Columnists

Most people are "successful" at most of the things they try to do. Yet many people who suffer from low self-esteem incorrectly believe themselves to be unsuccessful people, and generate negative, self-hating emotions accordingly. Comparing our levels of outward success to those of others is a bad habit that we have learned through unconscious assimilation. Society promulgates a misnomer that we need to have external success (as defined by certain criteria, especially having a lot of money), and if we do not have that, we don't deserve to like ourselves. -more-

On October 13th, the five Democratic presidential candidates debated for more than two hours. There were ten takeaways from the event:

1. It was a high-level debate, filled with discussion of Democratic policies and values. In contrast, the first two Republican debates featured a mixture of tired conservative maxims (cut taxes), opprobriums (dictator Obama), soft-ball questions (which woman would you put on the $10 bill) and personal attacks by Donald Trump . Democrats tackled substantial subjects including climate change, income inequality, race, campaign finance reform, domestic surveillance, Wall Street reform, the “one percent,” college affordability, diplomacy, paid family leave, healthcare, and the minimum wage. -more-