I grew up in the 70's and 80's when parents still told their kids to go outside and play. My friends and I would spend all day in the yard and when we got hot and sweaty enough we'd run to the back patio, open the water spigot on the side of the house and get down on our hands and knees so we ... Views: 802
The Mann Act, long relegated to the status of bawdy Frank Sinatra punch lines and literary asides—Lolita’s Humbert Humbert deplores the law as “lending itself to a dreadful pun”—was serious news recently for the first time in a century. In March, when Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor of New ... Views: 791
One of the most common mistakes made in the retirement investing world, particularly among 401(k) participants, is over-concentration in an employer's stock. In an analysis of more than 100,000 401(k) participants from companies offering stock in their 401(k) plan, more than 54 percent of ... Views: 790
The coal that has powered China's economic growth . . . is also choking its people.
-- Elizabeth C. Economy
At the root of many of China's air-quality problems is its heavy dependence on relatively high-sulfur, low-quality coal for everything from electricity generation and industrial ... Views: 783
The world is changing at an extraordinary pace. Twenty-five years ago, most young people who mastered the "3 r's" of reading, writing, and arithmetic and had a high school diploma were likely to be able to get and keep a decent job. Not so today. In research for my new book, I've come to ... Views: 782
Last week marked the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. I was particularly pleased that its end coincided with Rosh Hoshana. As a bonus, Eid, the festival following Ramadan, coincided with Gandhi’s birthday. It all seemed fitting, somehow, emphasizing our participation in an ... Views: 781
Mothers live in a permanent state of guilt. How come men don't? Mothers are guilty not just about whether they work and how much they work and should they work and where they work. But they are also guilty about what they do with the few moments they can call their own. A classic example of the ... Views: 777
One night after the presidential election of 2000 in November and before the ultimate resolution of that election by the United Stages Supreme Court in mid-December, as I lay in bed listening to Nightline, I heard James A. Baker III explaining to Ted Koppel why it would be wrong to supercede the ... Views: 775
Absent with Leave
My husband left for London for two weeks. Let me see, how long have we lived here. Oh yes, three weeks. How pregnant am I? Seven months. How many children do I have? Two and a bit. Do I want to be here? No. Excellent. He has a deadline, he always seems to have a deadline. He ... Views: 773
The New Russia may have finally embraced free-market capitalism, but Vladimir Lenin, founder of Soviet communism and one of the great murderers of the twentieth century, still casts a long shadow across the Russian landscape. Indeed, when I journeyed to Russia with my family last summer to ... Views: 771
It's only been two days since I started breastfeeding and my breasts are killing me. Why?
Once your milk starts to come. in, and the milk volume quickly increases -- which usually occurs sometime during the first week after delivery -- your breasts have a tendency to become overfilled, or ... Views: 771
We're up to our eyeballs in The Information Age. This certainly shouldn't be news to anyone given the fact that we can't seem to get away from the 24/7 world that technology has afforded us. There is news, views, and supposition coming at us from every angle, including on-line versions of ... Views: 769
One day, back in the early 70s, my father suddenly discovered that he had the astonishing ability to talk to the dead and heal the sick (for real!).
