My vacuum sealer made mealtime easy — until it didn’t — Once upon a time, meals were simple. You (and I) bought something, cooked it, and ate. If there were leftovers, we ate them the next day, or they languished in back of the fridge until they bloomed into unrecognizable clumps of once-food. The End. Things are different now. Not only…

My daughter is approaching bat mitzvah age — but I’m ambivalent — This past June, I found myself in the sanctuary of the synagogue where my daughters attend Hebrew school. It was not a Jewish holiday, and I was not praying. …

One mother reckons with her fear of the illness — and why it freaks us all out so much — This story is part of “Tickpocalypse,” a multi-part special report. Like most people, I can catalog periods of my life by the things I feared, both physical and existential. As a child I was afraid of normal stuff — the dark, roller coasters, monsters — as well as odd, benign…