ArcaMax

My husband and I started trying to have children when I was 33.

I was older than some first-time moms I knew, but I was also younger than plenty others. My husband and I were both healthy, and there was no reason to suspect we'd have trouble conceiving. In fact, I was so confident of our success that for my birthday that first year, I asked ...Read more

What is cultural identity and why is it so important?

We're grappling with that question in the United States, and the implications of our national culture wars are being felt in every sector -- from politics to labor to entertainment.

The latest example of this intensifying strife came after the publication of "White Rural Rage," a book ...Read more

This week, Ronna McDaniel flamed out.

Maybe it was less of a conflagration doused by tidal waves and more of the fizzling death of a cheap firework, but either way, whatever plans she had for becoming a talking head ended abruptly. She was an NBC contributor for less than a week, or 30% of a Scaramucci (as he put it on social media) before ...Read more

My state ghosted the primary.

Well, not everyone did, but more than enough did to make turnout historically low. Nearly four out of five registered voters in Chicago, for example, skipped the election. (That's to say nothing of the folks who never registered in the first place.) The figures are a bit embarrassing, but I can't help shuffling ...Read more

I have a critter problem.

The specific variety of critter that's troubling me? I don't know.

I know only its aftereffects, the holes bitten in our trash cans and the smallish, slightly oblong droppings the villain leaves behind.

It's tough to identify the culprit because our backyard is a veritable menagerie of suburban wildlife, playing ...Read more

In a world that seems determined to strip us of our humanity, how can we keep it?

I've asked myself that, recently, thinking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's words about the ways the Russian invasion has changed him, has changed his people. He candidly shared the struggle he says he faces in keeping his humanity.

"War is a ...Read more

It occurred to me today that childhood is the long process of separating from your mother -- first from her body, physically, and then slowly, over many years, emotionally, moving from her life into your own.

I've always listened when parents say the years go by quickly, but I've never heard, not until now, when my older son is taking his ...Read more

What follows are the leaked minutes from the CIA FBI NSA Joint Deep State Totally Serious Completely Legitimate Taylor Swift Travis Kelce Relationship Conspiracy Planning Committee.

COMMITTEE PRESIDENT GEORGE SOROS: Hi, everyone, and thanks for making time in your busy schedules to come to this meeting. As you know, for some time now, the C.F...Read more

Thinkers are sinkers, that's what I always say.

All right, well, I don't always say it, but I just did, and it's definitely true.

Thinkers are sinkers, and you can trust me on that, because as a wise fourth grader once said, it takes one to know one.

Thinkers are sinkers, and often they're drinkers, too.

They're sinkers (and sometimes ...Read more

These are the dog days of winter.

Oh, I know, technically it's the "dog days of summer," and we have those, too, but nothing compares to late winter in the Midwest for really draining the joy from every moment you spend outdoors.

Recently here, it's been cycling through the winter prairie levels of Dante's Inferno, going from cold to snowy ...Read more

I've had a minuscule taste of fame lately, in the sense that some people know some things about me that I haven't told them, and it's been deeply, deeply weird.

For example: My older son, who wants nothing so much as he wants to play video games for a living, cares little about my writing or book or career, but has asked me repeatedly to help...Read more