much these days, the United Nations is subject to wildly varying opinions. One can make a credible argument that it has been a primary driver of global health and human rights at a time when global health and human rights have advanced faster than in any other period in human history. One can also make a credible argument that the U.N. is an inefficient and bloated bureaucracy whose best path forward involves a self-destruct button.
But look at those pictures.
There is the somber black-and-white photo of delegates in San Francisco at the first session of the organizing conference. The date, of course, is telling: 1945. After the catastrophe of two world wars, that picture is a statement: We must try to find some way to move forward together – prosperity and peace demand it.
Then look at the photos that follow. These are images that bring the world close. The vibrantly dressed women of Somalia carry a sack of corn. The hijab-wearing girl attends school in a Palestinian refugee camp. But they also bring the world’s challenges close. Somalia faces hunger. The Middle East deals with ancient hatred and war.
Whether or not the U.N. is worth celebrating or tossing into the dustbin, the photos underline a fact deeper than any human institution. We are all interconnected. This is not to endorse one policy path over another. The attempt to balance self-reliance and care for others rejects simplistic answers. Yet we must find those answers, now and in the future.
The U.N. is the world’s most ambitious attempt yet at finding an answer. The experts in Howard’s article have an array of opinions about how well it is succeeding or failing. But by this point in human history, we can answer one question with clarity: As a general rule, we are better off together than apart. The sense of common purpose that sprang from World War II launched an unprecedented era of prosperity for humankind. And we know that is no fluke. It is demonstrably true that everyone is better off when everyone is better off.
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The Economist magazine recently examined why some societies are more economically successful than others. That, too, is an immensely complex and multilayered question. But some part of the answer appears to be: Societies that are more open, trusting, and collaborative have an advantage. “In areas where people do not really trust those outside their family, it may be hard to form large business organisations which can benefit from economies of scale and which can drive the adoption of new technologies,” the magazine says.
The work of building trust is an accelerant. The work of finding common purpose is an accelerant. Whether the U.N. is the best institution to do these things is an open question. The necessity of doing that work is not.


csmonitor--2020-09-18--Points of Progress: Reforestation project smashes goal, and more

Researchers say the world ’ s largest reforestation project – the 2011 Bonn Challenge – has beaten its 2020 target .
Launched nearly a decade ago by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Germany , the challenge aims to have 371 million acres of degraded forest under restoration by the end of the year .
According to a recent IUCN report , 61 nations plus states in Brazil , Mexico , and Pakistan and some environmental groups have committed to restoring roughly 519 million acres .
Experts say a key element of the Bonn Challenge ’ s success @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than planting trees : Countries have used their pledges to address national priorities such as food security and job creation .
On a national level , reforestation campaigns can be effective economic stimulus measures .
Preliminary analysis suggests that every dollar invested in restoring forests generates $ 9 of economic benefits .
( Thomson Reuters Foundation ) A record number of Black female tennis players represented the United States in the U.S. Open .
Just 10 years ago , Venus Williams was the only African American in the U.S. Open women ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ players were in the recent women ’ s singles tournament , including Venus and Serena Williams plus several up-and-coming players .
This figure does not include Naomi Osaka , who plays for Japan but grew up in the U.S. watching the Williams sisters .
This is a major shift for the historically white-dominated sport .
The United States Tennis Association says African American girls currently make up roughly 15 % of training camp attendees , on average , at various playing levels .
According to U.S. census estimates , Black people make up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It all starts with Venus and Serena , ” said Martin Blackman , general manager of player development at the USTA .
“ That attracted thousands of girls into the sport , not just African American but all backgrounds and races.
” ( The New York Times , Business Insider ) After sitting vacant for nearly a decade , a former inn in Branson , Missouri , has been converted into affordable housing , potentially providing a model to address housing shortages across the country .
Los Angeles-based development company Repvblik combined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apartments that rent for as little as $ 495 .
Unlike typical developments , the Branson project didn ’ t rely on federal funding .
