LaVonne Neff is an amateur theologian and cook; lover of language and travel; wife, mother, grandmother, godmother, dogmother; perpetual student, constant reader, and Christian contrarian. She blogs at Lively Dust and reviews books for various magazines.
Posts By This Author
Make Your Wish List a Giving List
12-04-2009
I have mixed feelings about wish lists. They rob Christmas of creativity, surprise, and personal contact, but they make shopping much, much easier.
When Everything Changed: 50 Years of Women's Progress
11-24-2009
In the first year of Gail Collins's survey of "the amazing journey of American women from 1960 to the present," I turned 12.
The Mammogram Panic, or, False Positives Are No Picnic
11-19-2009
Inhale through your nose (be sure your abdomen moves, not just your chest). Exhale through your mouth. Slowly, now ...
The Locavore's Dilemma: What We Eat is More Than Just a Personal Choice
11-17-2009
I'm a cradle vegetarian. Didn't have even a bite of meat -- red or white, fish or fowl -- until I was maybe eleven years old, and then I lost my dietary virginity to a hot dog.
The Evil Insurance Company Repents, But the Stuggle for Reform Continues
10-26-2009
Never underestimate the power of a determined family, the press, the internet, and an outraged public. Guardian Life has changed its policy and apologized to the Pearl family.
Evil Insurance Company or Evil Health-Care System?
10-19-2009
A friend sent me a link to a Washington Times article, "Insurer ends health pr
Adam Smith Meets the Rich Young Ruler: Health Care and the Common Good
10-14-2009
Columbus in Reverse: 'Travel as a Political Act'
10-12-2009
Three Keys to Reforming Health Care: T.R. Reid's The Healing of America
09-09-2009
A couple of weeks ago I previewed T.R.
Dog is My Co-Pilot?
09-04-2009
Last week a friend who knows my dogs sent me a link to Wendy Francisco's wildly popular new song, "God and Dog" (more than half a million views at time of writing). G-o-d and d-o-G--two words, one kind of love. "They would stay with me all day; / I'm the one who walks away.
More Health Scare Tactics: Debunking the 'Death Book'
08-28-2009
These days wisdom seems in short supply in the health-care debate. To wit: the Aug.
Is National Health Care Hazardous to Your Health? Check the Facts
07-22-2009
Various Web sites and e-mails are reporting that cancer survival rates are much higher in the U.S. than in various European countries.
I Don't Care What Our Health-Care System is Called, as Long as it Delivers
07-20-2009
I recently sent an e-mail about health care to my congressman, Peter Roskam (R-IL, 6th District), through his Web site.
Stop this Malicious E-mail
07-15-2009