Elayne Clift
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Articles by Elayne Clift
Clift: Bye bye, baby and good luck, mom
There’s a maternal and neonatal crisis looming large across the country that isn’t getting much attention, even when the lack of access to healthcare is raised as a political issue. That may not be on your radar if you aren’t pregnant or planning to be pregnant, but for young couples who want to have a child, it gives rise to anxiety and life-altering decisions, given the fact that birthing centers and hospital labor and delivery units are rapidly closing.
Natal crisis: Bye-bye, baby; good luck, mom
There’s a maternal and neonatal crisis looming large across the country that isn’t getting much attention, even when the lack of access to health care is raised as a political issue. That may not be on your radar if you aren’t pregnant or planning to be pregnant, but for young couples who want to have a child it gives rise to anxiety and life altering decisions, given the fact that birthing centers and hospital labor and delivery units are rapidly closing.
Clift: Book bans and museum myths
Along with other shocks that are bombarding us daily while the current regime thrives on cuts, insults, inaccuracies, and political power grabs, we are faced with some cuts that we should be paying attention to and resisting. Those cuts are aimed at our culture as a national community, our legitimate history, and our beloved literature.
Clift: 'Strange fruit' makes a comeback
His name was Trey Reed. He was 21 years old and a student at Delta State University in Mississippi. Last September he was found hanging near the campus. Authorities called it suicide. Juliana Nzita, 16, was a young immigrant from a country in Africa. She, too, was found hanging from a tree in May. To’Nea Nicole Miller, age 27, was found hanging from a tree in June this year, near Miami. Her death was also called a suicide.
Education teaches people to care for their future
“In America, one of its most characteristic and suggestive aspects is the recurring crisis in education that, during the last decade at least, has become a political problem of the first magnitude,” wrote philosopher and social critic Hannah Arendt in a 1954 essay called “The Crisis in Education.” She wasn’t the first to criticize educational failures and policies. Plato also pondered the place of education in society.
Clift: Reclaiming our time and treasure
There is a new urgency in the air, and it’s palpable. Grounded in collective anxiety and a plea for a return to a civil society free of fear, oppression, oligarchs and megalomaniacs who defy laws and ignore the Constitution, we’ve had enough of the dystopian nightmare propagated by an authoritarian regime rife with abuse and massive corruption. The threat of creeping totalitarianism is glaringly obvious, and we are waking up to what that means.
Clift: Demise of education priorities
‘In America, one of its most characteristic and suggestive aspects is the recurring crisis in education that, during the last decade at least, has become a political problem of the first magnitude.” Philosopher and social critic Hannah Arendt wrote that in 1954 in an essay called “The Crisis in Education.” She wasn’t the first to criticize educational failures and policies. Plato also pondered the place of education in society.
Clift: Epidemic of evil
On May 19, a pregnant woman and her 4-year-old son arrived at Dulles International Airport coming from Ghana. She had a valid tourist visa to bring her son to the U.S. for medical treatment, but something unexpected happened when they landed. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents questioned the purpose of her trip, and for unknown reasons, locked her and her son in a windowless room at the airport with only a single bed, toilet and sink.
Friendship is necessary to create a good life
They sat on the steps of their cabin, two teenage girls, long into the night. It began as a camp conversation and quickly metamorphosed as they began their journey toward becoming best friends. The friendship grew and grew as they became BFFs over the years, like a perennial plant that blossoms in vibrant colors repeatedly over time.
Clift: Gift of friendship
They sat on the steps of their cabin, two teenage girls, long into the night. It began as a camp conversation and quickly metamorphosed as they began their journey toward becoming best friends. The friendship grew and grew as they became BFFs over the years, like a perennial plant that blossoms in vibrant colors repeatedly over time.
Clift: Healthcare deficit looms large
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” His words strike the heart of a question we need to be asking, and indeed, demanding: Where is humanity in our current state of healthcare? In a time that lacks compassion and empathy, that is a dangerous, and depraved, omission because it causes people to suffer and even die. It should be clear that humanity in healthcare is essential to the quality of life, as well as survival.
Clift: From cutting flowers for Mother’s Day, to cutting women in science
As May was nearing an end, two ideas kept nagging me. One was the commercialization of Mother’s Day, which florists and greeting card companies love, and the other was the slashing of funds for science, which profoundly affects women scientists. I kept thinking there was a connection between the two, and finally I got it. First, it struck me as superficial, disingenuous and trivializing to wish moms “Happy Mother’s Day” once a year. Didn’t mothers deserve more than a bouquet or a sentimental card?
