In February 2011, I was hospitalized with meningitis. It was scary and painful and it left me with lasting heart damage — a pericardial effusion, specifically, which means there’s a sac of fluid around my heart.

Apparently when you develop a dangerous infection, your body deploys fluid to surround and protect your organs. (What a design!) ...Read more

At 17 years old, Melissa Loch has never cast a ballot. It’s something the politically minded Arlington Heights, Illinois, student is eager to do for the first time this year.

But she’s not stopping there.

Loch is training to become an election judge as part of a new effort by the Cook County clerk’s office to engage more young voters —...Read more

NOAA announced this week that a New Jersey weather station set a state record for seasonal snowfall.

It just took awhile to confirm. The season in question was the eventful winter of 1995-96.

What took so long?

“There’s nothing nefarious about it,” said David Robinson, the longtime state climatologist. “You can blame me.”

Robinson,...Read more

Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 different diets.”

But 5 pounds would come off and then invariably reappear, said Bucklew, 75, a public transit retiree in Ocean View, Delaware. Nothing seemed to make much...Read more

Once New Year's Day has passed, gardeners start to get excited about new plants and ideas for the landscape and garden. One plant that The Garden Guy wants to put in your mind is Proven Winners' "Landscape Shrub of the Year": Limelight Prime hydrangea paniculata. This year’s Pantone "Color of the Year" is Cloud Dancer and as the name suggests,...Read more

Dear Anna,

My boyfriend of two years is extremely into optimization and data tracking — he logs every workout, tracks his macros, uses a smartwatch to monitor his sleep, and so on. I’ve always found it a little intense but mostly harmless, and honestly, his discipline is part of what attracted me to him in the first place. He motivates me ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- One day my left foot hurt for no good reason. I stood up to shake off the pain and tweaked my right Achilles tendon, so I headed for the medicine cabinet, bent over like an ape because of a stiff back.

Actually, I lied.

It wasn't one day. It's pretty much every day.

None of this is severe or serious, and I'm not complaining at ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- When Lauren Richeson created the Goodyear Blimp Fan Club on Facebook in 2009, she expected only a few family members and friends to join. But like the blimp itself, the club began to slowly and steadily take off.

"Days would be where I'd have to approve 100 people to get in one day," she said. "It's been quite overwhelming to see...Read more

A question that often comes up is, “How honest should I be when telling someone that I don’t want to see them again?”

My quick and easy answer is that, in the early stages, say four or fewer dates, the perfect level of honesty is that you “didn’t feel the connection you’re looking for” or “don’t see yourselves aligned long-...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

My 19-month-old has just begun to walk in the last couple of months, and this is causing a major problem. When I ask him to stay near me, he walks away, and no matter what I say, he keeps walking. I don’t want to physically grab him, but now, especially in public, this can be dangerous. What do I do? I feel like I’m ...Read more

One of the girls gave me a tube of lotion guaranteed to reduce neck wrinkles in 14 days. “Thanks,” I said, “but it took me decades to develop these wrinkles. They’re not going away in two weeks.”

“How do you know that for sure?” she asked.

“Because I bought a tube of this myself a year ago.”

The only wrinkles I’ve had ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The doldrums of January can be tough, leaving us feeling trapped inside for weeks on end. That can be especially hard on anyone looking after an infant. A new sensory performance from Filament Theatre, called “RAIN: for babies and their carers,” provides a warm and inviting opportunity to leave the house, baby in tow.

It’s not ...Read more

I wouldn’t be barking up the wrong clothes tree to say that my younger daughter’s dog has a better wardrobe than I do.

So do both of my barber’s dogs.

It’s enough to make a grown human howl.

I became aware of this canine clothing conspiracy about a year ago when my daughter and her family adopted Opal, a sweet, smart and sassy ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I just got back from spending Christmas with my boyfriend’s family for the first time, and I’m still reeling from how badly it went. His mom made multiple passive-aggressive comments about my job as a freelance graphic designer, his sister openly questioned why we’re not engaged yet after one-and-a-half years together, and his ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The dust cloud billows up behind your bumper whether you’re headed toward Katie Elvehjem’s farm or away from it. And on a Friday evening in spring 2024, Elvehjem was dreaming about leaving.

“I felt like driving 95 miles per hour down a road somewhere just to get out some steam,” she said. Her cows were calving, and that ...Read more

In her house in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Barbara Meade said, “there are walkers and wheelchairs and oxygen and cannulas all over the place.”

Barbara, 82, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so a portable oxygen tank accompanies her everywhere. Spinal stenosis limits her mobility, necessitating the walkers and wheelchairs and considerable...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- When the seven-beat rhythm of "shave and a haircut, two bits" resounds in the mornings on a car horn through this South L.A. neighborhood, Jackie Jackson or Guadalupe Andrade is likely behind the wheel, child-care providers who live on a one-block stretch of 115th Street.

The cheerful honk is a familiar greeting among parents, ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I have been using Behavioral Leadership strategies and have noticed AMAZING results! Most of my students help run the classroom smoothly, from human alarm clocks to taking care of plants to working cooperatively in their teams. One question though: What could I do if a student refuses to do their work besides failing them? I...Read more

Christmas holidays generate a lot of togetherness. A lot of togetherness means cooking, cleaning, searching for kids’ missing boots and gloves, digging through trash for a gift card accidentally thrown away, separating grands leg wrestling on the family room floor and plunging the kitchen garbage disposal.

It’s a lot of merry.

Ho, ho, hold...Read more