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Decluttering till death do we part

Columns

Margareta Magnusson was an artist in Stockholm who wrote a bestselling book, “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.” Decluttering, the removal of unnecessary items from our living spaces, had already become an international obsession. That was doubly so for Americans, whose large houses became easy repositories for the cheap goods arriving by container ship from low-wage countries. We declutterers had already gotten going 15 years ago, when Marie Kondo, Japan’s high priestess of neatness, came out with her big book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I tried to ...

Dear Annie: If she comes knocking

Columns

Dear Annie: I’m a 63-year-old widow with three grown children. Two of them live nearby and are wonderful children, while the third is estranged and lives several states away. It’s been six years since I’ve seen her. She’s sent very brief emails wishing me a happy birthday, etc., but nothing more. Over the course of these six years, my other children discovered their sister has been telling her friends and acquaintances that she was severely abused growing up, specifically sexually abused by both her now-deceased father and her brother. These are vicious lies. When she was a ...

Applause, Applause

Columns

Each Saturday, The Express community newspaper highlights people, groups and activities our readers deem worthy of applause. THANK YOU to all of the volunteers from Sugar Valley Lions Club members, community members, family, friends, neighbors, church members, co-workers, complete strangers and Bingo players, as well as, to all that donated food, monetary donations and baked goods for our Spring 2026 Bingo fundraisers. We look forward to seeing you all again for our Fall 2026 Bingo events the second Friday in September, October and November. All proceeds from these events will be ...

Cory Booker should be ashamed of himself

Columns

I wish “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker had asked Sen. Cory Booker if he’s qualified to represent New Jersey given that nearly 9 out of 10 of his constituents are not Black. I should probably back up. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled in Callais vs. Louisiana that the state’s newest congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Here’s a simplified recap. After the 2020 census, Louisiana drew a congressional map that included just one “majority-minority” district. Some Black voters sued, arguing that Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act ...

Could Trump care less about you and me?

Columns

Camelot, it’s not. King Arthur, not even close. Donald Trump is a pretender president who doesn’t even pretend to do right by the people. In all candor, this city, graced by garden squares, memorials and museums, feels like a crime scene, with his fingerprints everywhere on it. Places we held dear are demolished (the White House East Wing) or closed (the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts). But who knows what’s in the knave’s heart? Trump also dumped toxic debris from the East Wing site onto a popular public golf course. His visage scowls from windows at passersby on ...

Specific pottery artists can command premiums

Columns

Kitaro Shirayamadani, also spelled Kataro, was born in Tokyo, Japan, and came to the United States as a young man. Already an accomplished porcelain painter, he initially worked for Fujiyama, an importer and decorator in Boston; then he accepted a job at the Rookwood Pottery Company in ...