Connie Schultz from Creators Syndicate

Whitney Houston, Worth Our Time for 02/15/2012

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

You didn't have to like Whitney Houston's music to fall under the spell of her voice.

Lord, how that woman could sing.

Even people who never would buy one of her records — people like my dad, for example, who practically worshipped Dean Martin and wanted to be Neil Diamond — blinked fast and swallowed hard after 27-year-old Houston stepped up to the microphone at the 1 ...

Updated: Wed Feb 15, 2012

Funny Man, Karl Rove for 02/08/2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

After I saw the new Chrysler ad — starring Clint Eastwood and titled "Halftime in America" — I walked from our kitchen to my home office and picked up the rusty wrench my father used during his 30 years at the power plant in Ashtabula, Ohio.

The wrench is nearly 2 feet long and weighs 12 pounds. Dad had been gone five years when one of his former bosses gave me a to ...

Updated: Wed Feb 08, 2012

Komen Caves, Women Pay for 02/01/2012

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has severed its ties with Planned Parenthood.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of dollars — nearly $700,000 last year alone — no longer will fund breast cancer screenings and other breast-related services for low-income and uninsured women at 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country.

Poof! Gone.

Ko ...

Updated: Wed Feb 01, 2012

Answer the Question, Candidate Gingrich for 01/25/2012

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

You may have noticed that most of the presidential debates are moderated by men, which gives female journalists like me lots of time to watch and listen.

Land of plenty, that is. So many opportunities to turn to my dog on the couch and say, "Wait. What?"

Take CNN anchorman John King's exchange last week with Newt Gingrich. King kinda, sorta asked the candidate to respond ...

Updated: Wed Jan 25, 2012

What To Say When -- Not If -- We Die for 01/18/2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

In 2001, a friend who was terminally ill asked me to interview her for a video to leave behind for her infant daughter.

My friend was barely 30, but she knew that time was running out. Her hope was that she could answer some of the questions her teenage daughter might one day ask. She was buoyed by the project, smiling and full of little jokes, but it was an emotional day for all of us. ...

Updated: Wed Jan 18, 2012

Time To Talk Politics at the Dinner Table for 01/11/2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

We all have heard the admonishment that polite people never discuss politics or religion at the dinner table.

Forgive me, but that sounds like a big part of the problem right now in America.

I grew up in a small working-class town in northeast Ohio. In our Protestant home, the dining room table faced the Jack-and-Jesus wall. Under Mom's watchful gaze in 1961, Dad had hung a painti ...

Updated: Wed Jan 11, 2012

We Are the Women for 01/04/2012

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

For the past week, the front section of The New York Times' Dec. 28 issue has been sitting on my kitchen counter in Ohio, growing increasingly crinkled from use and sprinkled with circles, arrows and the occasional exclamation point.

The recent wave of anti-choice legislation in my state and across the country has made me keenly aware of attacks on women in America. Perhaps that is why I ...

Updated: Wed Jan 04, 2012

Wee Paws for Christmas for 12/21/2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Last December, I knew.

Gracie the pug had followed me around the house like she always did during my Christmas blitz, but she moved slowly, full of sighs. She was 13 and virtually blind, yet managed to land inches from my feet as I decorated the tree, set up our mini Christmas village and spaced the stockings just so on the mantel.

Still, I knew.

I talked to her as I alway ...

Updated: Wed Dec 21, 2011

Teens in Foster Care Deserve a Christmas, Too for 12/14/2011

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

December 14, 2011 -- Remember how hard it was to be a teenager? All that angst and self-doubt, surrounded by family who didn't understand you.

Now try to imagine what it's like to be that teenager in foster care, at Christmas.

Jen Burrows is 28 now, but every December triggers her teenage memories of foster child Christmases.

"You want to feel special, but if you're in ...

Updated: Wed Dec 14, 2011

The Ever-Devolving Mitt Romney for 12/07/2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Poor Mitt Romney.

The Republican presidential candidate has changed everything but his gender to appease his new best friends on the far right.

He used to be pro-choice; now he's anti-choice.

He used to support gay rights, but now he's against those, too.

He's also against the health care plan he signed into law when he was governor of Massachusetts. Which means Mitt ...

