ASK THE DOCTORS
Like all the Republican candidates for president, Nikki Haley is trying to find the secret formula for running against Donald Trump. The most recent Fox News national poll -- in which the former president is leading Ron DeSantis by 57 points and Haley by 60 – shows that no one has discovered the formula yet.
Watching coverage of The Three Equivocating Presidents on TV – that is, the recent House Committee on Education hearing that featured testimony from three lofty academics – I found myself marveling that such a trio of seeming nonentities had been put in charge of prestige universities in the first place. Never mind the Ivy League, I told a friend. The athletic director at the University of Arkansas would have explained himself far better. Of course, that fellow faces hostile public inquisitions all the time.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I recently found myself in a bit of a predicament that I hope you can help me navigate. I was assigned to a group project at school, and as the deadline loomed closer, it became apparent that not everyone in the group was contributing equally. In fact, I ended up taking on the majority of the workload. While I understand that group dynamics can be challenging, I’m concerned about how this might impact my overall workload at school, my stress levels and, ultimately, the success of the project.
Dear Doctors: What causes dark circles under the eyes? I have always had areas of darker skin under my eyes, but as I’m getting older, it has been getting more noticeable. Could it be something to do with sleep, or with my diet?
Rummage through a used-book store and you might encounter two forbidding volumes with the anodyne title “North America.” In his autobiography, the author of those books, Anthony Trollope (1815-1882), said that this work was not worth the time needed to peruse them. “I can recommend no one to read it now in order that he may be instructed or amused,” he said.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I’ve received an invitation to stay at a friend’s house over the holidays, but I feel uncomfortable about the living conditions. Their place tends to be messy, and I’m unsure how to handle this situation without offending them. I value our friendship, but I’m hesitant about staying in an environment that makes me uneasy. How can I navigate this situation tactfully while expressing my concerns? – Uninhabitable DEAR UNINHABITABLE: “No” is a complete sentence. Remember that. You have no obligation to stay at anyone’s home if you don’t want to, and you don’t have to explain why. You can simply thank them for the invitation and decline. If you decide to visit your friend’s town and stay with someone else, that’s fine, too. Or you may choose to stay in a hotel. As an adult, you have the right to park your body wherever you choose without feeling guilty.
The children were in the pew in front of me. We had not arrived early enough at my sister’s church for the Christmas Eve service to secure a seat in the back, so we were in the fourth row. The first row is never used by anyone; the second row is only for people who arrive impossibly late. The third row is, for all intents and purposes, the front row, and that’s where these two wild-looking children were.
Clark Kerr, who was fired as president of the University of California in 1967 for defending free speech on campus, had a good answer for his critics. “The University is not engaged in making ideas safe for students,” he liked to say. “It is engaged in making students safe for ideas.”
DEAR HARRIETTE: My husband is an entrepreneur. Over the past five years or so, his company has really taken off, and I couldn’t be happier for him.