Alison Neumer

Compared with the swinging '70s--when regulations were few--Chicago's adult entertainment industry is small, and getting smaller. Today just a handful of strip clubs or so-called gentleman's clubs remain due to...

Holiday perfection is possible--Martha Stewart tells me so. "Bake the Christmas cookies in 18th Century Tuscan molds," she commands. "Don't forget to churn the butter first." With that level of...

Try this nightmare on for size: It's Friday night and the condom breaks. What now? Emergency contraception--the morning-after pill--allows women to prevent pregnancy in the event of such an accident....

I can't stand Paris. Of course, I'm not talking about the gorgeous European city where every man is born with the innate ability to tie a scarf. No, I'm spellbound...

Nothing screams adulthood like a lumpy clay figurine. My kindergarten rendition of a dog, complete with purple stripes and a blue-rimmed mouth, lay amid a pile of oddities on my...

Do the math: A first job that pays $25,000 a year, but college loans worth $20,000. Or a $60,000 salary at a community clinic and $100,000 in medical school costs...

Given the odds, most blind dates don't work out. There's no drama here, just another mistaken pairing of two nice-enough people who bore each other to tears. Pay the check,...

It's perpetually Halloween at Helen Sclair's house. Casket plates fight for tabletop space with Mexican mourning figurines and black candles. A last rites kit sits in front of a 19th...

Deadly bombings in Baghdad three days straight--Is it time to call it a war again? Neutral organizations have become targets--the Red Cross on Monday and the United Nations a few...

When it comes to bad habits, the stars are not above us. Celebrities deal with the same temptations, except their struggles play out on the tabloid pages. A few cases...