Clift: Living with a Chinese curse
It is believed that the phrase, “May you live in interesting times,” originated in China. But it didn’t start there. It likely happened when a British diplomat in the 1930s described that time as an era of turbulence, danger and chaotic change. That certainly suggests our own time of danger and chaos, caused by a regime that can only be called dangerous, chaotic and crazy.
Clift: Homage to libraries and librarians
A little girl learning to read sits in a chintz chair in her bedroom, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” in her hands. She found the story in the local library, thrilled that she can read and follow the tale page by page. That little girl was me. Being excited I could read, that story launched my weekly visits to the library. Later, when I could read more advanced books, I took out at least two books a week and immediately sat in my chintz chair to start reading them.
Clift: Time to end the dangerous lunacy
If you’re like me, you just can’t take it anymore. Every day it’s another travesty, another insane, infuriating action, more posturing, evasion and lies, more threats to a midterm election, along with a heightened possibility of expanding wars, a global economic crisis, increased likelihood of living in a full-blown fascist autocracy, and on a planet in doubt of survival.
Clift: Reflections on growing older
‘Do not go gentle into that good night,” Welsh poet Dylan Thomas famously wrote, adding “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” The words are beautiful, but as I face another birthday, I think it is probably better to go gently into the inevitable night. In two poems I wrote after the loss of my mother and both siblings, I contemplated the inevitability of death. I revisited those poems recently which I do as each year passes. Here, abbreviated, is what I wrote, in edited prose.
Clift: War on women continues
Every year when calendars mark International Women’s Day on March 8, many people take no notice. But many women around the world do, as we mourn the travesties still being perpetrated against females of all ages in most places on the globe. It’s worrying to note we must begin this year witnessing (or ignoring) a staggering increase in political, personal and cultural misogyny, ranging from sexual abuse, anti-woman legislation and violence.
Clift: A disturbing dissonance
It was during the snowstorms in January when my family managed to meet up for a birthday celebration in sunny California where the temperatures were in the 60s and 70s and the sky was beautifully blue every day. The winter respite was lovely but sobering as well, because I knew we were lucky to be able to take the trip since we are what could be called, in economic terms, privileged. That alone made me feel guilty as we departed.
Clift: Facing a new world disorder
This year we find ourselves facing a dangerous world in which old norms and rules are changing or disappearing rapidly. We have yet to realize what the ramifications will be of what is taking place, not just for our own country but for all countries, irrespective of geography, economic stability and political leadership. A piece in The Washington Post in December shared a speech by Ishaan Tharoor on behalf of the World Food Program USA.
Clift: Looking back in gratitude
In 1964, Barbra Streisand sang the song “People.” It began like this: “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” That line seemed to me to include an oxymoron: People who need people, it seemed to me, were lonely and sad, not lucky.
Clift: Plethora of pardons and a personal ask
Given the numbers of pardons the president has granted in his second term, it seems like a good idea to ask for preemptive forgiveness for any crimes of conscience I may commit. The president is so happy to pardon people, I figure my chances are pretty good that I won’t end up in jail for very long. Here’s a partial list of my pardons plea for the president.
Clift: Gendercide - misogyny makes a major comeback
In 2025, the National World War II Museum declared on its website,“The concept of genocide has fundamentally altered international law, history, and global geopolitics forever, transforming the way we understand mass violence in the modern world.” The word, coined by a Polish Jewish lawyer in response to the Holocaust, referred to a historic practice as it relates to post-war actions.
Clift: Mourning the People’s House
It was bad enough when the White House Oval Office was suddenly transformed into a fire sale of faux gold decorations dripping from the mantlepiece and every other available space. Before that, it was an elegant room in the White House, lovingly called the People’s House, which has always been recognized as a national historic site.
A Christmas wish list
As a child I never wrote to the North Pole hoping Santa would deliver my requests. I knew it was a long shot, but it seemed worth a try. As an adult, I don’t keep To Do Lists, a bucket list, a shopping list or any other kind of list. But this year I have a list as long as my left arm. I know it’s a long shot that any of my current wishes will be granted, but it seems worth a try and it’s at least a catharsis. And there’s so much to wish for.
Clift: Christmas wish list
As a child, I never wrote to the North Pole hoping Santa would deliver my requests. I knew it was a long shot, but it seemed worth a try for those who did send letters to Santa. As an adult, I don’t keep to-do lists, a bucket list, a shopping list, or any other kind of list. But this year, I have a list as long as my left arm. I know it’s a long shot any of my current wishes will be granted, but it seems worth a try, and it’s at least a catharsis. And there’s so much to wish for.
