JAN’S BLOG

You might think this a simple, quick task. Buy, read, review—done! However, many readers stop after they’ve read, leaving the author waiting for their coveted book review for this one fact: reviews can be hard to write—and most readers aren’t

Celebrations can be a challenging time for distressed couples. All of the festivities during holidays or hubbub of family gatherings can make everything seem more intense. When things go well—life can feel magical. When things go poorly—life can feel miserable. The...

I met my husband Chuck in 1983, just before the holidays. On one of our first dates he wanted to share stories of Christmases past, present and future. A great idea, right? But as soon as he mentioned the word “past” I was out. With a broken family, lost loved ones and

“You look beautiful when you cry,” my mother said looking into my glistening brown eyes. I was no stranger to tears. I had experiences as a young girl that made crying come easy. Whenever I was hurt, afraid, even embarrassed, my face would contort against my will, turn beet red and spurt teardrops at the drop of a dime. I rarely saw anyone cry as much

Many things about Mom irritated me. She was lazy, preoccupied with herself, had little ambition and seemed content to deny her trouble with alcohol. “Alcoholic” was a word I used to describe Mom at every possible moment. All my troubles seemed encased in that one word. The death of my sister when I was seven and the death of my father two years later

Even though these films include that “unhuman” ingredient that gives us chills and that shrinking feeling before an upcoming scene, I believe that each film speaks to the inner lives of men: Who are we, what motivates us and what will we do once we know? In Signs, the Hess family is relentlessly harassed by the worst type of alien – it strikes all of the