Chicago-based writer Veronica Arreola got a text in late May from a friend. It was a screenshot of her 2023 children’s book, “J is for Justice: An Activism Alphabet” and a question: “Is this you?”

Her book was featured in People magazine. (Yay!)

Under the headline “Nonfiction book bans are on the rise, including these 29 banned ...Read more

If you’ve got sun and want a touch of the tropics and baskets full of blooms, then Austin Pretty Limits oleander is for you.

Let’s address your cold hardiness concerns first. Austin Pretty Limits is cold hardy from zones 8 and up. That’s a large swath of the country that can grow the shrub with ease. The rest of the country can grow ...Read more

When my husband announced three years ago that he had started playing pickleball, I asked if he was hoping to boost his popularity in a future retirement village.

He took my teasing in stride and informed me that the sport wasn’t just for old people. I knew pickleball had exploded in popularity during the pandemic when people were desperate ...Read more

If you’ve got sun and want a touch of the tropics and baskets full of blooms, then Austin Pretty Limits oleander is for you.

Let’s address your cold hardiness concerns first. Austin Pretty Limits is cold hardy from zones 8 and up. That’s a large swath of the country that can grow the shrub with ease. The rest of the country can grow ...Read more

Dear Anna,

My boyfriend and I have been together for about eight months, and in almost every way we’re really well-suited for each other. There’s just one problem. Our sex life is lacking, and I don’t know how to fix it. He finishes very quickly during penetrative sex — usually within a minute or two — and while he almost always makes...Read more

“If you don’t know, ask.”

I find myself giving this advice on an almost daily basis.

I got a text recently from a male client who had met a woman at a party the previous weekend. She promptly found him on Instagram and suggested meeting. (Good for her for taking the initiative! How would you feel about that?) He then asked me if he ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

My wife and I are at our wits’ end with our 16-year-old son. He isn’t a behavior problem and never has been. The problem is that since middle school, he has basically refused to work toward anything but barely passing grades in math, and now that most science classes involve math, he’s almost failing in those classes ...Read more

Enough time had passed since the patient’s previous colonoscopy that she met the criteria to undergo another, said Steven Itzkowitz, a gastroenterologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

She was in “reasonably good health,” and the risks of the procedure — bleeding, reaction to anesthesia, perforation of her ...Read more

Medicine commercials give me a headache. Unfortunately, I have to pay attention to them because their products can either: (a) relieve my headache or (b) kill me.

So I strike a compromise: Whenever one of these pitches comes on the TV screen, which happens approximately once a minute, I turn down the sound.

I can’t bear to listen as the ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The air was warm and breezy as Martin Lisius sped northeast on Texas 25, near Archer City, in his Acura MDX.

The prairie extended so far in each direction it felt like you would fall off the edge of the earth if you walked far enough.

Puffy white cumulus clouds inched across the sky a few thousand feet above the ground. In...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Dodge Danley was getting his usual, relaxing in the reclined chair while his barber, William Sanders, who goes by Siddiq, carefully shaved his sideburns.

Sanders stepped back to assess his work. He spotted a stray whisker and moved in with the electric razor. Next to Danley was a shampoo sink, still wet from his rinse. The TV ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’m an experienced threesome participant, but I’ve been happily monogamous for years. Recently, my wife and I decided to try having a threesome together because she never really got to have the fun, slutty 20s experience she wanted. (For context, this is a two women, one nonbinary person situation.) Because it was her first time,...Read more

There is a new flower showing up at garden centers that is pure Magic. In fact, its official name is Superbells Magic Double Grapefruit. If you aren’t familiar with the name, it is a calibrachoa, a petunia relative. Double gives reference to flowers that, in this case, look like miniature roses.

Magic is your key descriptor telling you that ...Read more

All too often, I get questions like these from clients:

--“What did they mean when they said that?”

--“How can I ask, ‘What are we?’”

--“Why didn’t they text me this morning like usual?”

--“Why don’t we have plans lined up for the weekend already?”

From my 15 years as a dating coach, I can give an educated guess as ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Duwenavue Santé Johnson and Joseph Carrillo first met in San Francisco when they lived a block apart.

But that arrangement didn’t last. They have now been married for 17 years, and have lived 3,000 miles apart for the majority of the time.

Johnson lives in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood, where she works as a senior ...Read more

I sat in the parking lot of my son’s school the other night, waiting for his team to finish their second hour of lacrosse practice at the end of a weekday that also included AP exams and finals prep and end-of-year presentations and all the other markers of an American May.

I marveled at their energy. I delighted in their commitment. I ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I am a substitute teacher looking to obtain my special education teaching license, and I am reading your book. Given that the practical tools you offer work well with the most challenging students, does this also include special education students with behavioral challenges, including autistic students?

Answer: First, you ...Read more

There’s a good chance the husband has his Cincinnati Reds ball cap surgically attached to his head. It’s that time of year.

We were in the quaint historic river town of St. Charles, Missouri, leaving a sidewalk café, when a voice yells, “PETE ROSE, JOE MORGAN, JOHNNY BENCH!”

It came from an older man, wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals...Read more

Q. My kid’s mom and I share our children’s time equally. My partner wants us to live together, but we’ve only been dating for six months, and I have two kids who love their mom. I’m afraid it will be confusing to live with two different women in the same role. What’s good ex-etiquette?

Answer: Slow down.

Not because your relationship...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Talk to the passionate team behind KidSTREAM, a new children's museum in Ventura County, and they'll tell you about the many lofty goals they have for the 21,000-square-foot space which opened to the public Thursday.

They'll describe how the museum is the first of its kind in Ventura County and how they hope to make it accessible...Read more