2022
March
24
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

March 24, 2022
 

As Major League Baseball spring training swung into action, I was intrigued with the news of four nascent college teams battling it out in a first-of-its-kind tournament in the Los Angeles area: the Women’s College Club Baseball Championship. 

Maggie Gallagher, the coach for the undefeated University of Washington team, says the championship was great but the best moment came when her team first stepped onto the field.

“This fulfilled my dream, even though I wasn’t playing,” says Ms. Gallagher, who grew up playing baseball but had to switch to softball in college. 

More girls and women are playing baseball these days. In fact, this spring a record eight women made the roster on men’s collegiate teams. The momentum is largely thanks to Baseball for All, an organization that has coached thousands of girls. Founder Justine Siegal wants to create college teams where athletes can just focus on the joy of the game without the burden of being an ambassador for their sex. The women’s tournament was a milestone step toward that goal.

One alum of Baseball for All is Sabrina Robinson, the founder and player-coach of the women’s baseball club at Montclair State University in New Jersey, which competed in the tournament. 

“I just hope that this is the first steppingstone to women’s baseball becoming a respected sport and at least an NCAA sport in the near future,” says Ms. Robinson, who has played hardball since she was 5. 

Judging by the bounce coming off the tournament, Ms. Robinson may soon get her wish. There are now about 12 new clubs across the country interested in fielding a women’s college baseball team.


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Today's stories

And why we wrote them

Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters
Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (left), President Joe Biden, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepare for a family photo before a NATO summit to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, March 24, 2022.

President Joe Biden’s challenge is right in his rhetorical wheelhouse: provide U.S. leadership, unite allies, and defend democracy under siege from an autocrat. The reality of war adds urgency to the test.

A deeper look

Darko Vojinovic/AP
Kyiv resident Polina Shulga and her 3-year-old daughter, Aria, run for a train to Budapest in the Hungarian border town of Zahony, March 7, 2022, as they flee the war in Ukraine. "I explained to her that we're going on vacation and that we'll definitely come home one day when the war is over," Ms. Shulga says.

After failing to help non-European refugees in the past, Eastern Europe is coming through for Ukrainians. The stark change suggests racism. That’s accurate, but not the whole picture.

Michel Euler/AP
A man passes by a campaign poster of French far-right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour. His 2018 comment that he regretted there was no "French Putin" has come back to haunt him.

Vladimir Putin was once a hero to Europe’s far-right politicians. What does his invasion of Ukraine mean for their reputations and their future?

Film

Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios/AP
Ilda Mason (left), Ariana DeBose (center), and Ana Isabelle dance in a scene from “West Side Story,” directed by Steven Spielberg. Ms. DeBose, who plays Anita, is nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress.

Movies help us live through the experiences of others and bring us into a wider comprehension of who we are, suggests Monitor film critic Peter Rainer. Ahead of the Oscar awards, he shares his choices for the performances that transported audiences in 2021. 

Essay

Courtesy of Lydia Tomkiw
The author’s grandmother Vera wears traditional garb, including an embroidered shirt, in this photo taken circa 1930 in western Ukraine.

Love must triumph over hatred and fear. The Ukrainian diaspora’s strength and zeal is proof of that.


The Monitor's View

In one of his last official acts as an ambassador for Nicaragua, Arturo McFields sent a note this week supporting a resolution by the Organization of American States condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Then he condemned his own government for its crackdown on democracy under strongman Daniel Ortega.

“It is impossible to continue to remain silent and defend what is beyond defense,” he said, on behalf of more than 170 political prisoners in Nicaragua.

Mr. McFields’ actions were clearly directed at his Central American country. Yet they also suggest that Ukraine’s brave defense of its fledgling democracy could be inspiring many around the world struggling to shake off authoritarian rulers. OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro described Mr. McFields’ actions as “speaking truth to power.”

In Myanmar, where the military has repressed pro-democracy activists, one army officer who defected, Lt. Col. Banyar Kyaw, has called on the international community to support the people of Myanmar in the same way it has the Ukrainians.

In early March, police in Hanoi detained many people trying to attend a charity event in support of Ukraine’s independence and democracy. Vietnam follows Moscow’s narrative that the Russian invasion is only a “special military operation.”

The inspiring struggle of Ukrainians, says Avril Haines, director of U.S. national intelligence, could “empower [other] populations to speak up in dissent from such authoritarian efforts.”

In a few places, democracy activists forced into exile have been lifted by Ukraine’s example.

Activists from Hong Kong have embraced Ukraine as a way to rally supporters against China. Some who fled Belarus after a 2020 crackdown on pro-democracy protests have found a new goal: A group called Cyber Partisans has hacked into government infrastructure such as railroads to thwart the delivery of Russian troops and materiel into neighboring Ukraine. “Without a free Ukraine, there is no chance for Belarus,” group spokesperson Yuliana Shemetovets told Fast Company magazine.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for global protests against Russia’s invasion. “Come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life,” he said. “Freedom matters.”

In many other countries beset by oppression, people are already there.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Whatever type of problem we may be facing, God has given us the grace, strength, and inspiration we need to experience healing and find solutions.


A message of love

Adrees Latif/Reuters
Walter holds his daughter, Kayleigh, outside their destroyed home in the aftermath of a tornado that hit the New Orleans area, including the Arabi suburb pictured here, March 23, 2022. A state of emergency was declared after more than 12,500 structures were damaged.

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. Come back tomorrow to kick off your weekend with a review of an Oscar-nominated documentary about India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. 

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