If I could begin again, I would change the setting. But not the sentiment. The sentiment was perfect.

We were in line at Jack in the Box when I first said “I love you.” Young, broke, and decades from cholesterol issues, we had diddled away the morning in… Read full post »

Kristy McNichol has come out as a lesbian — in order to help people.

Do me a favor and read that sentence again. In a rational world, that string of words would make no sense whatsoever. In a reasonable society, the apropos-of-nothing proclamations of a 1970s child star and… Read full post »

She went off. And then she went viral.

Little Riley Maida of Newburgh, New York, made news recently with a video clip known as Riley’s Rant. In it, the precocious 4-year-old stands in a toy store railing against toy makers for assuming that girls only want to play… Read full post »

(I’d like to point out some unusual formatting in this week’s column. Every time you see an asterisk [*] in the text below, I want you to squeeze the muscles of your pelvic floor. I’ll explain later; just do it. Every time.)

Being the mother of a teenager… Read full post »

If you’re ever strolling past my house at night, I hope you’ll stop and admire the view through my living room’s picture window. You’ll spy fresh flowers and flickering candles. You’ll see throw pillows and artfully arranged bookshelves. You’ll notice a rainbow… Read full post »

Circumcision. Gay marriage. Immigration. There are a handful of subjects so controversial, so likely to propel people into disparate, dueling factions, that one dare not even broach them in mixed company.

They’re surefire feud igniters. They’re quarrel kindling.

Who knew tha… Read full post »

There are few things that scare me in this world. Ghosts? Meh. Vampires? Yawn. Zombies? Bring it. But this Halloween, something truly terrifying will take place. On October 31, the world population is expected to hit 7 billion. Seven BILLION humans will walk, crawl, and limp across… Read full post »

I’m not blessed with what you’d call “business acumen.” I crawled on my knees through Econ 101. I have trouble calculating sales tax on a $10 sale. And the extent of my salesmanship is saying, “Hey, you don’t want one of these, do you?”

Yet in 15 com… Read full post »

I’m no stickler for rules — at least, not most of them. I’ve always favored whimsy, irreverence, and originality over propriety, decorum, and tradition. I’m the mom who lets my kids run naked in the front yard, sneaks massive snack sacks into movie theaters under my shirt,… Read full post »

If you really are what you eat, then everyone I know is nuts. You can’t lob a legume through a restaurant these days without hitting someone on a fussy — and fairly freaky — diet.

Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Sugar-free. Wheatless and meatless, pescetarian and Paleolithic, macr… Read full post »

It’s probably unwise to wonder this aloud, but that’s never stopped me before: What if you suspect your child is gay? Or—you know—will be gay eventually?

My own boys seem humdrumly hetero thus far, but I’ve known lots of kids who bucked traditional gender stereo… Read full post »

Grandma used to flirt with the butcher. During WWII, when meat was rationed, she’d sidle up to his counter in her finest frock and chat him up for hours.

“Grandpa really liked pork chops,” she told me, “so I’d say, ‘Gee, I’d really like to have those,… Read full post »

It’s our beloved bedtime ritual: In the dark of my son’s room, at the edge of his small bed, I sing him to sleep every night. From the day he was born, I’ve been lulling him off to dreamland by warble-whispering the random anthems filed in my musical… Read full post »

Complex. Cryptic. Complicated. This is how men describe women. Whereas guys claim to be simple creatures easily won over with a frosty beer or an unobstructed glimpse at boobies, gals are perceived as inscrutable human vaults whose hearts and, well, parts are guarded by a system of… Read full post »

An old biker adage says there are two kinds of motorcycle riders: those who have been down, and those who are going down.

Bikers court danger; it’s part of the thrill of riding. And the axiom is their way of acknowledging the inevitable.

Spend enough time in the World of Two… Read full post »

As a mom or dad, you hear it all the time. Too often. It’s one of those firm parenting axioms recited by smug sages—like “sleep when your baby sleeps”—that’s as nonnegotiable as it is unachievable.

“Children don’t need a friend,” the advic… Read full post »

Do you love buying shoes? Are you someone for whom shoe-shopping begets a Zennish euphoria? Yes?

Here’s some advice for you: Don’t do it with a 12-year-old.

My 8th-grade–bound son has long coveted classic Converse low-tops. Last week, we found a pair of lookalikes on sa… Read full post »

I’m turning 40 soon. Let’s not discuss how soon. It’s a “big” birthday, the official gateway to “over the hill” or, alternately, “the new 18,” depending on whether the person uttering it is under 40 and smug or over 40 and in serious denia… Read full post »

By Starshine Roshell

    There's been quite a flap over foreskin lately.
    Actor Russell Crowe recently railed against circumcision in a profanity-laced tweet, calling the ancient and still-popular practice "barbarism." In July, Colorado became the 18th state (Californi…

Read full post »

By Starshine Roshell


    I always knew I'd speak at my father's funeral.
    It's a morbid thought, I know. But I was sure I'd deliver his eulogy. See, he's a fascinating man — passionate and charismatic, the kind of guy who seems to have lived several lives in the s… Read full post »

It’s the love that dare not speak its name—especially if you’re in Tennessee, where it could land you in jail.

The state’s Senate just passed a bill that would make it illegal to teach about homosexuality in public schools from kindergarten through 8th grade. No gay-ma… Read full post »

One in seven women would rather be blind than obese. That’s what researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) found when, in a study of how “obesity spreads socially,” they asked 100 women to choose—hypothetically—between obesity and other socially stigmatized condit… Read full post »

Call it the hooter hoax. There’s a story going around the Internet—and even on TV news stations, though not good ones—that staring at women’s breasts is beneficial to men’s health.

Yeah. Take a minute to chuckle. It’s worth it.

My husband sent me an art… Read full post »

It’s early Saturday morning in the back room of a community center. Clusters of sleepy-eyed children sip chocolate milk from cheap paper coffee cups before taking their seats. The meeting begins. A 1st grader with bed head shuffles to the podium and clears his throat.

“Hi, I&rsqu… Read full post »

By Starshine Roshell

    Scrubbing shower grout. Having brunch with Muammar Gaddafi. Running naked across the highway.
    These are all things I'm more likely to be doing on a Sunday morning than attending church.
    I'm an atheist. Not an agnostic. Not "s… Read full post »