Lori Falce stories, Page 6

Ireland has given the world a lot. There’s whiskey, which is probably enough of a reason for many to celebrate all on its own. But it also was an Irishman who was credited with introducing to Europe the idea of hot chocolate. For Catholics, there’s the sacrament of confession, which...

I hate the word woke. Let’s be clear. This is not a conservative hatred of an agenda. It is not a liberal hatred of the right’s reaction to that perceived agenda. It is, however, a loathing that exists on a number of levels. Allow me to explain. First — and...

One of my favorite movies as a kid was “The Parent Trap.” Not the Lindsay Lohan one — although that was good, too. No, I was a fan of the old-school Hayley Mills version that came out when my mom was a kid. I found it doubly entertaining because my...

The terrifying thing about East Palestine’s train derailment and the spill of chemicals into land and water and air isn’t just the twisted wreckage or the flames or the absolute pillar of black smoke that rose from it all. It isn’t the social media videos speculating about dangerous residue in...

I love Brendan Fraser. Throughout the 1990s, I loved him in good movies like “School Ties” and “Gods and Monsters.” I loved him in bad movies like “Encino Man” and “Dudley Do-Right.” I flat out adored him in “The Mummy.” And so I was thrilled with the resurgence of his...

This is one of those times when it’s really hard to practice what I preach. Politically, I am all about middle ground and doing what’s in the common good. When it comes to sports, I am the radical fringe that doesn’t just want to win. I want to wage war...

Tyre Nichols was 29 years old the day he was stopped by police officers in Memphis. Body cam videos released by the police department showed an agonizingly long process that led to his death. He was dragged from his vehicle. He was beaten and Tased and pepper-sprayed. He broke free...

Perhaps I have been misled by a lifetime of movies and television. I have always been under the impression that top secret documents were kind of hard to access. Maybe I didn’t think you needed to drop down from a harness like Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible” to access a...

My bootstraps have gotten a solid workout over my life. That’s impressive if only because I rarely wear boots. As a rule, I wear flat black dress shoes with bottoms far too slick for Pennsylvania snow or rain. They have frequently led more to spectacular falls than impressive rises. But...

Eggs are expensive. They shouldn’t be. Traditionally, eggs are one of the most affordable sources of protein available. In 2018, the average price of a dozen large eggs in Pennsylvania was about $1.50. On sale or at the right store, you could get them for just 99 cents. That means...

College girls and homicide shouldn’t go together the way that they do. Maybe we should blame serial killer Ted Bundy for the way murderers and coeds have become so linked in the American consciousness. Maybe we should blame slasher flicks that make sorority houses and dorm rooms the location of...

Whataboutism got a lot of attention during the past few elections. It’s the tendency for someone to deflect the question about one thing with a counter about something else. Ask a politician about a sex scandal, get a return query about why his opponent did another shady thing — whether...

Many of our New Year traditions are not, despite our well wishes, about happiness. Well, not on its own. We want to be happy, of course. But, when we are cracking open a new calendar, we are shrugging off a different truism. On Jan. 1, we embrace the idea that...

I don’t love Christmas the way I did when I was kid. As a child, everything about the season was a holly, jolly marathon of music and lights. It stretched out for weeks and weeks in a candy-striped scavenger hunt of glee. It started the Saturday after Thanksgiving when we...

I am OK with robots. Hey, I’m a product of my time. I grew up with R2-D2 and C3PO. My siblings and I were just sharing pictures of Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” in our chat group this week. I married a sci-fi nerd who adored the various metal monsters...

Gaslighting is Merriam-­Webster’s word of the year. When I heard this, it set my teeth on edge. I certainly understood the reasoning. The dictionary’s website saw a 1,740% increase in people checking out the definition in 2022 alone, but its use has exploded over the past four years. “Gaslighting” is...

How do you put those visions of sugarplums dancing in your family’s heads when you are pulled in a hundred different directions? You want the holiday you had as a kid — all special moments, amazing smells and once-a-year bites. But now you know that your mom making that happen...

When you ask people what they think we need in government, you can get a wide variety of answers. We need more conservatives. We need more liberals. More progressives. More hardliners. More Christians. More business people. More people with experience. Fewer millionaires. More “real” people. There is no shortage of...

This column runs on Fridays, which means that on the day after Thanksgiving, it generally runs toward traditions and holidays. I have used it to talk about Black Friday shopping with my husband, my love of turning leftovers into soup and the Christmas cards I want to mail but never...

My friends and I were talking about the collapse of FTX — the cryptocurrency trading firm that suddenly declared bankruptcy last week. It was a scandal that might have been of epic proportions if not overshadowed by things like the U.S. election vote counting and developments in the war in...

There are some foods that just scream fall — and it isn’t simply a pumpkin spice latte or apple cider. Summertime cooking can be about adventure, fun and keeping cool. We grill in the backyard. We dive face first into giant icy watermelon. We mix up substantial cold salads rather...

On Veterans Day, the attention on former service members is obvious. There are offers for free coffee, free sandwiches, free meals and more. I know someone who preps in advance, making sure his identification is ready and loosens his belt, prepared to dine for free all day — and take...

On Tuesday, I became a little bit cooler in my son’s eyes. Not much, and I’m not under any delusion it will last. But, for a brief, shining moment, my teenager was moderately impressed by me. “Elon Musk wants to charge people for blue check marks on Twitter?” he mused...

The one thing I struggle with most in my job is not the task of making deadlines — although the editor who waits with well-concealed resignation for my weekend editorials every Friday might disagree. It is helping people — whether readers or writers — navigate the tightrope between what is...

Ableism refers to attitudes or actions that make assumptions about or throw roadblocks in front of people dealing with a handicap or medical issue. Sometimes it is intentional. Sometimes it is uncaring. Sometimes it is simply unaware. But ableism also is frequently correctable — just like the medical issues in...