Knitting on 2mm Needles

Almost everyone who begins a craft also begins with a long list of things we won’t do because we think they’re too hard. When I originally began knitting back in the early 90s, my very first project was a sweater and my second was a vest with cables and moss stitch; my third–I think by [...]

A Farewell to Feminism

I have been silent for some time now, because I have gone through a series of major life changes.  One of which (perhaps the smallest) was coming to a conclusion about my writing—the more so since many of my fictional characters are female.  Which is that I am forced to say, I am no longer [...]

Americans are Expendable to Their Goverment

Americans are Expendable to Their Government Americans are expendable to their government and the corporations.  That is the simple meaning of refusing to extend unemployment benefits to Americans, on the theory that unemployment benefits keep people from working and lead to inflation.  Never mind that there is no work to be had—having exported its manufacturing [...]

A Feminist Theory of the Second Amendment

A Feminist Theory of the Second Amendment by Erin Solaro  I wasn’t going to write this for a while, I figured I’d write about Israel for a time, but I expect there will be plenty of opportunity to do so later this summer.  Instead, I thought I would write about McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme [...]

Israel and the Gaza Flotilla

When a trap is being visibly prepared for you, which the “Peace Flotilla” was, it is inadvisable to stick your head into it.  Which Israel did when it boarded one of those ships and Israeli commandos were attacked.  Let me be clear about this.  Israel did two things wrong.  The first was boarding these ships [...]

On Memorial Day: Repealing DADT

Memorial Day and Repealing DADT by Erin Solaro Harry Truman liked to observe that there’s something about DC that turns physically brave soldiers into cowards. Moral cowards. Most often, the motivator of this cowardice is presumed to be political: protecting service budgets, advancing bureaucratic agendas, playing the game and in general, as one decorated Air [...]

Israel: Land of the Silent Majority: Part 1

Israel:  Land of the Silent Majority: Part 1 by Erin Solaro In any human endeavor, the standard is not perfection.  The standard is the alternative. Not just, what should you do, but what else can you, might you do?  And what else might others, similarly situated, do . . . or threaten to do? The [...]

America, Israel and Russia

America, Israel and Russia by Erin Solaro Genuine decadence is not the refusal to meet previous, and often putative, standards of excellence, but the refusal to do the things necessary to survive. By that standard, Russia is not decadent, it is enormously serious about its survival, at times far too much so in the past, [...]

What Do We Do With Our Freedom?

What Do We Do with Our Freedom? By Erin Solaro Delivered at Winthrop University for the John C. West Forum 2 March 2010   Thank you for having me and thank you for coming here to listen to me speak.  My name is Erin Solaro, author of Women in the Line of Fire:  What You [...]

Mourning Al Haig

by Erin Solaro This is a post I never thought I’d write. I’m (more or less) a liberal and a progressive, an unapologetic feminist. I intensely disliked President Reagan and disagreed with many of his policies, except for his attitude towards the Soviet Union. When he called the Union an evil empire, I didn’t understand [...]