These days, there's no surer way to start a fight than to talk politics with someone who disagrees with you. And with election day drawing near, political conversations are increasingly difficult to avoid.

You could muddle your way through the next two months and hope for the best. Or you could take Tania Israel's advice and embrace the ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Everyone has that one pet in life who they fall in love with at first sight — or first scratch.

For San Francisco resident Wyatt Boumedine, that was Zine, his white cat with a raccoon-like tail who would constantly growl, claw — and probably curse, if he could speak — at his owner. But Boumedine adored him. When Zine ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I'm 26 (F), and my boyfriend (28) and I have been together for almost three years. We moved in together six months ago, and ever since I’ve noticed a pretty big change in our sex life. Before moving in, we used to have sex several times a week, but now it’s once a week, or maybe twice if it’s, like, a special occasion. I didn�...Read more

MIAMI -- Corner Coffee is not your typical coffee shop.

All the the usual suspects are offered: espresso, cold brews, pastries. But the distinct interior design offers some clues as to what is also on the menu: A ceiling mobile made of religious stained glass hangs over a seating area. A bronze sculpture of a life-size Homeless Jesus sleeping ...Read more

Despite the planet’s growing plastic pollution crisis, petroleum-based polymers have become an integral part of modern life. They make cars and airplanes lighter and more energy efficient. They constitute a core material of modern medicine by helping to keep equipment sterile, deliver medicines and build prosthetics, among many other things. ...Read more

I got a text recently from a 40-year-old male client who I’ve been working with on and off over the last few years. It said this: “I’ve been anxious to re-start dating. I just want this process to be done.”

I answered, “When you say that you want the process to be ‘done,’ what do you mean?”

Every week, at least three clients ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

As a retired elementary school teacher, I enjoy reading your column in the newspaper every weekend. I have noticed a common theme in your responses: Don’t punish students (for example by taking away their recess time) for exhibiting behaviors that are undesirable or attention seeking, but rather suggest replacement ...Read more

ATLANTA -- When my kids were young, I kept a stack of parenting books to consult on teething, toddler tantrums and bedtime routines. More often, however, I took my child-rearing questions to parents I met on the playground or in the neighborhood.

My own mother was no help. She had four children in proximity and always told me our early ...Read more

I am married to Mr. Security. We have an entire plastic tub full of timers. The lights in our house never burn brighter than when we are not home.

I typically spend the day before we go out of town packing. He spends the day setting up timers and reminding me what lights I can and can’t turn on.

The lamp in the family room is off limits. It ...Read more

Q. I served our country, had some serious things happen to me and just could not see through to the other side for years. I did not want to return home and met someone else. I hurt my wife and my family. That is something I live with every day, but I have no desire to reconcile. I try to take an active part in my children’s lives, but my ex ...Read more

MIAMI -- Leeann Parker got three things the moment she left prison after almost 20 years: a cool outfit, a hug from her 3-year-old grandson and a tote bag of new books.

Parker, who was incarcerated when her daughters were 5 and 9, said she entered Homestead Correctional Institution angry and bitter. At the end of August, with the help of a ...Read more

Ever since my wife, Sue, has been out of commission with an injured hand, which required surgery and has prevented her from performing important tasks like keeping me alive, I have had a whole laundry list of things to do.

At the top is — how did you ever guess? — laundry.

For the past 46 years, I have been a basket case when it comes to ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Glenda Rivera’s teenage son was shot while walking just across the street from his high school in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood.

Rivera’s son survived. But eight years later, when her daughter enrolled in the same school, Rivera felt that she needed to do something to protect the children in her neighborhood from violence on ...Read more

Last year was exciting for The Garden Guy as I became introduced to a plant called Estrellita Little Star. The name is neat to me as Estrellita actually means Little Star. While that might sound redundant it also sounds like a profound introduction: This beautiful flower is Estrellita…. Little Star. It is like Spanish and English celebrating ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Columbia’s Main Street bustles with state employees walking to lunch, students shuffling in and out of their apartments, visiting relatives, prospective hires, panhandlers, landscapers and more. Tim Sease makes sure whatever is happening, it’s happening on time.

Almost every week for the last 50 years, Sease has been at ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Dwayne Fair has to be careful about sitting on the steps outside his North Philadelphia house.

Someone is likely to walk by and ask him for help fixing something around their home. But he loves it.

“I don’t mind helping nobody,” said Fair, 60, building manager for the union hall of Philadelphia’s largest city worker ...Read more

MIAMI – Every Saturday morning without fail, siblings Joshua, Ava, and David Martoma used to wake up before sunrise, get dressed and pile into their mom’s car to drive down to the Federal Correctional Institution in southwest Miami-Dade to visit with their father in prison. They would often spend the ride asleep in the back seat.

The family...Read more

Last week, a group of students from Decatur High School in Georgia narrowly escaped a tragedy. The students were almost hit by a car when they neglected to do one of the most important things their parents probably taught them to do — look both ways before crossing the street.

The reason? They were all looking down at their phones.

An ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — J. Jhondi Harrell, the founder and executive director of the Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC), remembers life before food stamps.

When he was 12, his father, a long-distance truck driver, had a heart attack. That was in 1967, and the family's economic well-being plummeted as his mother became the sole provider. To help make...Read more