Updated: Wed Dec 07, 2011

Homeless Children and Millionaire Coaches for 11/30/2011

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Before I weigh in on the heart-stopping salary of Ohio State's new football coach, let me tell you about the kids I met last Sunday evening.

You may have met them, too. Their names are Arielle and Austin Metzger, and they starred in a "60 Minutes" story by Scott Pelley.

Arielle is 15; her brother is 13. For the past five months, they've been living in a truck with their ...

Updated: Wed Nov 30, 2011

'Tis the Season To Be a Grown-up for 11/23/2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

It's that time of year for the annual question to divorced moms and dads:

What kind of parent will you be?

Will you be the mother or father who casts aside lingering resentments for the sake of your kids' happy holidays? Or will you be the ex-spouse who wages a war in which no one wins and every child loses?

It's the holidays. Time to be grown-ups, dear parents, no matter h ...

Updated: Wed Nov 23, 2011

Class Warfare, Codified for 11/16/2011

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

When I was growing up, I knew a lot of kids whose fathers didn't earn a living working in the bowels of a factory like my dad.

Their dads were businessmen, doctors and bankers, but our families lived blocks away, not suburbs apart. So all of us kids attended the same schools. We cheered together at football games, discoed at the same dances and had the same teacher for algebra. Our paren ...

Updated: Wed Nov 16, 2011

Keep Talking, Herman Cain for 11/09/2011

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

You may have noticed that a lot of the coverage about Herman Cain's alleged misconduct with women casts the controversy as a "he said, she said" kind of story.

As of Wednesday, however, it's a "he said, she said, she said, she said, she said" story, so let's retire the false equivalence. One of the four women already has gone public with a news conference. Another wom ...

Updated: Wed Nov 09, 2011

Exposing the Horrors of Surgical Fires for 11/02/2011

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Nearly five years ago, 20-year-old Lauren Wargo underwent what should have been a routine surgical procedure to remove a mole on her face.

She woke up in the recovery room unable to see. Her face was wrapped in gauze. Cool water streamed down her cheeks.

She caught only snippets of a nurse's conversation with her father.

There's been an accident.

Updated: Wed Nov 02, 2011

Time for Costume Chaos for 10/26/2011

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

A lot of the presidential candidates currently are masquerading as Masters of the Universe, but Halloween is still for the kids.

Let us honor parents across America who've become screeching train wrecks in pursuit of the perfect costumes for the kiddies.

So much pressure to execute a progeny's bright ideas. So many chances to disappoint. To frustrate. To get a little freakin' weir ...

Updated: Wed Oct 26, 2011

Not To Brag, but It's All About Ohio Again for 10/19/2011

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Earlier this week, I was in Jamestown, N.Y., to give a talk to a library room full of the kindest and feistiest people you ever would want to meet.

For a half-hour or so, I told stories that had virtually nothing to do with Ohio. Then we opened the floor, and the very first question had everything to do with my home state:

What's going to happen with Issue 2?

If you're a vo ...

Updated: Wed Oct 19, 2011

When Does an Occupation Become a Movement? for 10/12/2011

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

On Sept. 22, I was on my way to moderate a panel discussion in lower Manhattan, when I walked past a crowd of several hundred people gathered in Zuccotti Park.

It looked more like a sit-in than a protest, but it had the feel of something bigger waiting to be born.

Nobody was shouting or making much effort to talk to passers-by. A number of people were taking pictures, but most of ...

Updated: Wed Oct 12, 2011

One Photo, Many Stories for 10/05/2011

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Perhaps you have seen this photo. On Facebook maybe or on a military blog, in an email.

In the picture, to the right, Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Paul Carpenter's dog tags dangle from his dusty boots. A small Bible, bookmarked with his wedding announcement, rests on the floor beside them.

To the left, a camouflaged cap is propped on the edge of a framed picture of Andrew, or Andy, as ...

Updated: Wed Oct 05, 2011

Death Penalty Support May Be Dying for 09/28/2011

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

More than a week has passed since the execution of Troy Davis, who insisted he was innocent until his eyes closed forever.

Georgia won this battle, but it has potentially ignited a movement to eliminate the death penalty in this country. If we've learned anything from Davis' execution, it's that our judicial system is too flawed — too human, really — to claim the right to kil ...

Updated: Wed Sep 28, 2011