HARTFORD, Conn. -- For most of the runners at the Eversource Hartford Marathon, Saturday’s race was the culmination of months of grueling training — an odyssey that would test their will and endurance, and provide immense personal satisfaction at the finish line.

For Shan Riggs, this was a cool down.

Riggs, 46, just finished running more ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Every evening after Steph Johnson drives home from work, she spends roughly five hours baking in her kitchen. As Taylor Swift plays on loop, Johnson pipes ruffles onto tiers of "Bluey" and Batman-inspired birthday cakes and frosts sheets of shortbread cookies molded into tiaras, ice cream cones, and Swoop, the Eagles mascot.

But...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings had just kicked off when a dozen people ordered beers and commandeered a few tables at a local brewery on a recent Sunday. While football played on the screens above them, over the next three hours, they cheered and laughed and even swore a bit.

And they didn’t look at the game once. They were focused on ...Read more

Q. I am the proud mom of two very active boys and a 3-year-old little girl. They all tell me they want to trick-or-treat with their father and me, but we have been separated for almost two years now. We live close by, and I’m willing to try, but I have to admit, just thinking about it gives me anxiety. It sounds like a great idea, but a lot to...Read more

Because I love, love, love saving time, I am looking forward to the first weekend in November when the entire nation will save 60 minutes — not the Sunday night news program but an hour on the clock.

Of course, nobody likes to mention the fact that the only reason we are “saving” an hour is because an hour was stolen from us in the spring...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Several dozen horses calmly graze along the shores of Mono Lake, a sparkling saline expanse spread out before the jagged Sierra Nevada mountains. The September sun is blazing. A pair of brown horses come up side by side and stare intensely at an approaching visitor.

These wild equines soon may disappear from beside the ancient ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I have two school-aged boys and I have a 38-month-old little girl. My question is about my daughter. With my sons, usually if they cried, and I gave them what they wanted, they’d stop crying and that would be the end. When I give my daughter what she wants, she will only stop crying or whining briefly before she’s off to...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This year, for the first time, California schools will be screening kindergarteners, first- and second-graders for reading difficulties, including dyslexia, under a state mandate signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023.

Such early identification of reading struggles is key to getting young children the needed interventions ...Read more

I would say that my wife and I have an open door policy in our house, but it takes us so long to leave the premises that we have to close the door or flies will get in.

No matter where we are going, either together or separately, we need a list of things to remember or it will take us more time to go out than it will to come back.

Here is the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Steve Stringer works his dream job out of a shed in Melrose Hill.

The 500-square-foot outbuilding wasn't where Stringer, an L.A.-based ceramicist, imagined setting up shop. The day he found it, he was touring a neighboring Western Avenue property. When that space turned out to be too big for an art studio, the landlord told ...Read more

As I sit down to write this, my city is preparing to host its 47th marathon.

Which means my daily runs along Lake Michigan are made even more beautiful, more hopeful, more perspective-inducing by the presence of runners hailing from around the world — all different languages, all different paces, all different cultures. Keeping their legs ...Read more

I remember the day quite well. I went to my Rotary Club meeting and returned to my office in the garden. I casually glanced into the garden as I entered the building. I noticed a sizable group of nature lovers gathered around looking through their binoculars. I asked inside if anyone knew what they were looking at. The answer was a great purple ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hair. Human hair. Hair woven into jewelry, wreaths, keepsakes. Michael Jackson’s hair. Marilyn Monroe’s hair.

Hair as art, hair as spectacle.

It was Leila Cohoon’s world, and she showcased it all at Leila’s Hair Museum, located in an otherwise unremarkable freestanding building on Noland Road in Independence, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- When Friedia Niimura moved to the U.S. from Japan in her mid-20s, she shared a dream with many Angelenos: acting, or maybe fashion. A TV and media personality in Japan, it seemed a natural fit, only she didn't take to the competitive pace of Los Angeles.

So she dove into one of her other passions: paper.

"When I came to L.A., I ...Read more

Q: After some consideration, I decided to change my age online to 62. I just think 62 sounds better than 65 (and everyone tells me I look young for my age… and I certainly don’t feel 65). What do you think?

-- Susan, 65, Baltimore

A: I would strongly recommend against lying about your age. Yes, you'll likely get more hits, but at what ...Read more

BERKELEY, Calif. — Inflation may be making everything unbearable, but there’s still one great bargain in the Bay Area: a glass of 10-cent beer in Berkeley, poured every single day.

The last time America saw a deal like this might’ve been the notorious “10-cent Beer Night” at the 1974 Cleveland Indians-Texas Rangers baseball game. That...Read more

Q. My ex just changed the email address that he uses to communicate with me to include a derogatory reference to me. It’s obvious what he’s doing, but I’m having a difficult time staying calm. What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. First and foremost, it’s important to acknowledge that any attempt to disrespect you, especially in a shared co-...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- George had a problem, and he had reached out to Yowei Shaw for help.

After a decade-plus relationship, his wife had come out as queer and divorced him. (George is a Midwesterner using a pseudonym.)

Shaw, the Philly-based creator and founder of the new podcast Proxy, listened to his story and began her search for help.

The ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I feel like I’m losing my mind, and this question feels like a stupid and embarrassing one that I should have an answer to. I have a 2-and-a-half-year-old who is starting to sort of do whatever he wants. I’m exhausted from telling him to not have a stick that he brought from outside, to not hit his brother with the ruler...Read more

They say birds of a feather flock together and while that may be true most of the time, I have proof it is not true all the time. Our 12-year-old grandson and a jet-black Cayuga duck sitting beside him, with its long neck and head resting on the boy’s shoulder, have been flocking together for weeks.

The boy says it all began because the duck�...Read more