Dear Anna,

I'm 23, and I've been with my girlfriend for about a year and a half. It’s my first real relationship and I love her, genuinely. She stuck by me through a rough stretch when I was dealing with some family stuff, and I don't take that for granted. Things aren't bad most of the time. We laugh together, we're comfortable, we care ...Read more

Years ago, I had a client who was on Hinge, and someone she was interested in had a really cute picture of himself with a golden retriever. It was his last picture—the sixth of six. So, when she reached out to him, she said, appropriately, “What a cute pup! What’s his/her name?” Simple, cute, easy.

The guy replied (yay!) and, rather ...Read more

Parents with college-age children are preparing them for a rite of passage: moving into a dorm. But what do students need before heading off to college? We made a list of must-have essentials to make that transition to campus living as easy as possible.

We looked at recommendations from Amazon and New York Magazine to compile necessary items, ...Read more

Five police cars with flashing lights blocked the southern portion of a major intersection. Broken glass, debris and twisted metal spread as far as the eye could see. Partial remains of a horribly disfigured SUV sat on a flat bed. A mangled sedan was on its side in the middle of the pavement.

News reports said an SUV with four passengers ran a ...Read more

Q: My child repeats everything her mother tells her. The problem is that her mother is very angry. I had an affair and eventually told my wife and left. I am a demon in my ex's eyes, and she's trying to convince our daughter to hate me. I understand why my ex is so angry, but making our child hate me isn't going to do anyone any good. What's ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

My 12-year-old struggles with boredom. She is very smart, and when she’s not stimulated, she gets bored very easily. When she’s not on her tablet, she’s basically bored instantly. I’m not sure what to do to keep her stimulated at home.

Answer: This is one of those answers that I must preface with the following: The ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- Pizza means a lot of different things to different people.

For most of us, it’s a beloved comfort food that brings instant, cheesy joy when delivered piping hot to your doorstep for dinner or a late-night snack.

When crafted from long-fermented dough and topped with high-quality, locally sourced ingredients, it can make us feel...Read more

If there was one thing I had in common with our old storm door, aside from the fact that we both let in hot air, it’s that we were becoming unhinged. One of us had to go, so I showed the door the door.

It gave me an opening to avoid serious injury should the door fall on my head, in which case the glass would be shattered and the frame bent ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Linden Curhart describes his home as a “spider web of connections.”

There’s his husband, Teddy Ullrey-Curhart, whom Curhart met when he was an isolated teenager growing up in a conservative town in Virginia. The two always dreamed of getting married, and in June they celebrated their 13-year commitment in a big pink ...Read more

JJ Apodaca sent the drone up over the ridge because he had to see for himself.

It had been a month since the remnants of Hurricane Helene brought torrential rain to the mountains of Western North Carolina, and the only road into Hickory Nut Gorge was gone.

Apodaca climbed the next mountain over, launched the drone, and watched the screen as it...Read more

Perfect Score, Director’s Select, Best of the Best and Leader of the Pack are just a few of the awards for Superlophus. I’m also reasonably sure you are thinking: What is a Superlophus?

Superlophus Sunglow is the official name botanically known as an Oenothera commonly called Texas primrose. That’s right: This golden yellow flower that is...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Years from now, it might not be so common to be the one controlling the steering wheel in your own car.

Or at least that’s what Elon Musk thinks.

“Ten years from now probably 90% of all distance driven will be driven by the AI in a self-driving car,” Musk, the Tesla co-founder and CEO, said this May.

Musk’s unmanned ...Read more

I don’t consider myself an acolyte of “Let Them,” a theory popularized by self-help guru Mel Robbins that invites you to protect your own peace by letting other people behave however obtusely they’d like — no skin off your back.

It’s a little reductive for my taste. A little conflict-avoidant. Healthy, probably, at times. Bordering ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I went on a date with a couple recently. I’ve been a unicorn before, so I’m not completely new to the experience, but I wasn’t sure whether it was something I still wanted — and, honestly, I’m still not sure. The date itself was fine! We had fun, and afterward I wanted to see them again, so told them as much. But now I’m ...Read more

As a new school year begins, some classrooms may use artificial intelligence tools to flag a student struggling with classwork, track attendance or try to raise reading scores.

But as school districts make decisions on which tools are safe and worth spending thousands or millions of dollars on, some officials feel overwhelmed by the array of ...Read more

How many times have you heard something like this?

“I don’t want to waste your time.”

“You’re too good for me.”

“I’m too old/young for you.”

“I’m too short/tall for you.”

“You’ll get annoyed with me trying to keep up.”

Generally, these lines are in response to an initial message on a dating app. For example, a...Read more

CHICAGO — Amanda Williams has been coloring the Chicago-area landscape for years. She’s painted condemned homes in areas long disinvested in, in hues that resonate with Black culture (like the bluish-green of Johnson Products’ Ultra Sheen conditioner and a prussian blue of George Washington Carver’s 1927 patent). Williams’ public ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

What are your thoughts on the "kid leashes" (the small backpack with a strap that the parent holds on to) I've seen people using out in public? I have three kids under the age of 7, and I've considered using one on my toddler when we are out in crowded places like amusement parks or airports. I have mixed feelings about them...Read more

Q: I told my ex's new wife that I was saving up to take my daughter to a concert that I knew she wanted to go to. The tickets were very expensive, but I had been saving for six months because I wanted to surprise her. Yesterday was my daughter's birthday. She came home from her dad's house with a ticket to the concert. Evidently, her dad and his...Read more

George Washington is literally in the “pages of history.” A book on the coffee table has money hanging out of it — not play money, real money, as in a $1 bill.

I know in an instant the book belongs to a 12-year-old granddaughter.

The girl is an avid reader. She won the “Reader Award” in her class three times last year which ...Read more