Clift: Why Gen Z gives me hope Original
While researching what Gen Z means, I had to understand the generation born between the 1990s and 2010. I learned they succeed millennials and preceed Gen A (Alpha). Thankfully, there’s a quote for every generation. This one, which originated with Walt Disney, seemed illustrative of Gen Z: “The Way to Get Started is to Quit Talking and Begin Doing.” Gen Zers want to act vs. eternally debating or studying issues related to governance.
Clift: Democrats need to alter their messaging
A year from now, we will be having an election, if we’re lucky. Right now, it doesn’t look good given the actions of an increasingly fascist government run amuck. Democracy’s death knell grows ever louder as dictatorship looms large. Many of us are already worried that the president will fabricate a crisis aimed at canceling the election, or that sophisticated cyber interventions will mess with election results to keep him in office.
Clift: Women warriors
“The days of sweeping this under the rug are over. We survivors say no more. (We are) no longer weak, (we are) no longer powerless and (we are) no longer alone.” When Anouska De Georgiou, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s bottomless abuse, stepped to the podium at the U.S. Capitol on a hot day in September and spoke those words, supported by a sisterhood of women who told their stories, the decades of silence gave way to the truth about unimaginable crimes.
Clift: Can democracy prevail and thrive?
Two centuries ago, an obscure Scotsman named Alexander Fraser Tyler observed that “a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.” Yet here we are, nearly 250 years into America’s experiment with a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in his Gettysburg address. Sadly, now Tyler’s idea that democracy fails when “the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury,” is upon us.
Clift: Can democracy prevail and thrive?
Two centuries ago, an obscure Scotsman named Alexander Fraser Tyler observed that “a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.” Yet here we are, nearly 250 years into America’s experiment with a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in his Gettysburg address. Sadly, now Tyler’s idea that democracy fails when “the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury,” is upon us.
Clift: Why civilized nations embrace art, history and culture
It wasn’t bad enough when the President took over the Kennedy Center. It got worse when he signed an executive order in March that accused the Smithsonian Institution of being influenced by a “diverse, race-centered ideology” because of an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Why Civilized Nations Embrace Art, History, and Culture
It wasn't bad enough when the president took over the Kennedy Center. It got worse when he signed an executive order in March that accused the Smithsonian Institution of being influenced by a "diverse, race-centered ideology" because of an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Clift: Food for thought as school year begins Original
I remember the days when school was about to begin for another year. Kids went to the five-and-dime store to buy new pencil holders, good erasers and tablets, before carefully covering their new schoolbooks with brown paper bags from the grocery store. Sometimes we got new saddle shoes, too. It was exciting, and thankfully, our parents didn’t have to worry about funding cuts that would affect our school district.
Mourning the loss of public service media
It’s 1950 and my family just became TV owners. A console with a little black and white screen faces the couch in our tiny den, where every day we kids watch shows that seem utterly ridiculous now. But then, “Captain Kangaroo,” “Howdy Doody,” “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “Superman” held our attention just like soap operas did for adults. We were too old to visit “Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood,” which was launched in 1968, although we caught glimpses of it — I loved the character Lady Elaine.
Clift: Mourning the public service media loss
It’s 1950 and my family has become TV owners. A console with a little black-and-white screen faces the couch in our tiny den, where every day we kids watch shows that seem utterly ridiculous now. But then “Captain Kangaroo,” “Howdy Doody,” “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “Superman” held our attention just like soap operas did for adults. We were too old to visit “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” launched in 1968, although we caught glimpses of it. (I loved the character Lady Elaine).
Clift: SCOTUS vs Constitution
SCOTUS ignores the law and trades compassion for cruelty. Only three of them remain. They are women with integrity, refined intellect, a belief in human rights, and a deep knowledge of the law. Now they mourn the betrayal of six colleagues on the Supreme Court who fail to respect the oaths they took to protect and preserve a 236-year-old document upon which our country was founded.
Clift: Art and travel
Summer always reminds me of the sheer joy of traveling whether to new places, or to nearby venues, or even back to favorite spots. All my life I have disagreed with Henry David Thoreau who thought it wasn’t “worthwhile to (travel) around the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.” The joy of travel has been in my blood since I was a child when our family summer vacation was a trip to visit our Canadian family.
