As my teaching career winds down and I get closer to retirement, I look back on someone near and dear to my heart: For the first 17 years of my…

My new humor column in the spring 2026 issue of Seasons magazine is about the hazards and struggles of watching your son play Little League baseball. It's titled "The Worst…

How long will I live? A tool developed by professors at the University of Pennsylvania seeks to answer that question. I didn't want to click and find out unless "Forever"…

As I come to the end of my 27-year teacher career, I have been asked this question quite a bit: Why did you never become a principal? The simple answer…

The Guardian publishes a "kindness of strangers" series that I really like. This particular story, short and sweet, about a stranger dropping $2 into a coin-operated ride to make a…

I have a real problem with America's classic song "Horse With No Name." Why not give the damn horse a name? What kind of monster rides into the desert for…

I love my children's pediatrician. I loved Dr. Yaback, my own childhood pediatrician, who passed away five years ago. Pediatricians are remarkable. They choose to treat children, which strikes me…

The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey this week for conduct detrimental to the team hours after he posted a lengthy rant on social media that included anti-gay sentiments. Ivey…

Every month, I record my progress toward my yearly goals to hold myself accountable and, occasionally, seek help and advice from readers willing to offer insight, ideas, and solutions. Here…

Greg Tannen of McSweeney's wrote a short, amusing, insightful piece from the perspective of The Void, pleading for people to stop screaming into it and do something instead. I loved…