Kathleen Deveny

Tech companies dominated this year's Green Rankings.

A mother prepares for war.

The soft bigotry of high expectations.

Rethinking the most taboo term in English.

The gospel according to Hillary, Elizabeth, and Jenny.

There is a type of NEWSWEEK story that I used to love. In the 12 years that I have been an editor here, we have done hundreds of them. When the stock market plunged on a Friday (back when that was rare) or a gunman opened fire on Capitol Hill or a celebrity contracted a fatal disease, we "scrambled the jets," sending reporters out into the field with orders to file dispatches to writers waiting in New York or Washington.

I sometimes say things that I later regret. We all behave differently with our kids when we think no one is watching.

The number of families in our position is actually much smaller than you might think.

Maybe I'm a sucker for a frontier myth, the narrative of a person who rises up in a frozen, faraway place by making her own rules.

The fight over Palin's family is beyond the pale.

Unencumbered by seat belts, my brother and I roamed into each other's guarded back-seat territory and bickered.

What is the difference between being bossy and being assertive? We ask girls to walk a very fine line.

I have one older brother, and when I was growing up our family was considered tiny. Only-kids were freaks.

'We're much more likely to talk about our husbands' sexual inadequacies than our kids' sexual development.'

I have promised I would be home at 6:30, even though I knew in my heart I would never make it.

America is not ready for a female president. I have typed and deleted that sentence five times. It appalls me. It goes against everything I grew up hearing, everything I tell my daughter.

Children learn about money from their parents. That's bad news for my daughter, because I don't set the best example.

I'm a practicing Catholic. So why does the subject of religion make me so uncomfortable?

Some kids will never love to read and they can still lead productive, happy lives.

Talking to your kid about the tween star's latest turn.

I won't exceed my budget because I didn't set a budget, so I can avoid any nasty self-recrimination in the New Year.

Throwing out your budding Picasso's works.

When I was waiting to buy ice cream at a beach community near New York two months ago, I overheard something I haven't been able to forget. A 10- or 11-year-old boy standing in front of me made a smirky comment to his friends about how there were "too many Chinese people around." He was most likely referring to my 7-year-old daughter, who is adopted from China.

The mommy wars are killing me. Raise your children however you'd like. Just please—please—stop telling me about it. Do whatever you want: stay at home with your kids, wear gym clothes all day and make your own organic baby food.

Paris, Britney, Lindsay & Nicole: They seem to be everywhere and they may not be wearing underwear. Tweens adore them and teens envy them. But are we raising a generation of 'prosti-tots'?

For married couples with kids and busy jobs, sex just isn't what it used to be. How stress causes strife in the bedroom--and beyond

Ever wonder why the fries you get at a restaurant taste so much better than those soggy sticks you make at home? Chef Jonathan Waxman, proprietor of Manhattan's Washington Park restaurant, shared his trade secrets with Tip Sheet's Kathleen Deveny.Step one: Start with the perfect potato, preferably one from Klamath Falls, Ore. (Russets work, too.) If they're hard like apples, let them rest a week.