The landscape for this July is much improved from a year ago – and that’s an understatement. The outlook is light years away from those dark days of last summer, when we were told to … more

Immigration has always been a convenient hot-button issue to rile up voters of all stripes. The subject makes for easy rallying cries and attack ads – often stereotypical and misleading – … more

We lost a beloved member of our immediate family early last month our friendly, cuddly male cat Cooper. While some people might question calling a pet a member of the family, it clearly is. We … more

It’s become a Thanksgiving tradition in my family in recent years to write our annual end-of-the-year newsletter while the turkey is roasting in the oven. Dubbed the “Cains-Kessler … more

AS I WRITE THIS in mid-March, uncertainty abounds over the coronavirus pandemic, but one thing is certain: No matter how long the outbreak and its fallout last, it has already hurt the quality of our lives, and has made us care more deeply about activities that we otherwise take for granted. Even though most Americans realize it’s a serious situation, it’s hard to accept the severe restrictions imposed on our personal lives because of the virus, especially since past pandemics, including the H1N1 swine flu in 2009-10, never reached this level. For instance, in those other outbreaks, people weren’t thrown out of work, closed off from their schools and houses of worship, or told that they couldn’t patronize bars and restaurants. Not since 9/11 has American life changed so dramatically and so rapidly. more

To honor the retirement of former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady – who spent 20 years in Foxboro and is known as “TB12” after his jersey number – I’ve … more

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a worrywart. I would often redo my homework in a bid for perfection, and I’d repeatedly study for tests. (Although this resulted in reasonably good grades, it was no help when it came to getting a decent score on the math SAT.) Excessive worrying followed me into adulthood – which is why I started going gray in my 20s. And with that kind of a track record, it’s easy to imagine how being in the midst of a pandemic has intensified my worrying. more

Fifteen years ago, a fifth-grade teacher at a charter school had a vision for bringing the scope of the unimaginable horror of the Holocaust across to her fifth-grade students. That teacher was … more

“On Rosh Hashanah their decree is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed. How many will pass away and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will come to his timely … more

Twenty years ago this month, my wife and I were getting ready to celebrate what we believed would be a particularly meaningful Thanksgiving, because it would be the first since our then-only daughter Arianna became a naturalized American citizen, at age 3. more