Opinion

It was during my son’s kindergarten readiness screening that his teacher discovered his love of reading. He left her classroom that summer day with the first book of “The Magic Treehouse” series in hand. It was from her classroom library, and she said he could return it when school started. This, dear reader, is the function of a classroom library: the chance for a child to feel seen, supported and proud.

Dear Annie: I’m a 32-yearold single woman facing a predicament. I’ve been friends with a guy named “Stan” for a few months, though we haven’t actually talked in over a month now. We were acquainted in high school, but we lost touch after a short while. Stan and I went on a couple of dates, and I thought things were going well, but then he asked if we could just be friends. If we hadn’t ALMOST hooked up, I would’ve been fine with this, but because I thought he was still interested in me as more than a friend, it took me by surprise, but I agreed to it.

Imagine that you are the parent of a 15-year-old girl and discover that her school has been concealing her daytime behavior from you. Your daughter has joined a far-right Mormon spin-off cult, believes in plural marriage, has spoken of dropping out of school to get married, and declines to participate in physical education because wearing gym clothes violates her religious beliefs. Is it possible to imagine that any public school would keep parents in the dark in a case like that?

How did it come to pass that public employee unions, which scarcely existed 60 years ago, have come to run public schools and myriad state and local government agencies? Answers to this question, which few people think about these days, come from Philip K. Howard’s latest book, “Not Accountable,” accompanied as in his earlier books (“The Rule of Nobody,” “Try Common Sense”) by outspoken outrage and generous dollops of common sense.

When the Massachusetts Ratification Convention was debating whether to approve the U.S. Constitution in January 1788, Dr. John Taylor, a delegate from Worcester County, asked a pointed question about the language in the draft that called for creating a new and independent city to house the federal government.

Dear Annie: I am writing in response to “Helpless,” the man who moved his family out of state and is now upset that his cheating ex has a close relationship to his relatives back home. I think you’re off base with your advice to move home.

In late 2011, John Oliver and his “Daily Show” cameraman made a trek to my office, then in Providence, Rhode Island, to take me to task. I had recently referred to the Tea Partiers who had pushed America to the brink of a disastrous default as “economic terrorists.”

Today is the 26th day of 2023 and the 37th day of winter. T ODAY’S HISTORY: In 1837, Michigan was admitted as the 26th U.S.

Dear Annie: My husband confided to me that his mother had an eating disorder in the past, and there are possible signs she may have relapsed. When she visits us, she will exercise for hours daily, regularly disparage her physical appearance and skip meals claiming that she is “too bloated” to eat. I’m never sure what is the best way to respond to her selfcriticism or behaviors. My husband states that she saw a therapist years ago for this problem but has not received any treatment since. He thinks she would be resistant to any further treatment, but I can’t figure out why.

Facing History and Ourselves has a mission statement that seems not just sensible but indisputable. “To build a more just and equitable future,” it posits, “we must face our history in all its complexity.”