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A foreseeable and dire munitions crisis

Columns

During the 1979-1980 hostage crisis, a defiant Iran starkly demonstrated the limits of American power. Forty-five years later, it is doing the same thing, although in vastly different circumstances. Back then, when the post-Vietnam military was at a low ebb, we didn’t strike Iran, and a long-shot rescue operation ended in abject failure. Now, with the U.S. military at its most proficient and professional in history, we have inflicted punishing blows against the regime but still haven’t been able to impose our will, in part because we are running low on the munitions ...

Dear Annie: Couple indecisive over interfaith marriage

Columns

Dear Annie: I am Jewish and have been dating a wonderful Catholic man for almost two years. We love each other and have started talking seriously about marriage. Until recently, our different religions did not seem like a problem. We respected each other’s traditions, celebrated holidays with both families and never pressured one another to change. Now that marriage and children are becoming real possibilities, the differences feel much bigger. I want to raise my future children Jewish and give them the same traditions and sense of identity that shaped me. My boyfriend wants them ...

As our children head back to school, teachers need our support

Columns

For the past several years, I have enjoyed viewing friends’ photos on Facebook of their children heading back to school. Many now have children in college, while some still have kids in high school. My friends often post their kindergarten or elementary school pictures next to the current photos to proudly show how much their children have grown. I can tell by the half grins on some of my friends’ kids’ faces that they were probably thinking, “Mom, whyyyy do you post these pictures of me every year?” I always find these reactions amusing, but I believe that when they are ...

Dear Annie: I can’t be my grieving mother’s caregiver

Columns

Dear Annie: My father died two years ago after more than 50 years of marriage. Since then, my mother seems to have stopped living. She spent her entire adult life caring for my father and raising our family. She rarely did anything just for herself. My father handled the finances, made most of the decisions and was the more social one. Now my mother calls me several times a day. She asks me to make appointments, pay bills, arrange repairs and help with even small decisions. I love her and want to help. But I have a job and a family of my own. Lately, I feel more like her parent than ...

No price too high for evading back-to-school shopping

Columns

In the pantheon of parental duties, shopping for school supplies stands alone. At the tripart crossroads of “least enjoyable,” “most expensive” and “least negotiable,” it is an intrinsic part of life in late summer, and it has been since I was a kid in the Cretaceous era. I remember it much more fondly from that perspective — being the receiver of shiny No. 2 pencils, folders, composition notebooks and a Trapper Keeper to hold it all together. I’m certain my parents found the experience annoying and expensive, but with all due respect, they had absolutely no ...

Dermatologist prescribes metformin for woman’s skin rash

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have a skin rash (granuloma annulare), and my dermatologist said that there really isn’t a cure for it. It’s in various areas of my body — my upper back, my trunk (mostly in areas where garments hit), and a few other places. The dermatologist recommended using metformin to see if this helps. All my labs are excellent, so metformin has never been something that any of my docs suggested. She even looked at my labs and said that they were great but wants to see if metformin might help. Have you ever heard of this? Should I find a different dermatologist? I’m a ...