Clift: The height of hypocrisy
Remember the political phrase some years ago endorsed by Republicans who called themselves “the moral majority” while critics’ responded that they were neither? Or the Democratic crie de coeur that Republicans only cared about children from conception to birth? Well, the time has come to recall those responses. It’s clear the Trump administration is embracing a pronatalist position taken straight out of the Hitler playbook.
Clift: New eugenics wave
A new eugenics wave is trying to make disability and disease disappear. Back in the 1980s when I was a budding journalist publishing articles related to women and health while working as program director for the National Women’s Health Network, I had the privilege of interviewing Judy Heumann and her collaborator, Ed Roberts. Judy was known by then as the Mother of the Disability Movement, and Ed was called the Father of Independent Living.
Clift: Machinations just won’t quit
Lately, I’ve been worried about some new steps the Trump administration has in mind. There’s the gigantic Trojan horse airplane the president is excited about. And the threat of millions of Americans losing Medicaid coverage as lawmakers consider changing the health care insurance program that benefits more than 70 million people nationwide, according to a Newsweek Report.
Clift: The price of purges
Imagine this: A historic hurricane barrels towards Florida’s Gulf Coast, or massive fires move quickly through California, or a giant tornado tears through the Midwest. But there is no way to know these disasters are coming because the Trump administration has fired hundreds of workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency that tracks and monitors weather events that threaten massive numbers of people who live in susceptible areas.
Turbulent Times Redux
Some time ago I wrote a piece about my fear of flying. It was after reading Erica Jong’s 1973 novel Fear of Flying, which had nothing to do with flying. But it had a bit in it about her own fear of flying that captured my anxiety. Her description of trembling on takeoff mirrored mine. Whenever I think about boarding a hunk of silver metal that weighs more than a large beluga whale that’s about to hurtle across the hopefully vacant sky, “my fingers (and toes) turn to ice,” she wrote.
Clift: Demise of education
The demise of education is a looming catastrophe. It’s happening slowly but the consequences will be stunning. From pre-school, to elementary and high school, to higher education, we stand to lose generations of youth and emerging adults who will have been denied their right to accessible, quality education that fosters critical thinking, higher learning and skills that will allow them to be valuable members of society no matter what they choose to undertake as adults in the workforce.
The demise of education is a looming catastrophe
It’s happening slowly, but the consequences will be stunning. From pre-school to elementary and high school to higher education, we stand to lose generations of youth and emerging adults who will have been denied their right to accessible, quality education that fosters critical thinking, higher learning and skills that will allow them to be valuable members of society no matter what they choose to undertake as adults in the workforce.
Clift: Six Triple Eight and Rosie the Riveter belong on the Mall Original
In his final week in office, President Biden signed important legislation that would allow a monument dedicated to American women to be placed on the National Mall. It would honor women’s suffragists who, after 70 years of trying, would finally be recognized for what they achieved in 1920 — the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage National Monument was approved on the eve of Donald Trump’s second term.
Some women who should be included on the National Mall
In his final week in office, President Biden signed important legislation that would allow a monument dedicated to American women to be placed on the National Mall. It would honor women’s suffragists who, after seventy years of trying, would finally be recognized for what they achieved in 1920: the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage National Monument was approved on the eve of Donald Trump’s second term.
Clift: Gifts of Black culture, creativity and science
Each February, National Black History Month, we remember an essential part of our national history. It’s one that includes the racism that led to slavery, oppression, segregation, violence, and the marginalization that continues today. But it’s also a time to recognize the gifts Black contributions have made creatively, culturally and scientifically to American life and beyond.
Clift: Gifts of Black culture, creativity and science
Each February, National Black History Month, we remember an essential part of our national history. It’s one that includes the racism that led to slavery, oppression, segregation, violence, and the marginalization that continues today. But it’s also a time to recognize the gifts Black contributions have made creatively, culturally and scientifically to American life and beyond.
Remember the gifts of Black culture, creativity and science
Each February, National Black History Month, we remember an essential part of our national history. It’s one that includes the racism that led to slavery, oppression, segregation, violence, and the marginalization that continues today. But it’s also a time to recognize the gifts that Black contributions have made creatively, culturally and scientifically to American life and beyond.
Remember the gifts of Black culture, creativity, science
Each February, National Black History Month, we remember an essential part of our national history. It’s one that includes the racism that led to slavery, oppression, segregation, violence, and the marginalization that continues today. But it’s also a time to recognize the gifts that Black contributions have made creatively, culturally and scientifically to American life and beyond.
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