No one could fault Lisa Kirkbride if she cursed the stars for her wicked diagnosis: a rare and inoperable brain tumor usually found in children, one that doctors have approached with scientific intrigue. Most people with this type of cancer have only a year or so to live.

The fact that Kirkbride is speaking to me in her living room nearly three...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

How do you teach a kid respect? Not just for people, but for things, as well. For example, how to be responsible in caring for jackets or lunch containers, and how to respect belongings (not cutting clothes or leaving things at school). And what about respect for other people, like listening while others talk and not rolling...Read more

Q. My ex argues about everything. It’s gotten so bad that if I even say, “Good morning!” she accuses me of having an ulterior motive. “That was fake,” she’ll say. I don’t know what to do. This goes on in front of the children — at Little League games and exchanges. I think about her and I sweat. How can we problem-solve and ...Read more

Get a group of women together and chances are they will talk about relationships. And shoes. More specifically, relationships with shoes.

The conversations are about shoes somebody loves, shoes somebody used to love (but broke up with due to plantar fasciitis), and shoes somebody dreams of meeting in the future.

These are women in crisis ...Read more

If a shampoo were ever named after me, which would work everyone else into a lather, it would be called Empty Head & Shoulders.

That’s because I have more gray matter on the outside of my head than I do on the inside.

My barber, Maria Santos, knows this and has not only added color to my life but recently answered a question that had me ...Read more

If there’s one thing Americans can agree on, it’s confusion about tipping.

While tipping is expected sometimes, it’s unclear in other situations. Do you tip the DoorDasher who picked up your food order and dropped it at your door? Do you tip the plumber on top of the bill they hand you? If so, how much? Is 20% generous or the new normal? ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- If ever there were a home that told the story of the emotional attachment we have to our neighborhoods in Los Angeles, this is it.

Not because of the sweet bungalow, which is situated in a dense Manhattan Beach neighborhood where parking is scarce and neighbors are often on top of one another. Or the calm light-filled interiors. ...Read more

CHICAGO — Small and stocky birds perch, hunched over, on the treetops and branches of Lake Okeechobee on the edge of Florida’s swampy Everglades for the better part of winter. The alligators swarming the murky waters below don’t faze the black-crowned night herons — in fact, the birds count on them for protection. And when some fly away ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Irmo, South Carolina’s new skate park hasn’t been open long, but it’s already getting attention.

Tucked away in the Friarsgate neighborhood inside Rawls Creek Park, it hosted the Boardr series, a national, all-ages skateboarding contest, on March 28-29. The event drew hundreds to the park to watch talented skateboarders ...Read more

A friend of mine was driving her son home from his graduation dinner the other night when their car was surrounded, suddenly, by police officers in riot gear.

While she and her family were eating and celebrating, thousands of demonstrators were flooding Chicago’s streets to protest the immigration crackdowns playing out across the United ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I'm 34 and just came out to myself (and a few close friends) as gay after years of thinking I was just "bad at dating men" or "too picky." Looking back, all the signs were there, but I genuinely thought my lack of attraction to boyfriends was normal and that romantic love was just something that happened in movies. I've spent the ...Read more

Suppose you’re unexpectedly called into your boss’s office one day and given the tough news that you’re getting laid off. Panic sets in as you think about bills, rent and putting food on the table.

It’s a situation that many of us fear. Unexpected events such as job loss, medical emergencies and car repairs can happen to anyone, without...Read more

Hallelujah, it's hydrangea season! Actually, hydrangea season comes early in the Deep South and even more so if you are growing Let’s Dance Sky View hydrangea. This will be my third year, and the first week of May always brings a bubbling of blooms.

To me this explosion of blooms with the onset of spring makes it the most precocious variety ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Baseball fans might read “Casey at the Bat.”

Runners have “To an Athlete Dying Young.”

Basketball star Kobe Bryant wrote an ode to his sport called “Dear Basketball.”

And now there’s a poem celebrating pickleball. Actually, there are 80 of them.

Two paddles hung in a Dick’s emporium,

And I --

I bought the...Read more

I got a question recently from a woman asking me whether she should be concerned that the man she just went out with (he’s 57; she’s 51) had previously been in a relationship with a 23-year-old. My response, based on no additional information about either of them, was: It’s unclear.

To be honest, it was less the age gap that raised a red ...Read more

Debt collectors use intentionally annoying and anxiety-inducing tactics to get you to pay the bill. When faced with these tense interactions, it’s important to understand the best ways to deal with debt collectors, including knowing what they are and are not legally allowed to do.

This knowledge will help you protect your rights and decide ...Read more

Paying off debt requires commitment and patience. You’ll need to carefully review your current debts, spending and budget and understand the available options you have at your disposal.

With this information, you can create and implement a successful debt repayment strategy to help you pay debt off faster and build healthy financial habits ...Read more

The morning after a storm that snapped tree branches, sent people to their basements and trash cans to the curbs, I was sitting in a line of traffic adjacent to a small family-owned garden store.

A woman out front of the garden shop struggled to untangle flagpole ropes twisted in the storm. Hunched over in an awkward position, she couldn’t ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I am a huge fan. I’ve gone to your conference and I’ve read your book. I think I may be too huge of a fan because I have offended a co-worker with my fandom. There is another seventh-grade teacher next door to me who I share students with. Just like I did before I met you, she really struggles with behavior management. ...Read more