Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D., 02/21/12

Scientist, Public Health Advocate, Author

Habits are hard to change. But when your environment changes, so do your habits. The point is this: To make healthy living easier, we need to create an environment that supports our health rather than sabotaging it. Fortunately, we now have the tools to do so -- key among them, social networks.

Judith Acosta, 02/22/12

Author, 'The Next Osama'; Co-author, 'Verbal First Aid'

With less expendable income, there are less expendable marriages. Our new economic realities may be forcing yet another belt tightening -- or heart tightening -- process: People can no longer afford to get divorced.

William Lucas Walker, 02/22/12

Writer/producer

Once upon a time, Daddy had a jawline.

John Malik, 02/19/12

Chef

Good writing should make a personal connection with you, grab you and hold on, speak to your fears or dreams. And that night in my audience maybe half of these people were over 60 years old.

Pat Gallagher, 02/21/12

Freelance Writer

The Academy Awards got it right again this year. Billy Crystal -- the funniest baby boomer alive -- will host The Greatest Show on Earth for the ninth time. We can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Mel Miskimen, 02/22/12

Freelance writer

What about buying underpants that were imported, made in India, but were from a co-op, owned by local women, who benefited from each sale? Wouldn't that do as much good as a pair that may have been made here, but from cotton imported from God-knows-where, picked by tiny children?

Suleika Jaouad and Seamus McKiernan, 02/22/12

If it takes a village to raise a child, you might say it also takes one to care for the sick. Cancer is at once personal and communal. And yet, caring for the sick can feel like writing a travelogue about a country you've never visited. You can't know where you haven't been.

Robert Levithan, 02/22/12

Psychotherapist, writer and expert on vital aging and on living with illness

Most of us will not suffer harm if we are honest about our sexuality or our age. We do, however, suffer psychically, from constant denial of the truth about who or what we.

Christina Vuleta, 02/21/12

Blogger, 40:20 Vision

I realized that it's only now that I can enjoy yoga every now and then without feeling pressure to do it "right." It got me thinking that yoga is truly a metaphor for getting older. As you age, you stop caring what other people think.

Patricia Crisafulli, 02/22/12

Author, founder, FaithHopeandFiction.com

Seeing what other humans can create with passion and intensity (and the right genetic proclivity) does make one wonder: What could I do?

Ai-jen Poo, 02/21/12

Executive director, National Domestic Workers Alliance

By 2050, 27 million Americans are expected to need long-term home care. If the workers we all depend on for these services are not fairly compensated or protected, we can't expect quality care for the long-term.

Mark Zupan, 02/20/12

Dean, University of Rochester’s Simon School of Management

Abraham Lincoln is the most revered president. This is especially striking in light of the fact that Lincoln presided over a period more challenging and economically destructive than any other in America's history.

Howard Kissel, 02/21/12

Blogger, Cultural Tourist

Yes, I know. You're supposed to write about your summer vacation just after you take it. But what better time to recall the golden days of summer than on one of the coldest days of winter? It's as if you stored these memories precisely to warm you up when things are bleak.

Michael Kieschnick, 02/21/12

President, CREDO Mobile

In recent weeks, the nation has talked more about contraception than at any other time during my 58 years of life. Many Republican office holders and outspoken Catholic bishops call the discussion one of religious liberty. For me, it is a matter of whom I trust.