Obedience is a hard thing to master.Growing up, one of the stories regularly told around the dinner table in my family involved my two obedience-challenged older sisters.
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Dear Straight Talk Every morning I drive my granddaughter to high school and sit there in traffic observing all the kids: backpacks slung over shoulders, every hand gripping a cell phone. I've been in the newspaper business 46 years, starting right out of high school, and I'd like to ask what young people today read. I know they're on the Internet, but are they surfing, or actually reading? Or is it mainly social networking? And, apart from school assignments, do they read newspapers, magazines, and books? - Barbara Hale, Features Editor, Merced Sun-Star, Merced CA
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Dear friends: I’d like to thank all of you who recently shared your germs and viruses with me. Nothing says “special friendship” like a dripping nose. Full story »

It's not about the turkey. Or the stuffing. Or the Jell-O mold that nobody eats, but everybody swears they've got to have.It is not about the table that sat for all those years in the bay window of the dining room in a house I no longer call home.
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I don't need boys - my three girls pick up that slack all on their own.Elsa, my 2-year-old, picks her nose like a champ. The other two, ages 7 and 5, can out-burp most of their (male) cousins - something for which I'm particularly proud and my wife, bless her heart, is particularly embarrassed.
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It's nearly Thanksgiving, the traditional kickoff to the holiday party season, so it's time for all of us to consider our party footprints.
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Do you believe in magic? Quick, which is a better trick: Pulling a rabbit out of a hat, finding a coin behind an ear or transforming a boy into man? Full story »

We're all tribal, deep down inside.At work, at family reunions, at Neil Diamond concerts, we find our group and we tend to stick with it. Star Trek conventions exist on this principle.
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Dear Straight Talk: This girl at my high school is in love with my boyfriend and wants to fight me for him. Full story »

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled newspaper reading to bring you this important message about interruptions. Full story »

Editor's note: This column was written before the Nov. 4 election.God willing, by the time you read this, the election will be over and we can all breathe a deep, national sigh of relief.
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I'm a freshman in high school taking advanced placement classes. I work hard for my grades. As I was leaving civics recently after turning in a test, "Lisa," who was sitting by the door, asked for the answer to one of the questions. I didn't know what to do, so I told her. Then she kept asking about question after question, and I kept giving her the answers. It was the end of class, so everyone was making noise, and this teacher is oblivious anyway. Full story » Comments (2)

Teasing is such an intrinsic part of growing up, and having siblings it's hard to see sometimes where it stops and the hazing begins.
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We've just come through a very divisive period - a time filled with passionate views and bitter feelings. Now it's time to move forward.
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Now, from the people who brought you "splut" and "wobblywad," come more new words that should be added to the dictionary:Allergenetics: Breaking out in hives whenever exposed to extended family.
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