Column

At the back of my family address book, I have 12 pages – one for each month of the year – on which I note the birthdays and anniversary dates of friends and family with whom I’m close.

The bunker buster bomb wasn't the only kind of bomb a president dropped for the first time last month.

Sunday hit hard, even for those of us accustomed to tragic news flowing through the newsroom.

Take Spin Control's annual Independence Day Trivia Quizto test your Yankee Doodle Dandyness.

He drove 1,700 miles to see us, and when he left, it felt like he took his childhood with him.

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I am the mother of a gay son.

One of the hardest things for journalists to learn when confronting a devastating event – huge wildfire, a mass casualty shooting – is to be extremely cautious about the early reports.

I’ve been writing a personal column for about 20 years, so often when I meet people during interviews or at events, they say, “Oh! I feel like I already know you!”

I’ve never been very proud of my Harvard Ph.D. I probably only got in because I had an outside fellowship so my education there didn’t cost Harvard (or me) a penny. Also, the university was in the late ’60s admitting way too many folks striving for a doctorate in English, ignoring the fact that many of us would never land a job in our field.

The other day, I realized something strange: I can’t remember the last time I was truly, soul-shakingly bored. Not “waiting for a Zoom meeting to start” bored. Not “stuck in traffic with a podcast” bored. I mean the kind of boredom where time stops and your brain starts reaching for anything – sticks, clouds, your storage room – to fill the void. The kind of boredom that once defined childhood summers.

I don’t think of my father very often anymore. He died more than 50 years ago, so it’s been a long time, and so much else has transpired during the intervening years.

Bringing back aluminum production to the U.S. could conflict with creating new electrical generation for artificial intelligence and other tech projects.

When I think of Susie Leonard Weller, the first word that comes to mind is “vibrancy.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve put on a party. Friends over for dinner, sure, but that’s just two extra people and no overnight lodging … and simple to do.

There’s something deliciously rewarding about reaching a stage in life where you can finally purchase something you’ve always wanted but previously denied yourself, believing it to be a frivolous expense.