Gwen Rockwood: Nowadays, a negative really is a positive
When I was in my early 20s and working as an assistant in the newsroom of the local paper, the editor tossed me an assignment late one afternoon. Not an assistant assignment. It was a reporting assign...
August 13, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Grateful mom sees what first jobs teach her teenage sons
During what many would describe as the suckiest summer in recent history, something good happened at our house. Two of our three children have become gainfully employed with their first official jobs....
August 6, 2020
Dignity left on ice when kitchen's dirty secrets revealed
My refrigerator made a fool of me today. This morning, when I came downstairs to the kitchen, it was croaking -- loudly. It sounded like an elderly frog was inside it, sitting in a creaky rocking chai...
July 30, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: First car a reminder of how the world has changed
My first car was a powder blue Volkswagen bug, made sometime in the late 1960s or early '70s. I don't remember the exact year. At the time my dad brought it home, it was 1987, and I was 14 years old w...
July 23, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Ever-present headphones mute -- and annoy -- mom
You've heard of a missing person's report, right? I may have to file a missing "pieces" report. Because I haven't seen my kids' ears in months. I'm beginning to wonder if they're still there.
Where a...
July 16, 2020
The Rockwood Files: 'Independence Day' seems too soon, too scary
I've been thinking a lot about independence lately. Not just because we celebrated an unusual Fourth of July, minus the annual gathering of friends and neighbors around the backyard grill. It was just...
July 9, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: History offers tiny distractions from a rough reality
Consequential. That's the word that comes to mind when I think about all that has happened these past several months. Everything feels so ... heavy. Even a routine trip to the grocery store feels like...
July 2, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Charlie and Pete embroiled in standoff between city and country critters
A beagle and a possum walk into a back yard. Only one would leave with his dignity.
It might sound like the opening line of a bad joke, but it's a real-life melodrama playing out at our house. For th...
June 25, 2020
THE ROCKWOOD FILES Watching a year burn: Homework bonfire may have larger lessons
Last weekend, the five of us gathered chairs around the small barbecue grill in the backyard and watched a year’s worth of work go up in smoke.
This is not the first time it has happened. At our hous...
June 18, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Skinny sweatpants can't shame serious food explorer
One of the greatest writers of all time, the late Erma Bombeck, once made this profound statement: "I am not a glutton. I am an explorer of food."
So, I know Erma would've understood the predicament ...
June 11, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Masks are a statement: I care. I want you to live.
OK, I'm just going to say it. I wear a mask. My whole family does. I hope we can still be friends.
For some people, mask wearing has become a political thing. But for most of us, it's just a safety th...
June 4, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Can marriage survive the pandemic potholes?
The pandemic along with the need to spend so much time at home has been hard on relationships. For many couples, what began as lovable "quirks" have suddenly morphed into reasons you may have to kill ...
May 28, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: When pandemic boredom hits, a corny competitor is born
I am bad at sports. Always have been. While other people bemoan the loss of sports during this pandemic, I haven't missed it.
I understand the thrill of watching a close game, but I've never had that ...
May 21, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: News junkie finds her tipping point
Everyone has their limit, right? I nearly found mine last Sunday when I checked the day's headlines shortly after climbing out of bed. During a quick scroll through the coronavirus headlines in The Ne...
May 14, 2020
Gwen Rockwood: Coronavirus birthday means sweet 16, minus the freedom
Dear Jack,
This month will be different than I'd hoped -- especially for you. Celebrating your 16th birthday is supposed to come with this wave of newfound freedom, a chance to get behind the wheel of...
May 7, 2020