Taking the time to create new friendships is akin to recognizing oneself in the eyes of another — According to the classical Greek tradition, friendship depends on sharing value systems. Some of the most compelling tales — fiction or not — are those of best friends, like Thelma and Louise and the March sisters in Little Women, to name a few. But it’s also true in real life…

The bond created between the reader and the writer is special — “In the shop, we buy and sell them, but in truth, books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.” — Carlos Ruiz Zafón Novels are possibly the most intimate means we humans have conceived for understanding a stranger’s thinking. Shaped by formal standards, experimentation…

Otherwise stated, bossy is a different way to get a woman to sit down and shut the f**k up — The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines bossy as “inclined to dominate, and likely to tell others what to do.” Bossy has several synonyms, such as overbearing, pushy, imperious, officious, high-handed, authoritarian, dictatorial, and controlling. In short, “Bossy” connotes a negative stereotype of a strong or successful woman.

The easy answer has been to shift the discourse to mental illness — Mass shootings have become a feature of American life, and we know very well what follows: the shock, the horror, the demonization of the guilty, the prayers for the innocent, the calls for action, the finger-pointing, and the paralysis. Storytelling is not fiction; It imitates life How do you tell a tale about a mass shooting when…

A government of the aging, by the aging, and for the aging is myopic — President Lincoln’s famous catchphrase that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time has never been more relevant and critical. In virtually all situations in which we find ourselves in our daily lives, language provides a well-developed means of encoding and transmitting complex and subtle ideas. Language…

Although most Americans continue to resist socialism, it has an upsurge in public support. — A genuine interest inspired the socialist experiments of the 20th Century in improving life for the masses. Still, the results instead delivered untold suffering in economic deprivation and political tyranny. …

There are beliefs and things most of us want so badly to believe that they become facts, and most likely, they are wrong — Our political opinions and attitudes are integral to who we are and how we construct our identities. These days, you see people’s gradual, redeeming process of realizing that so much of what they thought about the world might’ve been misguided and must now change — about COVID-19 and wokeness, Russia…

Women joining movements that lead to a more egalitarian democracy strengthens the autocrat’s resolve to tighten their hold on power — With totalitarianism currently in focus, what does it mean for women’s rights? All we have to do is to look around. In China, women are silenced; in Saudi Arabia, women still have to get approval from their male family members to seek healthcare, and the Taliban has abolished women from…

We now live in a world of fewer misconceptions — During the last few days — and over the past two decades — Vladimir Putin has done more than any other human to remind us that the world order we have taken for granted is remarkably fragile. Earlier this week, Putin raised the threat of nuclear war when he ordered…