My dad was born with personality. Pure, unfiltered personality. The kind that made strangers feel like old friends and old friends feel like family. If he walked into a room, he quickly owned it. We were close, he and I. The kind of close where you don’t have to explain things because the ...
Just before the July Fourth holiday, Atlantic magazine online ran a short article entitled "The Capitol City is a mess" in which the writer, Matt Viser, commented on the many eyesores awaiting visitors to Washington, D.C., as the nation celebrated its 250th birthday. According to Viser, the ...
Q. I feel so dumb. Everyone I know seems to know slang and I have no idea. How can I keep up with slang? – 14-year-old Mary Jo’s Response: What an interesting question! I’m not surprised you’re curious about slang – it seems to change rapidly. Slang is a type of social code. It ...
At about 9 years old, I decided I wanted to build a treehouse. We had a sturdy black walnut tree in our backyard, and I had amassed a pile of old weathered fence slats with enough splinters to disable a battalion of enemy soldiers. I had a handful of nails I had painstakingly pulled from ...
In the coming days, National Park rangers may find visitors asking about the location of Christopher Gist's grave somewhere near Fort Necessity, this following the release of the splashy new film, the heavily advertised "Young Washington." A production of Angel Studios, the movie depicts a ...
Q. How can I find inspiration to go get my permit? I’ve been putting it off for over a year. What do I even do? Thank you. – 17-year-old Mary Jo’s Response: When we delay a decision, we may be unaware of why we hesitate. It sounds as if that may be the case with you. I’ve seen this ...
