On my 11th Christmas, my parents were preparing to divorce. At the time, I didn’t know that, of course, though I imagine most children sense, on some level, the rising tension and animosity that can precede separation. They were certainly fighting more, and I remember hating it, being the ...

With Christmas near, many people are excited to exchange gifts with family and loved ones. Children are especially enthusiastic on Christmas morning as they open their presents under the tree, hoping they received everything they asked for. They could be getting the latest technological gadgets ...

Most people welcome economic growth, but Bernie Sanders hates it. The Vermont socialist has come out against data centers, the mass computing facilities essential to the development of artificial intelligence. There are all sorts of NIMBY-type reasons for local residents to oppose data ...

The strange house on 23rd Street — a trapezoid of plywood, shower glass and chain link fence — was the laughingstock of our Santa Monica neighborhood. Even Frank Gehry’s gardener joked about the architect owner: “Poor Mr. Gehry.” Years later, my father and I attended an inaugural ...

Of all the holidays on the Jewish calendar, Chanukah, which began Sunday evening, Dec. 14, has always been one of my favorites. Even when I was younger and far less observant, I appreciated the holiday’s well-known rituals and customs: lighting the menorah, spinning the dreidel, eating potato ...

Western civilization arose in the 8th century B.C. Greece. Some 1,500 city-states emerged from a murky, illiterate 400-year-old Dark Age. That chaos followed the utter collapse of the palatial culture of Mycenaean Greece. But what reemerged were constitutional government, rationalism, ...