Roberta McReynolds writes: A rather large mound of dirt had now taken up residence in the sink. Fine dust floated in the air and was slowly drifting over every surface within a three-foot radius: kitchen curtains, countertop, flooring, and me. Phoebe, our cat, peeked cautiously around the corner as I coughed from somewhere deep within the haze, staring at me with a curious look as though to say, "Seriously, I thought you were trying to get rid of that stuff." She turned away, flipping her tail aloft as a sign of superiority as she marched off in search of a place to nap ... and shed more fur.

At a time when the planet seems ever more divided, it's amazing to visit a place like Gulliver’s Gate and be reminded that we all share one world. Gulliver’s Gate is one of the most ambitious attractions to ever land in New York City, a $40 million extravaganza that allows visitors to travel the globe without leaving Times Square. Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia, and Europe are all here in incredibly detailed miniature.   

Jo Freeman writes: Roughly 500 women and a few men gathered on the east lawn of the US Capitol building on March 29 to declare that "I Stand With Planned Parenthood." The Senate was due to vote on a resolution to permit the states to deny federal family planning funds to health care centers which provide abortions, albeit with other funds. The failed Republican replacement for the 2010 Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) contained a provision which would have denied PP $400 million in Medicaid money.      

Unlike more cosmetic markers of aging, such as wrinkles and gray hair, sleep deterioration has been linked to such conditions as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stroke, a Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience has said. Walker warns that the pills designed to help us doze off are a poor substitute for the natural sleep cycles that the brain needs in order to function well. "Don’t be fooled into thinking sedation is real sleep. It's not," he said.

The final episode of the ITV series was watched by 5.5 millions viewers [In Britain]. News of the series' cancellation inspired fans to launch a Bring Back Home Fires campaign, which generated national press coverage and secured nearly 40,000 signatures on an online petition. Only last week Home Fires topped a Radio Times poll asking which canceled TV show viewers most wanted back. In response to overwhelming demand from fans of the series, Bonnier Zaffre is delighted to be taking this compelling story forward in novel form.

Joan L. Cannon reviews: This lengthy story covers a short time in the life of a privileged young man who forms a friendship at Harvard with another student from Islandia in 1905. John Lang of New England and Dorn of Islandia cement a friendship reminiscent of the male bonding of classics. After spending a summer together on Cape Cod, Lang has learned enough Islandian from Dorn and by studying on his own to secure a job as consul to the nation that occupies the southern coast of a continent whose nearest land mass would be Antarctica — if it existed.

Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson is on her eighth spacewalk Thursday morning and could surpass astronaut Suni Williams’ record for the most spacewalks by a female astronaut. Whitson’s last spacewalk was on Jan. 6 with Commander Shane Kimbrough when she hooked up new lithium-ion batteries and inspected the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Meantime, the Senate Committee on Intelligence hears an expert testify: "The issue before this panel is Russian active measures and influence campaigns. It rose to the top of our national agenda in 2016, when we became aware of Russian interference in our presidential campaign."

In a culture structured in a rigid social hierarchy, the mask offered not just relief from strict codes of behavior, but a deeper liberation born of its equalizing effect on social differences. Creating an appearance of equality, the mask eased the interaction of social classes, permitted women to go out unescorted, and allowed beggars to conceal their shame. And, of course, as profusely and notoriously demonstrated by Casanova’s exploits, the mask’s secrecy enabled a certain sexual freedom.

Ferida Wolff writes: Friendships come and go and some hang around regardless of the different seasons of life. I am grateful for my perennial garden that is there for me year after year, sharing its bounty, and I value my friendships that flower so beautifully in my heart.        Daffodils and Spring   The mini daffodils were peeking out of the earth in our backyard, teasing the big daffies beside them to open up and greet the day. They are always a sweet next reminder after the crocuses that Spring is peeking thro…

The ride-hailing company Uber, along with its competitor Lyft, together spent $9 million on a 2016 ballot initiative in Austin, Texas, that would have overturned the city’s requirement that drivers for the companies undergo fingerprint-based background checks. The Chinese ride-hailing company Didi invested $100 million in Lyft, and Uber announced a few weeks after the election that Saudi Arabia had secured a 5 percent stake in the company with a $3.5 billion investment.

Hundreds of police agencies in small towns, suburbs and rural areas across the country are checking in on seniors who live alone by offering them a free automated phone call every day. Already, nearly half of women age 75 and older live alone. Automated telephone reassurance systems for seniors have grown in popularity in recent years and now are used by police departments from California to Massachusetts.     Dispatcher Kelly Orsini at her communications desk at the Naugatuck, Connecticut, Police Department. Across the country, hundreds of police age…

Jill Norgren reviews: With the publication several years ago of Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home readers began to realize that something radical had happened in the world of comics. Stories of airborne Wham! Bam! Super Heroes now share bookstore and library shelf space with graphic biographies and memoir that explore culture, art and science, family relations, racism, sexual identity, politics, and a host of other serious and sometimes controversial topics.

