Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Using moms to argue equal pay same as using dads to justify unequal wages

So it turns out that the Equal Rights Amendment had nothing to do with laundry detergent.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Let's pin the issue of sexual assault where it belongs: on the attackers

Let's talk about the rapists. Conversations, including in those in Congress, about how to get thousands of military women who have been sexually assaulted to believe, despite ample evidence to the contrary, that their accounts will be heard and addressed with justice skips an elemental part …

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Great expectations for 'kids' of NY Times Student Journalism Institute

Connecting the dots of decisions made and circumstances encountered may be an exclusively human experience. We crave meaning, resolution, a storyline that helps us, at a certain point in our lives, look back and take account.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Enough with all of the endless varieties of 'communities'!

Lumping people into categories isn't a new invention. In high school it was jocks, preps, burnouts, rockers, potheads, soshies - and, if, like me, you're from St. Louis, you have to include hoosiers (which has nothing to do with Indiana and everything to do with mullets).

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: The 'wouldn't have prevented' gambit on gun-safety laws

Few words are worth less in the campaign to make our communities safer from gun violence than "But it wouldn't have prevented …"

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Share-everything culture forgets there's a time, place for living out loud

It's amazing how inanity can pierce through amplified sound. The whispers, and then the emboldened blah blah blahs must possess some kind of special audio frequency.

Sarah Gassen: Arizona's follicle conservatives

I'm following the ever-so-straight line that Arizona Rep. David Gowan has so helpfully drawn for the public, connecting the dots straight from health-care to coiffures.

Sarah Gassen: Boston wounded don't need to "overcome" for us

When Boston was attacked and limbs went flying, people who thought their day would be spent watching runners cross the finish line found themselves on an unwanted journey.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: A good day for criminals who want to buy a gun

Too many senators support easy access to guns for criminals and people who are dangerously mentally ill.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: If you're happily married, why would you deny that pleasure to others?

The wedding was a few weeks away. It was a quiet moment in our four-person news bureau.

Sarah Gassen: What's hanging from the axles of lawmakers obsessed with private parts?

Not that long ago I was just a happy-go-lucky person making my way through life.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Kelly is a target because he wants to curb guns; ignore the distractions

We've come to the distraction part of the gun "debate." Look over there! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Mark Kelly doing something!

Sarah Gassen: Our lives are kaleidoscopes of tiny, isolated moments in time

We've perfected traveling through time and space without leaving our seats. Sitting side-by-side, our molecules are close to one another, but we're miles and galaxies away. It's always been that way, but back then we called it imagination.

Sarah Gassen: Ethnic studies can be taught in Ariz. schools (yeah, right)

First, a short quiz. We're going to do a quick word-find exercise using the Arizona academic standards for K-12 in social studies.

Sarah Gassen: Ochoa school's Peace Garden is an award-winning family affair

Kids know that to get things done, you have to accept that you can't do it alone. And you have to ask.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: The sequester is going to hurt, no matter what the seed-eaters say

Barring any last minute "miracles" to call off this Congress-inflicted fiasco, automatic federal budget cuts will kick in. The reductions total $1.2 trillion spread over nine years. The first cuts will be $85 billion by the end of September.

Sarah Gassen: Green Valley town hall featured John McCain vs. John McCain

John McCain can't run away from John McCain, though he tries.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: We have to do something to promote mental health, so here's a start

People call newsrooms to share. A complaint about a story, a compliment, a question on anything from "why doesn't my TV show the game?" to "why won't Politician X call me back?"

Sarah Gassen: Our differences are undeniable, but they do not define who we are

I have this fear that the headline on my obit will read: "One-legged journalist kicks the bucket."

Sarah Garrecht Gassen: Illogic of NRA's hostility to background checks is now front and center

"My problem with background checks is that you'll never get criminals to go through background checks," NRA frontman Wayne LaPierre said Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on preventing gun violence.

Sarah Garrecht Gassen : In his overture to Mickelson, Arizona's Sen. Melvin carves another divot

Please excuse me a moment. I need a hanky. No, no. I'm OK. Just need a second to freshen up.

Meet the ninja-suited me - and don't mess with the new Sarah, pal

Editor's note: Sarah Garrecht Gassen's column now appears Thursdays.

Gun owners have the right to destroy weapon if they choose

The right to own a gun includes the right to destroy that gun. That's as American as apple pie.

