And that’s if your parents didn’t kill you at birth — It wasn’t easy growing up in Sparta. But maybe the Spartan kids didn’t have any pen pals in nearby Athens where life, at least for the boys, was spent philosophizing and cheering on their countrymen at the Olympics. To get into the mind of a Spartan parent, you have to…

The irony of this showdown is not lost on me — Shark vs Train was one of my kids’ favorite books growing up. The shark and the train are competitors in a series of increasingly silly contests to prove their dominance. For instance, the shark wins Trick or Treat — he’s much scarier than the train. …

It’s my inner life only that *might* make a good reality show — Although I truly enjoy reading other people’s profiles here, I have procrastinated endlessly about writing my own. I wonder if it’s like trying to come up with a dating profile when you are literally interested in hanging out with anyone and everyone. Maybe not, but here goes nothing — The…

The crystal flute speaks — Imagine this. …

Genghis Khan May Have Been a Stone Cold Killer but He Sure Loved Wife Number One — It is probably not a surprise to learn that life for Mongolian women in the 12th century AD was not a cakewalk. Such was the case with Börte who became the first wife of Temüjin, otherwise known as Genghis Khan. …

Sure, there’s Chico’s but something is still missing — Recently, I went shopping for my teen at Forever 21. It’s not a store I often visit. First, because while my mind might be somewhat youthful, my body has been through puberty, childbirth, and a whole lot of Häagen-Dazs. Nothing in the store fits past my big toe these days. …

An eternity in a dressing room with a teen — say it ain’t so — It used to be so easy. When my daughter was a baby and then a toddler, I got to put her in whatever clothes I wanted — with appliques and smiling bumblebees and gingham bloomers. When she was older, I would just lay clothes out for her on the bed…

There is a conspiracy afoot, I just know it — There is something going on at MuddyUm. And thankfully, now that I’ve watched a Daily Show clip of a MAGA rally in Wisconsin where correspondent Jordan Klepper interviewed an attendee about gematria, I have my answer. Just what is gematria? One explanation is a numerological system by which Hebrew letters…

A 17th-century ‘Vampire epidemic’ had people on edge — The woman’s grave was unearthed when archaeologists from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland were excavating a cemetery in the southern village of Pien. The skeleton wore a fine silk cap with gold or silver thread — and a leg shackle. …