Suddenly, Prisco Ramirez was no stranger. I could recite his sorrows by heart: countless hours of helplessness, the suffering of seeing your child lose the ability to put on shoes and ride a bike.

When music replaced sports for Vincent and he joined band in high school, he began to save for a silver trumpet. We all saw catalogue versions of the instrument: sterling, sleek, with a promise of silvery notes. It was also …

Sometimes the best way to get things done may not be the ideal way. But when I enlist the principal’s help in subduing some rowdy kids in Vincent’s class, the ex-con teacher’s aide he assigns may be more than I bargained for.

Three years ago, when Isabel was in kindergarten, her popular, veteran teacher with spun-silver hair, gold glasses, and a Harry Potter name — Mrs. Snavely — held Careers Week. During that time students heard from parents who visited to talk …

It was a warm October evening in the Valley, and we were watching our red and blue high school marching band line up on the edge of the field, waiting patiently for the football players to jog away and the …

“Mom! It’s from the Philippines!” Vincent, my eleven-year-old, his beautiful face round from steroids, his T-shirt distended by a swelling on his back, held out the receiver. It was near the end of summer, 1997, and we had written to …