Over 400 participants in 'memory implantation' studies had fictitious autobiographical events suggested to them — and it was found that around 50% of the participants believed, to some degree, that they had experienced those events. "We know that many factors affect the creation of false beliefs and memories — such as asking a person to repeatedly imagine a fake event or to view photos to "jog" their memory. But we don't fully understand how all these factors interact. Large-scale studies like our mega-analysis move us a little bit closer."

CBO and JCT estimate that, in 2018, 14 million more people would be uninsured under the legislation than under current law. Most of that increase would stem from repealing the penalties associated with the individual mandate. Some of those people would choose not to have insurance because they chose to be covered by insurance under current law only to avoid paying the penalties, and some people would forgo insurance in response to higher premiums. Later, following additional changes to subsidies for insurance purchased in the nongroup market and to the Medicaid program, the increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number under current law would rise to 21 million in 2020 and then to 24 million in 2026.

Doris O'Brien writes: When my inimitable Aunt Alice sold her last house and moved into an apartment, she informed me that her next move would be in a coffin. She was right. But whether at this point any of us can claim the same for ourselves is unclear. I do know this: a home is where the heart is, and it's never easy to leave what we love. As for those who have lived a long life, the displacement demands an expenditure of risk and effort that only gets tougher with time.

Hearings: On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee will hold a hearing, "Reauthorization of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program."On Thursday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a hearing, "Honoring our Commitment to Recover and Protect Missing Exploited Children." On Thursday, the House Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing, "Combatting Crimes Against Children: Assessing the Legal Landscape." The Senate passed a resolution raising awareness of modern slavery. The resolution notes that 55 percent of forced labor victims are women or girls and one in five victims of slavery is a child.

Jo Freeman writes: "A Day Without Women" borrowed it's theme from "A Day Without Immigrants" on Feb. 17, which was new. Many people interpreted it as a call to strike. "Women Strike!" was proclaimed from the top of the arch in New York City's Washington Square. That was old. In 1970, Betty Friedan called for a Women's Strike on August 26, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the US Woman Suffrage Amendment and announce a new women's movement to the world. Leaders of the NOw quickly scrambled to interpret that as a "do your own thing" strike. They organized a march down New York's Fifth Ave., which was the first time in decades that women marched to demand women's rights in the US.     

"Thank you for inviting me to brief on my visits to countries facing famine or at risk of famine: Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia. The situation for people in each country is dire and without a major international response, the situation will get worse. All four countries have one thing in common: conflict. . . My small team met a girl displaced to Ibb, still having shrapnel wounds in her legs while her brother was deeply traumatized. I was introduced to a 13-year-old girl who fled from Taizzcity, left in charge of her seven siblings. I spoke with families who have become displaced to Aden as their homes were destroyed by airstrikes living in a destroyed school."

Rose Madeline Mula writes: Every weekend, cousins, aunts and uncles-all well-intentioned-would nobly try to help me overcome my abject terror of the deep (hey, it was up to my knees!) by trying to teach me to swim. They all invariably employed the same method. Each, in turn, would coax (spelled d-r-a-g) me, screaming, into the frigid water, force me over onto my stomach and absolutely swear they would not let go of me. But they always did. And I would sink choking and panic-stricken to the bottom-only two feet down, but the bottom, nevertheless.

Text of Introduction: This act amends the Workers Compensation Act to prevent employers from setting varying footwear and other requirements based on gender, gender expression or gender identity. As a result, for example, this act would prevent employers from requiring select employees to wear high-heeled shoes.

Joan L. Cannon writes: I confess to a psychic shiver of guilt about investigating what I realized was apt to be personal, but there was no question of resisting such a temptation. I sat back on my heels and lifted the dozen or so envelopes out, closed the trunk lid so I could set them down, and opened the one on top.

Stanford scholars predict that President Trump's new immigration order will still meet with legal questions in the courts. His first executive order on immigration in January was thwarted by a three-judge panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which unanimously ruled that the initial order offered "no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States." The main purpose of the new order was to modify the original order in ways that would make it acceptable to the courts – notably by exempting holders of green cards and valid visas and by removing the original priority given to "religious minorities."

Elaine writes: To ease a potential departure from a city I have lived in nearly my entire life, and from dear friends and relatives, I'm considering the move a gift and opportunity which I never got with Min — to assure there are no scenes or stings left over from my daughters' childhoods that they lug, or drop on a therapist's couch. And although I believe, and you likely do, too, that my daughters and I have an enviable and uncommon bond, do we really know their truths?