I was supposed to be in my Zen place, pushing away all extraneous thoughts. It was a yoga class, after all. But instead of chilling out, I was all worked up. Why? Two hockey moms in my class had told me that if my 8-year-old kid is interested in playing hockey, I’d better get used to the idea that his schedule and hockey would rule in my house. more

The drama and the messy, personal fall-out for political wives, both on TV and in real life, continues unabated. From two primetime shows, HBO’s Big Love and CBS’ The Good Wife, to Elizabeth Edwards, wives have been continuing to serve as collateral damage, sacrificed, humiliated and placed in untenable positions all in the name of their husband’s political ambitions. more

I spend countless hours watching Boston Red Sox games on TV, like 24, The Godfather, Mad Men and Rescue Me, and think The Hurt Locker deserved its best picture Oscar. more

I spent several hours this past week sitting in front of my computer, a big calendar at my side, trying to get myself better organized, or should I say, trying to get my family better organized. more

I’ve got my fingers crossed. Big time. Why? The new NBC drama Parenthood which premieres Tuesday March 2. I’m hoping that it’ll do for the TV family drama what Modern Family and The Middle are currently doing for family comedies, elevating the form. more

During the moments when I HAVEN’T been riveted to the winter Olympics -- ice skating pairs/Lindsey Vonn/Shani Davis = good, luge death/epic falls & wipe-outs/sore loser Russian skater = bad -- I’ve been thinking about myriad things in the pop culture arena: more

Two mothers, both of whom walked away from their children, one because the birth of her son occurred at the hand of an assailant who literally cut her baby from the womb and left the mother to die, the other because her 15-year-old daughter became pregnant, refused her mother’s attempt to force her to have an abortion and now the girl wants to marry her teen boyfriend. more

I recently wrote in this space about how much I admire the freshman ABC comedy Modern Family, called it “off-kilter,” but in a good and witty way. Now I’ve found yet another reason to extol its virtues: Its writers were somehow able to address a woman’s insecurities about being an at-home mom without getting all preachy and super-serious. more

“Just getting through counts for something, doesn’t it?” -- Hope Steadman more

Politics have dominated the news during the past week, what with the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts ending in what major news outlets called an “epic upset” with the Republican defeating the Democrat. The media, excited by the Senate race then shined a tabloid spotlight onto Senator-elect Scott Brown’s family, while the gossip-filled 2008 presidential campaign expose Game Change, which took several potshots at candidates’ spouses, rocketed to the top of best seller’s lists. more