Alida Brill

On Dr. Tiller's Death  by Alida Brill 6/3/09

When right-wing commentators and talk-show guests characterize such good and compassionate men as criminals and worse, can we be surprised at the outcome? The author argues that, to honor George Tiller, we must insist on a public debate that reflects reality and the rule of law.

On Sunday the 31st of May in Wichita, Kansas, in his home church, Reformation Lutheran, Dr. George Tiller was gunned down.  He was killed in plain view as he distributed the morning’s service bulletins.  George Tiller obviously believed in God, prayed and practiced medicine.  He did so under what those who hated Tiller believe is the foundation of our country’s stability—the often-cited  “rule of law.” He was murdered because he performed abortions, especially because he allowed women the right to choose in consultation with him and other doctors to terminate pregnancy post first trimester.

He was not a criminal, a mass murderer or a threat to our democratic way of life. He was a protector of the health of women, and a practitioner of the rights guaranteed to us under the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. He was able to distinguish between a woman’s privacy and constitutional rights as a citizen and whatever were his own personal religious beliefs. He understood that the laws of the land are not the same as the Bible as dictated by its interpreters—many who would quite obviously be pleased to see more theocracy and less constitutionality.  

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My Subversive Barbie  by Alida Brill 3/9/09

Whatever the iconic doll has come to mean to little girls around the world, to the author, decades ago, she was a spark to the imagination. Both she and Barbie could be anything—well, just about.

A friend of mine is turning 50 today.

Our friendship was brief but intense.  I didn’t get invited to her glitzy celebrity and fashion-hype parties. We don’t run in the same circles any longer.

Although she’s a decade younger than I am she doesn’t change. Her face is flawless. Her eye shadow never smudges down her cheeks.  Her manicure is eternally red.  She retains a perfectly impossible body.

Everybody knows it’s Barbie’s birthday. 

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My Mother, Hillary and a Banner Day by Alida Brill 3/31/08

My mother’s birthday was March 4.  She turned 100, becoming a centenarian.  My friends stop for a moment trying to do that calculation in their heads because the arithmetic doesn’t work automatically—until they remember that I was born in her 40s.  She was far ahead of her time in late childbearing and in most other things as well.

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Lessons From a Congress Rushing to Recess by Alida Brill 8/29/07

Remember the excuse about not being prepared for class? “I’m sorry teacher, the dog ate my homework.”

The tally of Democratic votes that extended the power to engage in surveillance without warrants suggests a few DC dogs chomping away on paperwork intended for their masters: 16 Democrats in the Senate voted with Republicans while others were MIA. In the House, 41 Democrats jumped the aisle. As summer fades, we march into further obliteration of rights.

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Betty Friedan, Map-Maker by Alida Brill 2/6/06

Betty Friedan died Saturday, February 4, 2006. It was her 85th birthday. Now, after almost three decades of friendship, I find it surreal: writing this remembrance and not a birthday greeting. The symmetry of the dates would not escape her notice.

She was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1921–her young mind an engine driving her into territories unknown for most girls of her time. Eventually, she would map those territories, in a book that intensified a call for women’s rights.

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