Repvblik founder Richard Rubin says there ’ s room for many other developers to start repurposing large , abandoned commercial spaces into affordable housing units .
These kinds of adaptive reuse plans are often subject to zoning challenges , but can feature environmental and cost benefits because they require fewer new building materials .
Investors are starting to see the value in the new model , with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We hope to create about 20,000 apartments within the next five years , ” said Mr. Rubin .
( Fast Company , Forbes ) Mothers ’ names will now be printed on national identification cards in Afghanistan , a significant step in dismantling deep-rooted taboos around women ’ s role in public life .
Despite great strides in women ’ s leadership since the toppling of the Taliban , activists say Afghans still face intense misogyny masquerading as religiosity .
Until now , women weren ’ t included in the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only included the person ’ s first and last names , father ’ s name , and date of birth .
Because of these norms , widows often struggle to do business or assert themselves as legal guardians of their children without a man present .
The proposal to amend the census law comes after years of campaigning by activists , and more recently a social media campaign asking # WhereIsMyName ?
The Afghan Cabinet ’ s legal committee approved the change , and officials expect parliament and the president to sign off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supporter , celebrated the government announcement , saying the amendment “ is about restoring the most basic and natural right of women that they are denied.
” ( The New York Times ) Labor reforms in Qatar are ending the widely criticized kafala – or sponsorship – system , in which an employee needs permission from his or her boss to switch jobs .
For years , rights groups say this system led to exploitation and even forced labor among the country ’ s migrant workforce of roughly 2 million .
A new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passed in late August , allows workers to change jobs more freely .
Combined with the January abolition of an exit permit requirement for foreign workers to leave the country , the reforms mark “ the beginning of a new era for the Qatari labour market , ” according to the United Nations ’ International Labor Organization .
Workers and advocates welcomed the reforms , but emphasized the need for rigorous and consistent enforcement .
( The Guardian ) The Philippines is launching a new mobile app to combat wildlife trafficking , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a year that threatens the country ’ s biodiversity .
Currently , Filipinos can report suspected wildlife trafficking incidents through a Department of Environment and Natural Resources hotline , but a lack of cellphone reception or species knowledge can pose barriers to reporting .
The WildAlert app is designed to empower anyone , in any part of the country , to fight the illegal wildlife trade .
Its offline mode helps overcome patchy internet reception by automatically recording the time and location of an incident and sending that data to the nearest DENR @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The georeference feature and centralized data collection system will also help law enforcement monitor the trafficking crisis in real time .
As wildlife enforcement officers and the public wait for WildAlert ’ s full rollout , they can access the app ’ s wildlife library of 480 species – including conservation status and common names in local dialects – on the website WildAlert.ph .
( Mongabay )

World
Researchers say the world’s largest reforestation project – the 2011 Bonn Challenge – has beaten its 2020 target. Launched nearly a decade ago by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Germany, the challenge aims to have 371 million acres of degraded forest under restoration by the end of the year. According to a recent IUCN report, 61 nations plus states in Brazil, Mexico, and Pakistan and some environmental groups have committed to restoring roughly 519 million acres. Experts say a key element of the Bonn Challenge’s success is that the drive was about more than planting trees: Countries have used their pledges to address national priorities such as food security and job creation. On a national level, reforestation campaigns can be effective economic stimulus measures. Preliminary analysis suggests that every dollar invested in restoring forests generates $9 of economic benefits. (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
1. United States
Why We Wrote This This is more than feel-good news – it's where the world is making concrete progress. A roundup of positive stories to inspire you.
A record number of Black female tennis players represented the United States in the U.S. Open. Just 10 years ago, Venus Williams was the only African American in the U.S. Open women’s singles draw. Now, 12 Black players were in the recent women’s singles tournament, including Venus and Serena Williams plus several up-and-coming players. This figure does not include Naomi Osaka, who plays for Japan but grew up in the U.S. watching the Williams sisters.
