Opinion

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” However, for many of us, the holidays are the hardest part of the year. We suffer with loneliness, isolation, depression and grief. Some of us may have lost very close family members, lost a marriage, or lost a job. These losses can lead to extreme loneliness. With such excessive loneliness, we tend to isolate. We avoid holiday parties and making friends. If we make friends, we are scared that we would lose them just like we lost our family members.

When writing advertising copy, I sometimes find myself desperately searching for a zinger of a tag line – and settling for trite admonitions such as “Make this the best hunting season ever” or “Make this the best summer vacation ever.”

Near record-high numbers of young people voted during the midterms, signaling a possible shift – or exception – in voting trends

Saint Nick wasn’t the only man in a red suit that magical Christmas season 50 years ago.

(THE CONVERSATION) Southern Living magazine once described “y’all” as “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” It’s as iconically Southern as sweet tea and grits.

Imagine, if you will, a tranquil late-autumn evening. It’s the first day of your Thanksgiving holiday, and you are reclining in your easy chair, enjoying the warmth and gently dancing flames of your fireplace insert – with semi-realistic gas logs – and sipping a cup of warm tea from your new Keurig machine that Bed Bath & Beyond put on sale for 50% off immediately after your purchase.

The whole concept of a bed and breakfast is pretty ingenious and fits almost perfectly with my lifestyle. In fact, the words “bed” and “breakfast” are fair representations of my favorite activities, namely eating, sleeping and eating. I only wish I could reinvent the idea and call it “bed and breakfast food eaten in the early afternoon” since my wife and I both identify as late sleepers and, on most Saturdays, are finishing our pancakes at around 2 p.m.

(THE CONVERSATION) When the Biden administration announced in August 2022 that it was canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower, it said the idea was to provide families with “breathing room as they prepare to start repaying loans after the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.” But two federal courts recently blocked President Joe Biden’s student loan relief program, ruling it unconstitutional. Here, William Chittenden, a professor of finance at Texas State University, explains why and what’s next for student loan borrowers still hopeful that their loans can be forgiven.

“Do you mind if we have leftovers?”

Is the glass half empty or half full?