if i could just add, i teach a class called the politics of masculinity and we teach exactly that point. one of the points people don t realize is that it is also incredibly bad for men. men die sooner from all these preventible causes of illness trying to be a tough man. you re more likely to die in violence than die in a car wreck. so in a way it s like men saying why should i care about this feminist stuff. it s actually good for your mortality to pay attention to some of these issues because this prison of the hedgemonic construction of masculinity is also very, very bad for men. so i was thinking that one of the things that ties into everything that everybody has said around the table is that this is really systemic, right? so whether it s the judges who sometimes are women who are letting off these rapists or whether it s media who have up
president yesterday. a few minutes ago secretary shinseki offered me his own resignation. with considerable regret, i accepted. the move may have been inevitable, as more than 100 members of congress from both parties have been calling for his resignation. and, yes, it may have been necessary. but one man s resignation is not the solution to systemic failure. that s why my letter this week goes to one of the leaders in washington who had the opportunity to address the needs of our nation s veterans and chose not to. dear senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, it s me, melissa. now, you were quick to praise the resignation of secretary shinseki yesterday, and that s fine. sometimes the face of an institution needs to change so that the institution itself can change. but i m more concerned about your approach to our veterans a few months back. now, i get it, when you look at the numbers associated with taking care of our veterans, it can be daunting. the number of veterans right n
because they come into school hungry and why shouldn t it be nutritious. why shouldn t it be good for them. the language of culture that you just used seems to me to also be part of what is wrapped up here in the politics. so i didn t know this until i sent my kid to an elite private school, which hadn t been part of my childhood or anything, and the food in that school is utterly different. the presumption that, of course, there would be some apples sitting around in the hallway for kids to eat and of course there would be a smoothie bar and a salad bar. is part of the politics the presumption that some kinds of kids will get certain kinds of food. kids that are from communities where we expect them to know how to eat it. but in communities where we presume the culture is that people don t eat well, then we also should not provide good food at the schools? no, this is about politics, it s not about school food at all. i see. it really has to be understood as being about politi
the nonprofit wellness in the schools. he also helped launch first lady obama s let s move initiative. thank you all for being here. so did you see a new tone from our first lady this week? i certainly did, and rightfully so. this is a real food fight. we are all trying to figure out why we are in this position. the school nutrition association worked really hard for decades and were very, very supportive of the regulations. we are baffled that they have made this turn-around and we are trying to figure out why. it certainly is not about children. so the narrative is that what it s about is cost and the difficulty of schools. you know, honestly as i listen to it, you know, maybe this is a stretch, but, dang, it sounds a lot like that all deliberate speed anxiety that we had 50 years ago about the integration
front of them so that they can go into the second half of the day with like a good brain. do you have a children s menu at your restaurant? as a parent, one of the things i m always irritated by is the idea that kids with opt out into sort of the least healthy options. they re not even asked to in a dining out experience sort of think about, okay, maybe i don t want the pasta with all that on it but i ll just take some plain pasta or i ll take some green beans or something. i don t present a children s menu to people at either restaurant, but of course if somebody comes in and their children wants a plate of buttered pasta, we ll make it. when our daughter was very, very, very young we walked into this restaurant we really wanted to try in vermont and this guy gave me this speech about how i want my i want all the kids to try the food. i said, yeah, but what happens if i want my kid to try to eat something and we ll put the vegetables in it, but again with my daughter it took tim