Don't listen to Republicans - Affordable Care Act is a great achievement

There is a term that crops up in disability circles: "temporarily able-bodied." It's when, not if, you will become disabled thanks to aging, illness or accident. And when that happens, you will need medical care.

Passing years require us to find joy where we can

Why are the people who need us - and those we need - often so very far away? Out of reach except for visits already limited by money, time and the inescapable obligations of daily existence.

Patriotism isn't defined by flag-motif clothes, but by free speech, dissent

I love our country. Our promise. Our hopefulness and imperfections.

When it comes to Bennett, don't believe everything you hear

Ken Bennett, a man who until recently was one of the more together Republican state officials, is no mere birther. No, sir.

Meals on Wheels provides food, thread to outside world

Not everyone has someone. Some of us will live out our old age alone. Without family or friends at our bedside. Without someone to hold our hands or tell us it will be OK. Without someone to notice.

Saying goodbye hurts most when the experience has been worthwhile

I hate saying goodbye. Always have. Because the next hello, when it comes, will be the meeting of people shaped by the inevitable rhythms of life. Age, experience, expectation. It will be sweet in the way that reunion can be, but it can't be the same.

Expressions of gratitude - even 'hellos' - are valuable; pass 'em along

We don't tell each other good things nearly often enough. We take for granted the people in our lives who add joy.

Contraception debate is a false front for legislating one type of religion

Cloaked in the false flag of "religious freedom," what's happening in our state Capitol, in the Republican presidential primary race and across the country is the disintegration of a person's human rights.

If my permanent disability is temporary, what of so many in need?

Dear state of Arizona,

A man of faith and devoted to rule of law

U.S. District Judge John McCarthy Roll of Tucson was remembered Saturday by colleagues, lawyers and friends for his stern law-and-order style and dedication to the law.

Immigration law will prompt the world to 'profile' Arizona as racist, backward

I've been racially profiled. Based on my blond hair, blue eyes and pale complexion, a hateful man in a Green Valley McDonald's decided that I obviously agreed with his tirade against the Spanish-speaking teenagers behind the counter. "Stop talking Mexican," he told them. "We're in America. T…

Editorial: Mom, please send $$$$

University of Arizona students, faculty and staff rallied on the campus Thursday to protest state budget cuts and the increased shifting of costs toward students.

Insurers' tactics cause for anger

I know what it's like to be powerless. And I am tired of making reasoned, thoughtful arguments for health-insurance reform that fail to trump hysteria and lies perpetrated by the other side, which is fighting to maintain the status quo.

Reforming health care

Debate about national health-care reform is often an exercise in abstract descriptive terms like "efficiencies" and numbers of people and dollars so huge they cease to be real. Political rhetoric clouds the real problems that must be fixed:

How schools are planning cuts

Schools in the Tucson Unified School District were given a challenge earlier this spring: Every campus received an allotment of points representing their budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins July 1. It was up to individual school site councils — comprised of principals, teachers, pa…

Does Arizona's system serve?

A class-action lawsuit to improve how Arizona educates non-English-speaking students will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. The case has evolved over the past 17 years into a tug of war over judicial and legislative power and the reach of national education reform.

Public records matter (to you too)

Access to government information — the public's information — is required in a functioning democracy.

Communal pride in being an American

WASHINGTON

Tucson's Bluepoint is pricey but well worth it

Here's our rule of thumb for dining at pricey Tucson restaurants: Only order things you wouldn't — or can't — prepare at home.

How to keep kids on track in school

We have pretty simple expectations when we send our kids to school: they'll go to class, they'll be taught by qualified teachers and learn what they need to know before they go on to the next grade or course level.

1st assignments for TUSD boss

When the superintendent's office at Tucson Unified School District headquarters officially becomes hers on Tuesday, Elizabeth Celania-Fagen will have a to-do list a mile long.

What's your water footprint?

Water conservation can begin with your dinner plate. Sure, it looks like merely a hamburger with cheese, a baked potato and a cup of coffee.

Food bank struggles to meet growing need (with slide show)

Summer time is a hungry time in Tucson. School vacation means thousands of kids don't have ready access to free or reduced cost breakfast or lunch, which leaves families scrambling. And donations typically slow down at the Community Food Bank, which provides food for 32,000 meals every day i…