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Autumn Tolbert

Loving libraries

Over the weekend, Forbes published an article from Panos Mourdoukoutas, the chairman of the Department of Economics of Long Island University and a frequent columnist, calling for all public libraries to be replaced by bookstores. Specifically, Amazon bookstores.
IT Arkansas job board

Power: not for the people

Monday night, I joined around 40 people in a small room on the third floor of the Fayetteville City Hall for an emergency meeting of the Fayetteville Housing Authority.
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Privileged civility

By now, we have all seen take after take from journalists and politicians about the events last Friday night at the Red Hen in Lexington, Va., where White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the restaurant after the owner and the staff decided they did not want to serve her.

Hardened

The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this week has me thinking about two things that just can't quit each other: politics and religion. Peas and carrots to some. Oil and water to others. Either way, to write on politics in the South is to write on religion in the South.
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Not gonna take it

Some of the best news from last week's primary election was from Arkansas House Minority Leader David Whitaker of Fayetteville, who pointed out that the House Democratic Caucus immediately gained three women after Tippi McCullough, Jamie Scott and Nicole Clowney all defeated their primary opponents and face no GOP opposition in November.

Trade places

I confess that over the years I've wished a fall from grace upon a number of people. I've come to call it the "Trading Places Award." The recipient is someone who has shown no compassion or empathy for someone else in a tough situation.
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Bad law

Ideally, every addict would have free access to excellent inpatient treatment immediately and could obtain leave from work and financial obligations so they could take advantage of that opportunity. But that isn't the reality of the world we live in here in Arkansas.

40 days of action

The news of the goings-on in D.C. is almost too much to handle. A steady stream of unqualified and shortsighted men and women rotate in and out of high-level government positions.
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Stormy shaming

Can we talk about Stormy Daniels? More specifically, can we talk about how we talk about Stormy Daniels?

Fire with fire

I'm fired up as I reflect on Easter and the ridiculous displays of piety by our elected officials who spend the rest of their time propping up systems that lead to injustice and suffering for anyone who isn't rich and white.
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Hitting students

A friend once joked that I love Arkansas so much that if they ever cut me open, they'll find an Arkansas-shaped heart beating inside my chest. It's true. But just as the state was beginning to show off her spring beauty last week, I was reminded of what a dark and imperfect place Arkansas can be.

Sexism everywhere

This past week I was a member of a panel of attorneys addressing discrimination in the practice of law. Just like any field, sexism exists in the legal industry, especially in certain practice areas.

Enough

On March 24, 1998, I listened to an answering machine message from my sister that simply said, "Mom is OK. Turn on CNN." I ran to the television and immediately knew my mom was fine because it was her voice coming out of the speaker. There had been a school shooting in Arkansas. In my hometown.

The other

"Those are devil worshippers out there," a boy at church told us one night as we watched the fires in the rice fields near the old Bono Church of Christ.

The future

On Saturday, thousands of women in Arkansas and millions across the country rallied and marched just as we did last January. In 2017, we marched in anticipation of bad things to come. In 2018, we marched in response. This year, we were louder, we were more unified and we were angrier.

On Oprah

I woke up Monday singing, "I'm Every Woman," the Chaka Kahn song that served as the theme to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in the early 1990s. After Winfrey's Sunday night speech at the Golden Globes, I, like many women, was moved and motivated.

A fresh start

For much of my adult life, I've tried to eat black-eyed peas and greens every New Year's Day, worrying that if I didn't, the year would be just awful. I've made resolutions. I've sworn off fast food. I've pledged to go to the gym three times a week.

Outraged

In last week's column, Gene Lyons asks the question, "How low will a columnist go?" before he insults the integrity of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), sympathizes with a man whose wife won't let him paw her in public, and equates Sen. Al Franken's alleged groping of women during photo ops as mere "insults." All while minimizing and dismissing the voices and experiences of the women he mentions.

Money talks

Democratic candidates face a dilemma in Arkansas. To take on the GOP members who are firmly entrenched in the state Legislature and Congress, they will need lots of money and lots of votes. The easiest way to get more votes is to spend more money. Obscene amounts of money. And thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and President Trump's judicial appointments, this will be our reality for a long time. The six Republicans who make up our congressional delegation have stopped pretending to care about their constituents. They vote in line with the interests of big corporations and lobbyists. They know what side their bread is buttered on.

Packed prisons

It seems like a recurring problem in Arkansas is that every time the state takes one step forward on something, we take two steps back.
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