A few weeks ago a terrible story unfolded in a posh midtown Manhattan hotel where a 49-year-old mother, Gigi Jordan, was found “babbling and incoherent” beside the body of her eight-year-old son Jude, dead from an apparent overdose of ground up prescription pills, including Ambien and Xanax.  Later it was revealed Jude was autistic.

In his press conference, the stunned and shattered father, estranged from his ex-wife and son for the last two years, said he had no idea what provoked his ex-wife to kill their child.  “To be honest, she was the most wonderful mother I’ve ever seen. She…

For years, it’s been impossible to say why I insist nightly on setting out five plates and five forks and something hot in a pan that I’d be embarrassed by if any adult I wasn’t married to caught sight of.  Though all research trumpets the importance of family dinners, I do sometimes wonder if these researchers actually do it themselves. These days, our dinners usually feel like a nightly gathering in which everyone thinks of new and imaginative ways to complain about the food.

The move to brand “retard” as derogatory and shelve the word for good has gotten a real shot in the arm from recent usage. Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to President Obama, recently used the word during a White House meeting on health-care legislation, and was forced to apologize. A consultant to Texas Gov. Rick Perry then used the word during a conference call. Then Rush Limbaugh said something “retarded.”