ArcaMax

I can’t call heads or tails on whether we should stop minting the penny. There are two sides to every coin, right?

Zinc and copper used to make a penny are worth almost four times the value of the coin. Bottom line: The penny is not cost-efficient. I empathize. Some days I’m not terribly cost-efficient either.

It’s hard to imagine life ...Read more

Is there such a thing as too old or too late to find new love?

I admit that before I turned 40 almost a decade ago, I didn’t give much thought to this question. Though I was writing romance and love stories, my protagonists were my age or younger, because that was what I knew. The protagonists I read about or watched on film and television ...Read more

With her mother in labor, then-17-year-old Jamie Dawson sneaked past nurses and headed for the delivery room.

The door was cracked open just enough for her to hear baby brother Max cry for the first time. Dawson felt a surge of love like she'd never experienced. When she became the first person to hold Max other than his parents, the feeling ...Read more

The fate of America sits in the crosshairs as Russia unleashes its most ambitious plan yet to deceive, distract, and sow chaos. But no Russian machinations have yet survived a run-in with Dan Reilly, international hotel executive and part-time CIA spy, as Ed Fuller and Gary Grossman reveal in the fourth installment of their popular Red Hotel ...Read more

'BLACK BAG'

Rated R for language including some sexual references, and some violence.

What it’s about: A pair of married spies spy on each other in this sexy espionage thriller.

The kid attractor factor: This is a mature thriller aimed at adult audiences.

Good lessons/bad lessons: Trust no one, including your spouse, but devotion is ...Read more

I attend a spirituality group for an hour every week that holds loving kindness as its anchor.

During the hour, we read the poetry of such luminaries as Mary Oliver and John O'Donohue. We meditate, and we talk about the ways we find to extend loving kindness to ourselves and others.

The dozen or so gentle-spirited members of this group also ...Read more

Q. My ex and I have been apart for six years. Our son is 9 and we share his time equally. For years we got along OK, but her boyfriend moved in last year and now she tapes all the exchanges. It upsets our son, and it upsets me. Today I received a notification that she is taking me back to court to revise the parenting plan we have had for six ...Read more

We have just done a school pick-up; 14-year-old twins and their 12-year-old sister are in the car with us. In a unanimous decision, we head directly to Chick-fil-A because some days the main thing you get at school is hungry. Very, very hungry.

We ordered and are seated with waffle fries and ice cream, checking off vegetables and dairy for the ...Read more

Harold Phifer’s "My Bully, My Aunt, and Her Final Gift" is a refreshingly honest, darkly humorous, and unexpectedly heartfelt memoir that masterfully balances comedy and introspection. With sharp wit and a candid narrative style, Phifer takes readers on a journey through his complicated past, shaped by the formidable presence of his Aunt Kathy...Read more

The day Angie Loving married Sam Abadir, she was on the list for a heart transplant. It was Feb. 29, 2020, three months after she survived a massive heart attack. She was still relearning seemingly simple givens of life like how to eat, speak and walk; still dealing with ensuing blood clot issues; still working through daily therapy.

But while ...Read more

Better sleep, less stress, stronger immune system — are these the results of a better diet? Exercise? It’s just “good sex.”

Psychologist and Emory University professor Candice Hargons, who holds a doctorate in counseling psychology, is the author of “Good Sex: Stories, Science, and Strategies for Sexual Liberation.” Taking a moment ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — By the time the Fortier family heard the insistent pounding on the front door, the electric power at their Altadena home had been out for hours, and they were huddled around a flashlight doing a puzzle. Their neighbors shouted they needed to leave — now.

Graham Fortier and his wife buckled his two daughters, Abigail, 5, and ...Read more

The cost of child care now exceeds the price of college tuition in 38 states and the District of Columbia, according to a new analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute.

The left-leaning think tank, based in Washington, D.C., used 2023 federal and nonprofit data to compare the monthly cost of infant child care to that of tuition at ...Read more

'MICKEY 17'

Rated R for violent content, language throughout, sexual content and drug material.

What it’s about: Seeking to escape his problems on Earth, Mickey joins an expedition to another planet where he becomes an "expendable" — his body reprinted again and again when he dies.

The kid attractor factor: This edgy social satire does ...Read more