As dispiriting, prolonged and unprecedented as this recession has been, adults at least have the gift of perspective -- a "this too shall pass" belief that things will get better. They always have.

For children, there is no perspective. This is all new. And a recent major survey says...

Comedian Gary Shandling said: "My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don't really know me."

So it is with fathers and daughters. Women who say they hunger for a new intimacy with their fathers often have a hard time defining it, or apportioning it -- how...

For every study you find that says that a woman's relationship with men is shaped by her relationship with her father, you find another that says there is no connection.

Logic says that, while her relationship with her father does not decide her relationship with men in her life, she...

Ironically, many women who have the strongest relationships with their fathers also have the hardest time finding their own place and voice.

It's a fine line between unconditional support and overwhelming direction. He wants the best for you. But who defines what "best" means?

There is a difficult emotional...

Many women idealize their fathers and are crushed when they fall short of ideal.

Most of us don't expect perfection from ourselves or even their friends, so don't hold dad to a standard that is impossible to meet.

All relationships are works in progress, and the progress often depends...

Like mother like daughter; like father like son. Throughout much of history, mothers were the center of a daughter's universe. But as young women join the world their fathers know, and often follow the same paths, the potential role for dad in a daughter's life has expanded. It is a...

RULES OF A NEW RELATIONSHIP

• Just because he raised you, don't assume you know him.
• Bonds are built on trust. Trust comes from understanding. And understanding takes work.

Don't be afraid to blow up the old assumptions about what you mean to your father and your father means to...

I watched the angry elderly set fire to the health care town meetings. I watched the simple idea of a president talking to school kids about hard work and education devolve into cries of "brainwashing."

And I came away with real concerns about President Obama's promises to the gay community.

I'm glad it was back in the 60s when we decided to go to the moon. If we had to make that decision today, I'm not sure we would get there.

I can hear the anger at town hall meetings. "It's too expensive." "It's a corporate land grab." "If God...

These are tough times for the alpha-male business leader.

There is much introspection these days about what went so disastrously wrong with the global financial system. While the causes remain under investigation and suspects are still being interrogated, one thing is clear. Whatever happened: men did it. If not 100...

I recently wrote a HuffPost piece stating that Michael Vick has a right to work, but the NFL owners have an equal right not to hire him. Some agreed. Some did not. Some were angry. One asked: "Who died and made you the moral compass of the NFL?"

It...

From the cause of the crisis to the size of the debris field to the number of ads that begin "in these difficult economic times..." there is much about this recession that is new to us. We are on an unfamiliar road to an uncertain destination.

Little in our lives...

I believe in second chances. I believe that redemption is the soul of hope. I believe debts paid warrant fresh starts.

Except when it comes to Michael Vick.

He has served his time, endured his punishment, expressed his remorse and has a right to...

I've been following the Sotomayor hearings, and I've come to some conclusions.

Her "wise Latina" comment was just an observation about the importance of life experience.

It's impossible to say whether it was the white or black New Haven firemen who suffered discrimination.

And...

Gender bias is alive and...

I have a friend who has sterling liberal credentials. She supports choice; she hates guns; she embraces all; she goes door-to-door for Democrats.

She has just learned her son is gay.

It wasn't one of those heartfelt "mom-dad I have something to tell you" moments. He outed himself...

My grandfather was a successful clothing designer, accomplished horseman and an amateur boxer who once lasted six rounds with Jack Johnson.

He was a man at the center of family lore. One often-told story: when he first laid eyes on my grandmother at a party, he said to a...

I was watching CNN the other day. There was a discussion about whether feminism was obsolete.

Is being a feminist about living the life you want? Or is it meeting a check list of beliefs? Can a conservative woman ever call herself a feminist? Or - as Republican strategist...

With every family photo op, Barack Obama cements his place as role model-in-chief, telling young boys everywhere that you can be the leader of the free world and a father.

But there is huge gulf between "can-be", and "will be."

While Obama is an object lesson in possibility, real...

While the media wallowed in the mush-brained nattering over a few out-of-context statements said to reveal Judge Sonia Sotomayor as "racist," something interesting was happening over at the place where she aspires to work.

We saw a quick glimpse of why her gender is every bit as important to the...

When I first heard that Captain Richard Phillips had been rescued and that three Somali pirates had been surgically dispatched from the planet, I had one of those "All right America!" moments.

But then I paused.

Maybe it was eight years of cynicism born of government misdirection and dismal...