ArcaMax

Dear Annie: I feel foolish even writing this, but I cannot tell if I am overreacting or if I have a real problem on my hands.

My best friend, "Dana," and I have been close for more than 20 years. We have raised our kids together, shared holidays, taken trips and weathered the usual storms of adult life. Lately, though, something has shifted. ...Read more

Dear Annie: Though I'm young, I often feel as if I'm living the life of someone much older. This past year, many brewing family crises collided between March and April.

One relative passed away from a condition we all knew about, but the loss still hit hard. Around the same time, my father lost our family home, and we were evicted in March, ...Read more

Dear Annie: I don't understand why people see me as a threat. I have no devious plans or intentions. I've never been in a fight. Throughout my life, I've been bullied -- from elementary school all the way through college -- by the same girl. Despite everything, I've always tried to help others. I feed the homeless, even though I am homeless ...Read more

The emails started early this year, alongside the creep of holiday decor where fat Santas pushed skeletons off the endcaps so fast that the turkeys just waddled back to the clearance aisles. Those emails all carried that corporate form, interlaced with out-of-office alerts and the familiar refrain of "Let's circle back after the holidays."

It's...Read more

Dear Readers: Thanksgiving has a way of sneaking up on us, doesn't it? One minute we're rushing through the year, taking the kids to games and meeting deadlines, and the next we're standing over turkey and wondering how the year flew by so fast. But beneath the noise of the dinner table and all the pie crusts, this day gives us something rare:...Read more

All right, moving right along to continue the findings of that exploratory survey you began last time here in "Single File":

--Do you expect to have sex on the first date? (About 76 percent of women said no; 6.7 percent said yes; 13.8 percent said sometimes. As for men, 15.1 percent said yes; 75.6 percent said no; 9.3 percent said sometimes.)

...Read more

Dear Annie: I'm writing about my sister, "Claire," who seems to be living two completely different lives. By day, she's a high-powered attorney, wearing tailored suits and commanding boardrooms. But on weekends, she disappears to a tiny town in Michigan, where she rents a cabin and paints. None of her colleagues know about her art, and she ...Read more

Dear Annie: My parents, especially my mother, were abusive throughout my childhood physically, verbally and emotionally. I lived in fear from the time I was 5 years old. I worked hard, stayed out of trouble and built my own life without asking them for help, but my mother still treated me with cruelty and favoritism toward my younger sister.

...Read more

Dear Annie: Every year, I host Thanksgiving for my family, and every year I start out with the same hopeful thought: "This time will be different." I picture everyone laughing, passing dishes around, maybe even helping with the cleanup without being asked. But by the time the turkey is carved, the dream has gone up in smoke along with the ...Read more

After a ten-hour overnight bus ride, our small Sister Cities delegation of four from Las Cruces arrived in Lerdo. Tired and rumpled, we were met by some of their Sister Cities committee; the rest would be at breakfast. One member came up to us with two posters welcoming us, signaling the start of an enthusiasm hard to find in public life.

At ...Read more