By day, he was a successful interior decorator with clients ranging from the Presidents of Cuba and Haiti to assorted mobsters and the illicit ... Views: 769
When we talk about starvation, or eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, we’re normally referring to behavior relating to food. For example, when someone is said to have the condition called anorexia, we are typically describing a behavior pattern marked by an aversion to or pushing ... Views: 763
As a family-law attorney for over 35 years, I can tell you that the secret to a successful divorce is to minimize your involvement with the legal system and to avoid using lawyers who work in it. Where one spouse is a controller abuser -- 5 to 10 percent of all cases -- this advice does not ... Views: 762
Why is the National Rifle Association called the National Rifle Association? It seems an odd choice considering the organization's commitment to the Second Amendment, which refers broadly to "arms," not rifles, that require keeping and bearing. Wouldn't it make more sense for the NRA to call ... Views: 761
Walter Martineck hardly knows Drew Peterson, a retired police sergeant in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, but he's a good friend of Peterson's stepbrother, Tom Morphey. So it was that Martineck found himself unwittingly drawn into the events of October 28, 2007, the day Peterson's young wife, ... Views: 760
The most serious problem with the widespread use of CAT scans is the radiation these devices leave in our bodies. CAT scans are not simple chest X-rays, which deliver only a small amount of radiation. Instead, they expose the patient to a significant amount of radiation, and radiation in ... Views: 756
Economic survival is not the only factor that we must consider as we rethink education goals for the twenty-first century. To better understand how all of our schools must adapt to new realities, we need to explore three fundamental transformations that have taken place in a very short period of ... Views: 750
You’re going to be rejected in life, heck it happens to me all the time. And if you haven’t experienced much rejection, I’ll bet you’re not taking many risks. Without taking risks you’ll lead a safe, predictable, and somewhat boring life. So let’s learn how to ... Views: 737
To have a better divorce, you need to take some time to read, think about and act on the advice in my book, Make Any Divorce Better, and the specific steps you can take. No matter what your situation, if you follow my advice, things will soon get better.
As a family law attorney for over 35 ... Views: 734
"Cemetery." Not a great way to start a conversation with a stranger, is it? Today all things deathly are impolite. But it wasn't that way in years gone by. Passing was something to be embraced. For two hundred years, urban American Christians were buried in churchyards. Then things got ... Views: 733
Many people ask me, after reading Hurry Down Sunshine, how Sally is doing now. The book tells the story of Sally's first manic attack at the age of fifteen, during the summer of 1996 in New York City. My aim was to recreate the experience of Sally's astonishing leap into psychosis from both ... Views: 729
You may have the sneaking feeling that there's something the presidential candidates aren't telling you about the federal budget. And you're right. Here it is:
Every expert who looks at the federal budget uses the same word to describe it: unsustainable. The federal government is $9.5 trillion ... Views: 724
The highest spiritual path is life itself. If you know how to live daily life, it all becomes a liberating experience. But first you have to approach life properly, or it can be very confusing. To begin with, you have to realize that you really only have one choice in this life, and it's not ... Views: 723
America, in a ritual that it undertakes every four years, is about to elect a president. Our choices for the highest office in the land are a man who has done absolutely nothing in two years in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama, and a man that has done too much for too long in the U.S. Senate, John ... Views: 723
Prologue
October 1994
There was a sharp rap on the door, followed by a muffled but unmistakable command from a voice outside in the hallway.
"We want the white guy, just the white guy. We know he's in there. He comes out now and there's no trouble for anyone later."
I was the "white guy." I ... Views: 722
Do you demand only the finest 1000 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets or require that your bath be drawn only with bottled spring water? Do you insist that your coffee be stirred only counter‐clockwise? If so, then, like many celebrities, you're a diva. Are you surprised to learn that you ... Views: 713
Do you think you know a leader when you see one? Most companies have the wrong notion of what a leader really is and does. Yet all the development efforts in the world can't deepen the leadership pool if they're focused on the wrong people to begin with.
The brilliant strategist, the creative ... Views: 702
When I finished writing this story two meaningful events occurred. One day while discussing this with a friend she told me she had the same thing happen to her. She watched her dog be run over by the school bus which was bringing her home from school. Sharing Buddy's story helped her to ... Views: 701
When I was pregnant with my first child, I had no absolutely no idea what to expect. I went about my business as if nothing was different. At work I'd occasionally glance down at my growing belly as thoughts of chubby, quiet, smiling babies dressed in all-white filled my mind. I had convinced ... Views: 700
If people are Nice, Trusted, Proud, and Included, then the Recognition will certainly follow. And that doesn’t mean strictly dollars and cents.
