Columnists

Are you marrying soon? Have you recently married? As you begin

In July 2000, I was visiting Dublin, Ireland, and went with a friend to the historic campus of Trinity College. There we waited in a queue at the Old Library and were ushered into a darkened room, in the middle of which were lighted display cases.

In 1871, Ulysses S. Grant was president of a country still recovering from a horrendous Civil War, and Chicago suffered a Great Fire that left 90,000 people homeless. Meanwhile, in Gilroy, St. Mary School opened its doors to provide for the children of South Santa Clara County a high-quality education grounded in Catholic values.

The late '50s and early '60s was a volatile time in Cuban

We recently had our stray kitty put to sleep. The vet said she

I really dread the 2012 election cycle, especially the presidential race. We know that both the Obama and Romney campaigns have enough money to completely dominate television advertising, and given what we have seen from the Republican primary races, it will be overwhelmingly negative. It appears that Romney’s theme will be that Obama was not up to the job and gave us four years of failure, so he deserves a chance to get it right. Almost every speech is filled with “he didn’t … I will.”

The wait is over. Regular readers, you know what I'm talking about. Although she made a fashionably late entrance, my niece arrived July 2. A tiny bundle of screaming fury, Brooklynn Elise made it immediately clear that she was not happy to exit the cozy confines of her home of the past nine months.

“Merry Christmas” or “happy holidays” are probably the most common expressions heard this time of year. Greeting cards come in the mail proclaiming, “Joy to the World.” Shoppers, meanwhile, are crowding the malls in search of gifts that will bring feelings of delight to their recipients.

Big news, but will it make a big difference? On Feb. 9, the Justice Department announced it had struck a settlement approaching $26 billion with the major U.S. mortgage servicers.