The Tenacious Woman Who Helped Deliver Mother’s Day to the U.S.

For Anna Jarvis, a Holiday Devoted to Moms Was Not Sentimental Fluff, But a Practical Exercise in Patriotism

One hundred years ago last May, President Woodrow Wilson signed the first congressional resolution and presidential proclamation calling upon all citizens to display the national flag in honor of American mothers on the second Sunday in May. But the credit for Mother’s Day’s popularity belongs to Anna Jarvis, who organized the first official Mother’s Day services on the morning of May 10, 1908, in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia, and later in the afternoon in her adopted hometown of Philadelphia. Thanks to Jarvis—who wrote annually to every state governor …

by Katharine Lane Antolini | May 8, 2015

Why the American Family Needs Same-Sex Parents

Data Shows That the Country’s Most Vulnerable Kids Will Benefit If the Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Gay Marriage

by Gary J. Gates | April 21, 2015

On April 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an omnibus case about whether same-sex couples are allowed to marry in all 50 states in this country. …

Don’t Freak Out if You’re Not Lusting After a Baby

You Don’t Have to Be Selfish, Shallow, or Self-Absorbed to Decide Not to Become a Parent

by Sarah Rothbard | April 16, 2015

Why do some adult men and women choose not to have kids? Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum had only seen the topic addressed in a “really glib, flippant way.” …

Why Can’t We Accept That Some Women Don’t Want Kids?

There Is No ‘Normal’ American Family Anymore. But Heads Still Shake When It Comes to Women’s Reproductive Choices.

April 13, 2015

It used to be that the Cleavers—dad working an office job, mom raising two boys full-time—were the model American family. But the past several decades have seen dramatic changes—recent studies …

My Mother Couldn’t Choose Whether to Vaccinate Me for Polio

Dr. Salk’s Great Breakthrough Came 224 Days After I Fell Ill. So All We Could Do Was Head for the Isolation Ward.

by Mark Paul | February 23, 2015

It had been a good year for Lois Mace.

She and her husband, only three years beyond college, had bought their first house. A solid redbrick and clapboard Cape Cod, it …

When Life Gives You Lemons, Go Back to School

Divorced, Looking for Purpose, and Finding Myself in the Same Classroom as My Daughter

by Sandy Balazic | February 2, 2015

Walking into the college classroom on the first day of the semester, the young woman in front of me introduced herself to those sitting around her and smiled. She then …

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