Laurie and Debbie say: This list is (mostly) for folks who celebrate the upcoming holidays, and are fortunate enough to have people and resources to celebrate with; if you don’t fit that group, skip to the bottom. If you do fit, then even if your family are your favorite people and you look forward all [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: If you live in the U.S., and you’re not watching the news extremely carefully, you probably don’t know that a powerful Hungarian politician, Marton Gyongyosi, made a speech in the Hungarian parliament at the end of November, calling for “the authorities to compile a national list of Hungarian Jews, especially those [...]

Lynne Murray says: We value children in America, but some more than others. Many, if not most, fat children learn very early that approval and sometimes even affection will be withheld unless and until they lose weight. Since no reliable method exists that will guarantee weight loss or prevent weight gain for most people, children–even [...]

Dr. Lisa Freitag is a former pediatrician in Minneapolis/St. Paul (the “Twin Cities”), in the north midwest of the United States. We hope to feature some of her thoughts and observations in this space from time to time. Lisa Freitag says: All along the highways leading to the Twin Cities, a billboard advertising North Memorial [...]

Laurie says: As I’ve written, my photo of Bob Guter was chosen my the National Museum of Art in Osaka to represent my work in the 35th anniversary catalogue of their permanent collection, issued in 2012. They have 12 of my photos in their permanent collection, and this was their choice for the catalogue. Each [...]

Debbie says: Earlier this week, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about how people who’ve had weight-loss surgery (or “bariatric” surgery) are much more likely to show up in the hospital with acute liver failure due to acetaminophin poisoning. Acetaminophin, more commonly known as Tylenol in the U.S. and as paracetamol in Europe, is [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: Last week, a defense attorney in Cleveland, Texas, described an 11-year-old girl who was gang-raped by as many as 18 men as a “spider” luring men into her web: Like the spider and the fly. Wasn’t she saying, ‘Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly?’ ” Taylor asked. At [...]