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Posts by Katherine Kimpel

Kate Kimpel is the Senior Editor of Shattering the Ceiling and is also an accomplished civil rights lawyer. She represents women and people of color in discrimination cases (and other kinds of employment and civil rights matters).  When not lawyering, she likely is bragging about her hound dog Ulysses, inventing cocktails to serve at her next dinner party, or convincing her husband to watch reruns of a Joss Whedon television show (any of them will do). 

There is Nothing Fair about H.R. 985 “Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act”

While the hoopla of Trump and whatever ridiculous/unconstitutional/hateful thing he has tweeted/said at a press conference/signed into an executive order rolls along, some members of Congress are taking advantage of the distraction.  And, no, not to plan a really fun surprise for America.  Instead, it’s more of a “kill your puppy and leave the carcass for you to […]

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Systemic Discrimination Is Killing Black Babies in the United States

A few days ago, the Nation published a devastating article by Zoe Carpenter about the infant mortality rates for African-American babies.  The article deserves a careful and thorough read; it is a damning indictment of America’s collective failure to live up to our ideal of providing an equal playing field to young black Americans.  After […]

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Vestiges of Coverture: Child Marriage in Present Day United States

After my long-lasting obsession with 16 and Pregnant, I’m familiar with the fairy-tale fantasies of young women in high-school, who believe their Prince Charming must be the man-boy with whom they flirt, and text, and Snap, and procreate.  I also remember how mature I felt (and was, in some ways) when I was finishing up […]

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Feminism and Faith — Q & A with WIN Organizer Rev. Dunn-Almaguer

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with the Reverend Alison Dunn-Almaguer, an organizer for the Washington Interfaith Network (“WIN”).  As an organizer for WIN, Alison spends her days working with people from the DC metro community from Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist and Muslim congregations, ethical societies, and other non-profit organizations and unions.  After catching up […]

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A Hollywood Masterclass In What Intersectional Feminism DOESN’T Look Like

A few days ago, the LA Times posted an article about a meeting of Hollywood ladies where they decided to have some real talk about inequality in the industry and the struggles that women face.  This meeting happened at Sundance, and ended up having a somewhat raw exchange about the challenges women working in the […]

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Baggage Claim 15 at Dulles International Airport, Saturday Jan 28

So many people with signs.  They were streaming in from the parking lot in little groups — three here, two more there, a group of five laughing as they hurried in against the chill.  Then entering the concrete halls of the Dulles International Airport, there was the sound, bouncing.  Instead of announcements about baggage claim carousels, […]

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Oscar Nominations, Hollywood, Diversity and Representation

Much like the sign I saw at the March this past weekend proclaiming “Too much to protest to fit on one sign,” I find myself nearly overwhelmed by the choices of all the terrible things that are happening to pick even one to blog about.  So, in the time honored tradition of turning to Hollywood for […]

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Poetry for this Inaugural Day

On a day like today, we need poetry. First, Langston Hughes.  Let America Be America Again.  Read it all here.  But also, this: O, let America be America again— The land that never has been yet— And yet must be—the land where every man is free. The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME— […]

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Some Distractions In Advance of the Trump Inauguration

Today, I have to be out of my house as it gets cleaned in advance of the three houseguests who are coming to march and the approximately fifty guests who will use it as a launching point for the March on Saturday morning. This means that I am seeing, up close and personal, all the […]

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“I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” and The Courage To Make Change

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a dance performance by Memphis-based Collage Dance Collective, the Collage Ballet Conservatory, the Jones Haywood Dance School, and Duke Ellington School of the Arts.  It was a much needed dose of art as resistance and art as soul uplift. My favorite piece was entitled “Rise.”  Choreographed […]

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