When the ‘mean girl’ is a woman: How to deal with an adult bully

Top 10 most-read (non-covid) wellness stories for 2021 at The Washington Post

Thanks to the Queen Bee, I was pushed out of a friend group, disinvited from activities, tarnished by falsehoods and deserted by allies. Read more >>

Should parents cry in front of their kids? I asked a psychologist, and my 9-year-old.

The first time I saw my mother cry, I was about 6 years old. In an effort to keep me out of her hair, she had tasked me with the job of cleaning our old and woefully out-of-tune piano, played by no one, and purchased merely to eat up the dead space in our vast living room. Read more >>

How my father and son’s pen-pal relationship became a lifeline for us all

After my mother died nearly six years ago, my father took over mail duty, sending birthday cards and the occasional clipping from my hometown newspaper, the Hartford Courant: a review of a book by someone I knew, the obituary of my high school biology teacher, a travel story about a place we visited as a family. Read more >>

‘Pandemic grief’ proves especially devastating and complex for many in mourning, health experts say

Even though vaccines have changed the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic, a death toll approaching more than 550,000 has cast a long, dark shadow over all Americans. Read more >>

Few will hear the shofar blown indoors this Rosh Hashanah. So rabbis are taking to the streets.

Rabbi Aaron Potek has been getting ready for weeks now, rising each morning to sound his shofar, a hollowed-out ram’s horn used to usher in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Read more >>

We wanted a new kitten. The coronavirus pandemic meant everyone else did, too.

In his 19 years on earth, my cat Raymond saw me through a painful divorce, an ecstatic remarriage to my husband, Karl, and the wondrous birth of our son, Leo. Raymond was one of the few constants in my life, and losing him four years ago was upending. Read more >>

This museum curator is an expert on dogs — and their presidential partners

If you want a friend in Washington,” Harry S. Truman supposedly said, “get a dog.” Exactly so. From Franklin D. Roosevelt’s beloved terrier Fala, who is immortalized in bronze at the FDR Memorial in Washington, to George H.W. Bush’s English springer spaniel Millie, whose as-told-to book outsold her master’s autobiography, our commanders in chief have often found their most ardent supporters in the canine world. Read more >>

These women and girls are bald. A photographer sees beauty and power.

See the photos and read the stories behind 6 subjects in Abby Greenawalt’s ‘Well Rounded’ exhibit Read more >>

Before I got pregnant with my first child, I didn’t know if I wanted to be a mother. I wish I’d had this book to guide me.

Polly Rosenwaike’s ‘Look How Happy I’m Making You’ celebrates and bemoans the longing, frustration and enchantment related to motherhood Read more >>

Menopause is a completely strange experience. This memoir tries to make sense of it.

Darcy Steinke’s ‘Flash Count Diary’ is an unflinching look at what happens when her fertility ends — and something unpredictable takes over  Read more >>

In the Heart of DC’s Tony Georgetown, A Church That Communes With The Dead

The church sits perpetually in the shadows. Tucked back from Q Street NW, it is eclipsed by grand Victorians, including those of Bob Woodward and Realtor Nancy Taylor Bubes. Read more >>

How Do You Save A Lady’s Coronation Robe? Very Carefully

Tied to the front railings of Julia Brennan’s house are tattered handkerchief-size prayer flags from Bhutan, their former colors bleached to white. As the flags disintegrate…. Read more >>

Tommy McFly is the local Ryan Seacrest. But is L.A. calling?

DJ Tommy McFly was driving down I Street in January when he got the call. “It just rang 202,” he remembers. “When the White House calls, it just rings 202.” Read more >>

Party bloggers battle to run D.C.’s top social Web site

Kate Michael answers the door to her top-floor co-op wearing pre-party sweatpants and flip-flops, yet somehow managing to look like the beauty queen she once was… Read more >>

For radio-control plane enthusiasts, the sky’s the limit

Even though my husband and I have been happily married for only six years — newlyweds, practically — we have a “War of the Roses” situation going on in our bedroom. Read more >>

Groove Is In The Heart

Dancing was once my raison d’être. So why had I stopped? Read more >>

The Minor Makeover

Girls just want to have fun? Hardly. Image consulting for teens is serious business. Read more >>

What Lies Beneath

The art of toupee-making is on the wane, but there are still folks who want that custom thatch. Read more >>

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There’s Healing Power When You Say You’re Hurting
Allyson Dinneen talks about her new book “Notes From Your Therapist.”

On Debbie Harry Turning 75
The Blondie front woman is 75 today but the lessons she taught me are eternal

What it’s Like to Be 10 Years Older Than Your Husband
After dating Karl for two months, I finally decided to call my parents and tell them I was seeing someone new.

A Signature Dish
That I have no natural instincts toward cooking is my mother’s fault. When asked to submit a recipe to the PTA cookbook, she sent me to first grade with instructions for making a Fluffernutter sandwich. “If God had wanted me to cook,” she once proclaimed while opening a 12-piece bucket from the Colonel, “I would have been born with Teflon hands.”

Cathy Alter’s Reviews

The Dating Game: Round Two
Love ain’t easy the second time around

Staying Power
Marriott propels itself into the innovation age, earning hipster cred along the way.

Urbanite

Paperback Passion
When I was 10 years old, I fell in love with the bodice rippers my mother read in the kitchen every night…

A Geek’s View of Michael Jackson

Death by Numbers

The best way to shorten your workday

Want to balance your job and personal life better? To leave your desk earlier, you need to be smarter about homing from work.

The Lobbyist: A Mom’s Break From Motherhood>>
Inside a hotel lobby, fantasy checks in.

My Mother, My Mirror>>
A vintage-store find reminded me of how much my mom has influenced me.

Lost: One Cool Mom>>
On the hunt for like-minded mothers

Moving Pictures>>
Quinn’s Auction Galleries deals in fine art, antique furniture and the psychology of things.

Karen Masterson’s The Malaria Project>>
Arlington author Karen Masterson uncovers the true story behind America’s covert WWII mission to find a cure for malaria in her book, The Malaria Project.

Arianna Huffington and Me

This month, Townies goes out of town, to Washington, D.C. Read more >>

Me, Myself, and Madonna
In a new essay collection, women explore why they’re drawn to the Queen of Pop.… More »

What Happens When Parents Have No Parents?

‘My Beautiful Mommy’: How a Picture Book Explains Liposuction to Kids
Decoding the strange messages in a book that’s attempting to demystify plastic surgery for little girls and boys… More »

‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ From Queen to ‘Glee’
It’s been covered by everyone from Mike Meyers to the Muppets. And now it will live on in a new generation, thanks to an appearance on ‘tweens’ favorite TV show.…More »

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Planet Oprah
The Queen of Daytime elicits very different reactions from males and females—with one glaring exception… More »

The Price of Jessica Simpson
The singer’s new television show is supposed to explore standards of beauty in cultures across the world. But it just highlights the shortcomings of its star.… More »