ArcaMax

Coca-Cola. I think we can all agree that's a pretty good brand name, right?

Ever think about why?

It's not just the billions of ad bucks behind it. It's all the K sounds -- three of them in quick, cute, clever succession -- not to mention two soft A's. In other words, Coca-Cola is a name bubbling over with mnemonic devices: alliteration and ...Read more

In a quiet gated community in Virginia, Karyann Parkinson took a little bike ride with her 5-year-old son one morning this summer. They passed the grassy area where the boy loves to pick up goose feathers, next to a pond.

When they got home, the boy asked if he could walk back to get some more feathers. Parkinson, eight months pregnant, said ...Read more

The movie that best illustrates today's parenting expectations is "The Miracle Worker," about Helen Keller.

When Annie Sullivan is hired as governess, she gets feral Helen to eat off her own plate -- a harrowing process. The parents are so thrilled, they are ready to let Annie go. She has done all they hoped for.

Annie says no. This is only ...Read more

Over at Reason, you'll find my story of one Ms. Gordon (no first names -- she's been harassed enough). Ms. G lives in a leafy Philly suburb, has three sons (ages 5, 7 and 9), and darned if she doesn't sometimes...Read more

It is, according to the calendar and the faint cheering you can hear whenever you pass an anthill, picnic season. Planning one yourself? Well, I really hope you come out alive, but if you don't -- can I have your margarita?

No, seriously, it's just that the odds don't look too good. If you read the papers or listen to pretty much anyone on TV, ...Read more

It is easy to think of people who can't communicate as people who can't think. That's how deaf people were long regarded. But once sign language was invented, it became clear that the deaf were no different, intellectually, from the rest of us.

The same thing is true of many people with autism who cannot speak.

Case in point: Judy Chinitz's ...Read more

There's something about a summer song that means every time you hear it -- 10, 20, even (ahem) many more years later -- it all comes flooding back. The sun. The sprinklers. The bikinis (yours or someone else's). Often there's a camp in the background, or a beach, or a car -- and with any luck, the top is down.

Basically, you can take the year ...Read more