Catfishing is the use of a fake online persona to lure someone into a false relationship. Some people who catfish go to extreme lengths to create fake identities. Catfishing involves throwing out the bait, such as attractive photos, positive traits, and flattering words. The victim is strung along until trust is built. Victims think they […]

My 5-year-old great-niece looked up to me, the single adult woman in a room of couples, and asked, “Where’s your one-time love?” You could just see the wheels turning in her head, trying to make sense of the world and relationships. Disney movies had taught her that we are to find a forever mate to […]

Some of you know what it’s like to experience alcohol or drug abuse in the family. For those of you who don’t know it firsthand, an analogy found in How Alcoholism Affects the Family, Study.com, 23 June 2015 (study.com/academy/lesson/how-alcoholism-affects-the-family.html), gives a good picture. “Imagine a distant cousin, who we will call Al, wants to visit […]

Last November, traffic came to a stop on a Southern California freeway when cash scattered across the highway. Apparently, a door of an armored car unexpectedly swung open and spilled bags of cash, mostly $1 and $20 bills. Bypassing vehicle drivers and passengers jumped out of their vehicles to grab what they could. Some people […]

Many people are feeling the strain of being isolated. We didn’t expect Covid restrictions to last this long. The pandemic has kept people apart. Populations that were not used to being alone, like children and teenagers, may have been cut off from their social networks. Family members are often isolated from each other. Many individuals […]

The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back to 153 B.C. January is named after Janus, a mythical god of early Rome. Janus had two faces — one looking forward, one looking backward. This allowed him to look back on the past and forward toward the future. On December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking […]

Finding the right holiday gift for someone can be difficult. The Illinois Lottery encourages tickets as last-minute gifts which can be used as stocking stuffers or to replace gift cards and gift tags. I have a friend who shares my fantasy of winning the lottery jackpot. We take turns purchasing tickets every few months. We […]

On Tues, November 30, Ethan Crumbley allegedly killed four classmates at Oxford High School near Detroit Michigan using a gun that had recently been purchased by his father. He is being charged as an adult with one count of terrorism, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of assaults with intent to murder, and 12 […]

If you are like most people, you ate too much on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is literally a food fest. It may be the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail sales of food and beverages and by estimates of individual food intake. For people who struggle with weight and body image problems, […]

I am not alone in having sought a Pandemic Puppy. Pet care became an obsession in the time of Covid. Petco’s sales rose by eleven percent, Chewy’s by forty-seven percent, and Morgan Stanley has predicted that the pet-care industry will almost triple in size in the next decade. There are many benefits of pet ownership. […]