This is the time of year for graduation. Public high schools will begin to say goodbye to the Class of 2016 over the next month or so. Many colleges have already passed out diplomas. And many of those colleges bring in significant commencement speakers.

It seems strange to begin a column about ice cream by writing about sounds. But it’s the sound of tires wooshing by on new black asphalt that marks for me the first trip of the season to the ice cream stand. It’s the nature of ice cream stands that they be located close to streets and roads;…

There are moments in life when it’s best to have a handy backup plan for the mind. You don’t want to be thinking about the size of the needle when the lab technician drawing the blood is having trouble finding the vein, nor how long you have to lie still in that tight tube of the magnetic re…

There is a political debate going on in this country right now that is very important even though it will personally effect very few of us.

There is a luncheon at the Mays Landing Country Club on Saturday where Mainland Post #81 of the American Legion will host four important members of the community.

Our list of the 50 top records from the second half of the 20th century was featured in last week’s At Large column as a tribute to Monday night’s Grammys. This week, some people you know from listening to the radio pick five (or so) of their favorites.

On Sunday the NFL celebrated its 50th Super Bowl. Coming up on Monday, the recording industry will celebrate its 58th Grammy Awards.

To have a child is to forever have your heart walking around outside your body - Elizabeth Stone

It is a small ritual, one of several with which I start each day, and comes as part of making the morning coffee; a private routine to ease me gently from the world of sleep into the movements of the day. Some days I don’t make coffee at all. Most days I do, in the luxury of semiretirement t…

Since March, each At Large column has included a shout-out to people we meet in our daily travels. Many of them were suggested by readers. Here we look back at some of them.

As we near the end of the year, let’s look back at some things said during the past year, many of them quoted previously in this At Large column.

We are in the midst of the December television traditions that have taken root in our homes over the years. Specials and spectaculars crowd the TV listings from Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade right on through the Mummer’s strut up Broad Street on New Year’s Day,. You can’t miss Bing Crosby and R…