Yesterday I was touched when, picking up the carpool, six-year-old N took great pains to set a long object gently beside him and then make sure it was secure for the ride. Whatcha got there, N? I asked. “Well, this is a very special stick. I took it in for sharing. It’s thick but it’s [...]

To keep my 13-year-old son (Indian Name: Trees Make Me More Bored) engaged in something other than Call of Duty, I signed up to sponsor the Great American Backyard Campout through the National Wildlife Federation. The NWF is doing a bang up job in the Gulf these days rehabilitating affected penguins, sea turtles and more.  [...]

See this fancy place? It’s the Ritz in Paris, one of the world’s most luxurious hotels.  I stayed there when I was 13, and the clearest memory I have of staying in this now $1,079 per night hotel is that one family member, sick with food poisoning, defecated on the room’s Persian rug. I thought [...]