Our strong feeling is that money is not the main reason people choose where they work for life -- for a career. After all, money can’t compensate for ... Views: 698
It may seem that we have a long way to go before most people have access to truly integrative cancer treatment. Academic medical centers have not yet sufficiently integrated CAM services into their conventional care models. According to research by Dr. David Eisenberg and his colleagues at the ... Views: 698
One of the advantages of reaching midlife is that we are finally finished with all those issues that make childhood and adolescence such a pain in the neck, such as needing set bedtimes as well as regular dental and eye checkups; having to worry about using protection during sex and about ... Views: 697
It was with a feeling of trepidation that I first sat down to write Hurry Down Sunshine. I don't think of myself as a memoirist in the usual sense of the word, and Hurry Down Sunshine is not about my childhood or my "awakening" or the "turning points" in my life. It's about a dramatic event that ... Views: 692
When it comes to losing fat, success doesn't happen overnight. Sometimes it doesn't even happen over a few weeks, a few months or a few years. Don't rush it, don't crash and don't expect too much of yourself too soon. Life is for the living; for the making of mistakes and learning from them. ... Views: 691
On July 5, 1996, my daughter was struck mad. She was fifteen and her crack-up marked a turning point in both our lives. "I feel like I'm traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to," she said in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place I could not dream of or imagine. I ... Views: 690
Build a better nest egg with 6 easy, sound strategies for 2009.
The stock market lost 38% in 2008, but if you lost more than 20%, your problem wasn't really the stock market, it was the design of your nest egg. Storms occur in markets, as they do in the real world, but your home shouldn't be ... Views: 689
By the author of Forgive Us Our Debts
What two vital features of American national life are inordinately costly compared to any other country, no longer deliver world-beating results, are increasingly inequitable, are highly dysfunctional, and elicit growing anger from much of the ... Views: 688
When What You Want Is Stalking You
You know that advice people give then you're dying to buy something, "Go home, and if you're still thinking about it in a few days, go back to the store and revisit it." Frequently one you get home you realize you don't really want the item over which you ... Views: 688
Americans are deeply unhappy with the country's health care programs and costs. And rightly so. As one author observed, "A recent survey showed that only 17 percent of respondents in the United States were content with their health-care system . . . Why the discontent? The superficial reasons ... Views: 687
Soaring gas prices and the US credit crunch have many business owners scurrying to reduce costs and "do more with less." But this natural and reflexive approach to economic uncertainty is often the worst path a business leader can take. In fact, while researching my recently released book The ... Views: 686
1. Know how to shake hands. Your grip must be firm and you must make eye contract. Smile and squeeze. Human contact is the first step in initiating a relationship.
2. Determine what you and/or your services are worth right from the start. Don't sell yourself cheap at the beginning just to ... Views: 684
It was late July.
The summer mangoes had dropped from the trees and were lying rotting on the ground, ripped open by feasting bugs and birds. Their intoxicating, sweet smell mixed with the heaviness of the nightblooming jasmine. This languid perfume created a thick, rarefied atmosphere that at ... Views: 679
You flinch . . . you lose.
Imagine skiing at over 130 mph on skis and you catch an edge. One instinctive flinch to catch your balance and you lose any chance at winning the race. The challenge is overcoming the protective instinct to throw your hands out for balance while maintaining ... Views: 678
As a parent, you are at the center of your child’s life, but first you are at the center of your life, and what your child needs more than anything is for you to be okay. Being OK will also improve your negotiations with your Ex over all issues.
There are a lot of things you can’t change, ... Views: 678
Three of our presidents have been particularly fascinated by rifles: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. But all for different reasons.
Washington was what we would call an "early adopter" of rifle technology. As early as the French and Indian War (1754-1763), when he ... Views: 671
A great gulf exists between American military and civilian societies. But paradoxically, it can be hard to tell young veterans of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from their peers who haven't served. As I wrote a book about West Point recently, I would visit with vets who had left the Army and ... Views: 671
Who was the most important gunmaker in American history? There must be at least half a dozen -- and maybe up to a score if you thought hard about it -- leading contenders. Let me get into the spirit of things by naming, off the top of my head and in no particular order, Oliver Winchester, Samuel ... Views: 668
Thanksgiving is coming fast. Christmas. Hanukkah. Are you doomed to a miserable holiday if your relatives drive you crazy? What if you are just introducing your family to a serious date, someone who could be the One? Does Aunt Millie always cluck about what a shame it is that you are single ... Views: 668