Seth Wenig/AP View caption Hide caption Serena Williams celebrates her victory over Greece’s Maria Sakkari in a fourth-round match at the U.S. Open tennis champion- ships Sept. 7, 2020, in New York.
This is a major shift for the historically white-dominated sport. The United States Tennis Association says African American girls currently make up roughly 15% of training camp attendees, on average, at various playing levels. According to U.S. census estimates, Black people make up 13% of the U.S. population. “It all starts with Venus and Serena,” said Martin Blackman, general manager of player development at the USTA. “That attracted thousands of girls into the sport, not just African American but all backgrounds and races.” (The New York Times, Business Insider)
2. United States
After sitting vacant for nearly a decade, a former inn in Branson, Missouri, has been converted into affordable housing, potentially providing a model to address housing shortages across the country. Los Angeles-based development company Repvblik combined hotel rooms to create studio and single-bedroom apartments that rent for as little as $495. Unlike typical developments, the Branson project didn’t rely on federal funding. Repvblik founder Richard Rubin says there’s room for many other developers to start repurposing large, abandoned commercial spaces into affordable housing units. These kinds of adaptive reuse plans are often subject to zoning challenges, but can feature environmental and cost benefits because they require fewer new building materials. Investors are starting to see the value in the new model, with the company working on about 10 similar projects. “We hope to create about 20,000 apartments within the next five years,” said Mr. Rubin. (Fast Company, Forbes)
3. Afghanistan
Mothers’ names will now be printed on national identification cards in Afghanistan, a significant step in dismantling deep-rooted taboos around women’s role in public life. Despite great strides in women’s leadership since the toppling of the Taliban, activists say Afghans still face intense misogyny masquerading as religiosity. Until now, women weren’t included in the country’s definition of identity; IDs only included the person’s first and last names, father’s name, and date of birth. Because of these norms, widows often struggle to do business or assert themselves as legal guardians of their children without a man present.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters/File View caption Hide caption A woman hands over her identification card while voting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2009. Soon, national ID cards will include mothers’ names. Fathers’ names are already included.
The proposal to amend the census law comes after years of campaigning by activists, and more recently a social media campaign asking #WhereIsMyName? The Afghan Cabinet’s legal committee approved the change, and officials expect parliament and the president to sign off soon. Laleh Osmany, a campaign supporter, celebrated the government announcement, saying the amendment “is about restoring the most basic and natural right of women that they are denied.” (The New York Times)
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4. Qatar
Labor reforms in Qatar are ending the widely criticized kafala – or sponsorship – system, in which an employee needs permission from his or her boss to switch jobs. For years, rights groups say this system led to exploitation and even forced labor among the country’s migrant workforce of roughly 2 million. A new law, first announced last October and passed in late August, allows workers to change jobs more freely. Combined with the January abolition of an exit permit requirement for foreign workers to leave the country, the reforms mark “the beginning of a new era for the Qatari labour market,” according to the United Nations’ International Labor Organization. Workers and advocates welcomed the reforms, but emphasized the need for rigorous and consistent enforcement. (The Guardian)
5. Philippines
The Philippines is launching a new mobile app to combat wildlife trafficking, an illegal trade estimated at $1 billion a year that threatens the country’s biodiversity. Currently, Filipinos can report suspected wildlife trafficking incidents through a Department of Environment and Natural Resources hotline, but a lack of cellphone reception or species knowledge can pose barriers to reporting. The WildAlert app is designed to empower anyone, in any part of the country, to fight the illegal wildlife trade. Its offline mode helps overcome patchy internet reception by automatically recording the time and location of an incident and sending that data to the nearest DENR office once the user has a signal. The georeference feature and centralized data collection system will also help law enforcement monitor the trafficking crisis in real time. As wildlife enforcement officers and the public wait for WildAlert’s full rollout, they can access the app’s wildlife library of 480 species – including conservation status and common names in local dialects – on the website WildAlert.ph. (Mongabay)