Ask Abdul Aswad how many kids he has, and he pauses. "Biological, or...," Let's start with biological. Two, a grown son and daughter, and three grandchildren. Now the real tallying starts. "Currently I have 15 that come and go from around the neighborhood," Aswad said. Add in those who participate in the youth program he helped found, and the number grows to the hundreds.

Brainstorms all over the city could bring showers of good ideas for Norfolk Public Schools. Community meetings hosted by the schools' Parent and Community Engagement Committee system offer a chance for educators, parents and residents to talk about who bears responsibility for students' success and about ways to make more kids successful.

This weekend I took my kids to a street festival sponsored by OutRaleigh, a gay and lesbian pride event held near the North Carolina state Capitol.

Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim.

Guys like Eric Menden helped cripple our country. He pleaded guilty in federal court last week to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and making a false statement for his part in fleecing Bank of the Commonwealth out of $41 million and the state and federal government out of $8 million in bogus claims for historic tax credits on properties he and his partner own.

College tuition hurtles toward us from 15 years in the future. We've started saving for our twin sons, who are not yet four, because the thought of paying for double simultaneous college tuitions scares the dickens out of us. Especially since my husband and I finished paying for our own college educations just a few years ago, more than a decade after we finished school.

Samantha Brick taps her keyboard with manicured hands, pausing every few moments to peer around her computer, Norman Rockwell-like, at a largish mirror placed on an easel within arm's reach. At least that's how she looks in my head.

Eighteen people died as a result of domestic violence in Norfolk between 2005 and 2008. A grim set of data culled from their deaths demonstrated places where earlier intervention could have prevented a killing at the hands of a loved one.

Nearly every street in Norfolk's Park Place offers gems as well as weeds. Stately homes with manicured lawns sit shoulder to shoulder with sagging houses ringed by debris. A group of determined residents in Park Place and surrounding neighborhoods have begun work to make elegance and pride contagious.

Last month women linked arms to protest pre-abortion ultrasound and personhood bills in Richmond. Now women link to each other state and nationwide through a political action committee called Women's Strike Force, dedicated to raising money and recruiting candidates to run against any legislator who supported those bills.