Twitter announced last week that Parag Agrawal will be the social media giant's new CEO. He has a difficult job ahead of him, trying to maintain the site's reputation for fast-paced, free-ranging commentary, while also keeping the platform free of dangerous misinformation.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I'm in my senior year of high school, and the pressure is intense. It seems like my friends and I are constantly mad at somebody. There's just so much tension between friend groups and people who are dating or not and trying to figure out relationships. Plus, we are applying to college and worried about whether or not we will get in. I talk to my mother about it, and she's kind of helpful, but it's all just too much. I don't know how to manage this time. One week I have friends, and the next week it feels like nobody is my friend. How can I stay calm and still get my work done through it all? – Overwhelmed
"It's not about luck," my friend Andrew insists, "it's about gratitude."
30 YEARS AGO
Some seem determined to rewrite history in the name of political correctness. Recently the European Commission – the executive branch of the European Union responsible for proposed legislation and enforcing EU laws – proposed to substitute the “Christmas period” with “holiday period.” This week, after an outcry by conservatives and the Vatican, the proposal was retracted.
Over the last few weeks, Pope Francis has been pointing to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, as a role model. At a time when the United States has some 440,000 children stuck in the foster care system, it's a good time to be talking about foster parents.
Nobody wants to run for the Senate as a Republican in this state.
Dear Doctors: I went to urgent care with bad stomach cramps, and the doctor there talked about something called "leaky gut." But when I asked my own doctor about it, he said it's not really a thing. What do you know about leaky gut?
DEAR HARRIETTE: I started my event planning business from the ground up. I never discriminate against clients, employees or anyone who shows interest in working with me. The other day I received an online complaint from a client about the hairstyle of one of my employees. She wanted to be sure that my employee would hide her brightly colored hair for her event. She wrote, "The event is a blacktie formal, and the loud colors in her hair will clash with the theme." What should I do? I do not want to tell my employee that her hair color is an issue. – Client Complaints
Remember when Joe Biden ran for president in what commentators called the "centrist" lane of the Democratic primaries? The idea was that a "moderate" like Biden, unlike rival Bernie Sanders, would not push radical plans to completely change American society. That would reassure non-progressive Democrats, and independents, too, that Biden would be a safe choice for president. They didn't want to remake the world. They just wanted things to get better.