ArcaMax

Girl Scout cookies are back, and the new inverted food pyramid gives me permission to eat them — sort of.

I’m addicted to Girl Scout cookies, you see.

I measure Thin Mints servings by the sleeve, not the cookie.

I gobble down Tagalongs the way grizzlies gorge on wild salmon.

I once ordered so many Do-si-dos that the Girl Scout supply ...Read more

Note to Editors: A prior version of this column was distributed in 2024.

All my father ever wanted as a young man was to marry my mother and start a family — plans that were interrupted when he was drafted into the Army during the Korean conflict.

As he served in Texas, Germany and other parts of the world, there was only one affordable way ...Read more

No wonder the ratings for the Winter Olympics are so much better than they were four years ago.

Four years ago, the Winter Olympics were held in China. The Beijing Games were designed to showcase the glory of the communist state. Athletes were under constant surveillance and warned to keep their yaps shut.

This year, in democratic Italy, the ...Read more

Groundhog Day levity has arrived just in time — but not everyone thinks so.

Every Feb. 2, Phil the Groundhog emerges from his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. If he sees his shadow, winter will last six more weeks; if not, spring is just around the corner.

This quirky ritual was brought to Punxsutawney in 1887 by Pennsylvania ...Read more

Good grief.

Since 2020, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” has been gone from network television.

For 54 years, the special aired on CBS, then ABC, every December — and millions of kids made sure they were sitting in front of the TV the moment it aired.

My family followed the same ritual for years: sitting in our wood-paneled basement family ...Read more

Wealth, fame and success still don’t make us happy — but strong relationships do.

That has been the consistent message from the Harvard Study of Adult Development — the longest-running scientific study of adult life in the world.

The study began in 1938, tracking the health and well-being of 724 young men — 268 Harvard College ...Read more

The Northeast was blanketed with snow last weekend, and I loved it — because I love how snow humbles us.

When it snows in my hometown of Pittsburgh, people pour out into the streets. We shovel sidewalks and driveways, invigorated by the crisp air and the physical work. We sip hot coffee as we enjoy cheerful conversations with neighbors.

Snow...Read more

Here’s something we can all do this holiday season: show heartfelt support for our men and women in uniform.

There are currently about 2.1 million serving in the armed forces — 1.3 million on active duty and about 800,000 in the reserves. Roughly 170,000 Americans are stationed overseas.

Most of those serving abroad are stationed at long-...Read more

Get this: the federal government is offering New Year’s advice on improving our health and managing our money — courtesy of the National Institutes of Health and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Their first recommended resolution: getting fit.

According to the NIH's “Making Your Resolutions Stick” page, common resolutions ...Read more

As the new year begins, the media roll out their annual tributes to the rich and famous who’ve passed on.

But I’d rather tell you about one of the wealthiest fellows I ever met — John Swiatek, who died in 2009 just shy of his 84th birthday.

John was born in 1925, the only son in a family with five daughters. His family lived in a row ...Read more

I was so determined to hit Jimmy Miller in the shins with my toboggan that I didn’t notice the pond.

Maybe I’d better explain.

Winter is upon us. When the snow falls, there's only one place a kid should be: out in the elements riding sleds down slippery slopes.

Too few children do that anymore.

That’s why they're suffering from Nature ...Read more

Note to editors: A version of this column was distributed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2025.

He helped pave the way for Martin Luther King Jr. and others to end Jim Crow — but few know his name.

So respected was this civil rights pioneer that, at his funeral in 1961, future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall served as a pallbearer,...Read more

I drove my 89-year-old mother through our old Pittsburgh neighborhood last Sunday.

It was like many suburban neighborhoods that sprouted up across America in the 1960s and ’70s.

Many of the people who moved there grew up in the city. They wanted more spacious houses for their growing families — and big yards where kids could play.

Many ...Read more

When I was a kid in the 1970s, no words broadcast on KDKA radio were sweeter than: “Bethel Park School District — closed.”

The moment we heard them, we threw on our snow gear and headed for the sled slopes, determined to squeeze every free second out of a stolen weekday break.

Most kids in New York City will never know this rite of ...Read more