The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-02)

C8 EZ RE THEWASHINGTONPOST.WEDNESDAY,MARCH 2 , 2022

ACROSS
1Animalfat
5Mer,here
8Business
entities
13 Stateasfact
14 Photo
15 Patronizea
bistro, say
16 Coverforaking
17 Onassis,
familiarly
18 Catskills
restaurant
jobforyoung
JerryLewis
19 Actedwithtotal
independence
22 Parrot’s screech
23 Voicedsounds
24 Farmunits
28 Ye oman’s “yo”
29 Somewind
components
31 Smooch
35 Fluidsusedfor
bloodtyping
36 Theater
reservations
38 Melvillesequel
to“Typee”
39 Reponthe
street
40Delayone’s
decision
42 Camera
variety,
initially

44 Fillswith
passion
45 Garment
aptlynamed
forwhere
it’s worn
49 Smack-__
50 Whatthe
filled-incircles
do,inatots’
song
55 Reacttowitha
bellylaugh
56 Newstart?
57 Inside
information?

58 Queenof
puzzles
59 Bignameon
Wall Street

60 Tobe,toLivy
61 “__what
Ihadinmind”
62 Stoponthe
road
63 Somecoll.
requirements

DOWN

1Motheron

Krypton

2Bigname

inromance

fiction

3Civil War

soldiers

4Overtook,

with“of”

5Killsit on

stage

6Auldland

7Essential

fatty__

8Florae

counterparts

9“Theprogram’s

starting!”

10 High-tech

worker

11 Elementary

particles

12 Lidbump

15 Darkwood

20 Still-life

subject

21 Newlywed,

attimes

24 Pearvariety

25 Lyft

competitor

26 Reallyticked

27 Blowsafuse

30 Indianlentil

dish

31 Earlyhip-hop

hardware

32 Curtrefusal

33 Eveningin

Avignon

34 Tipplers

37 Demoteto

theminors

41 Hostbefore

Carson

42 Comicstore

owneron

“TheBig

BangTheory”

43 Full offuzz

45 HalfaYale

cheer

46 Rangewith

oneendin

Kazakhstan

47 Philosopher

Kierkegaard

48 Zuckerberg

Mediafounder

Zuckerberg

50 Raisedona

farm

51 Brightlight

52 __Major

53 Democratic

donkey

designer

54 Beautysalon

supplies

LATIMESCROSSWORD ByEdSessa

TUESDAY’SLATIMES SOLUTION

©2 02 2TribuneContentAgency, LLC. 3/2/2 2

CHIPSAYS

Onthisdayin1917, PresidentWoodrowWilsonsignedthe

Jones-ShafrothAct,grantingPuerto RicansU.S. citizenship.

Wilsonwantedto recruitPuerto Ricansto servein the

militaryasthenationgearedupto enterWorldWarI.

kidspost

KIDSPOST.COM

What doesMarchweather

looklike?Findoutonlinehow

to sendusyourdrawingfor

ourdailyforecast.

TODAY

Skiesarepartlysunny, windsare

gentleandhighswarmupto thelow

or middle60s.

ILLUSTRATIONBYADELEWANG,5, CLARKSBURG

tine,acingan exam or hittingagame-

winninghomerun.Howwould youever

be ableto do thatagainor even come

close?

Barnhilldealtwithher doubtby trying

to writein longhandeveryday,creating

talesjustfor herself.

Amore fullyformedstorystarted to

emergein2020.This originalfairytale

exploredboththe conflictand the gener-

osityshe was seeingin the worldaround

her.She noticed, for example, that

throughoutthe pandemic,somepeople

worked together to protectone another

fromthe coronavirus,and othersdid not.

“I sawthe powerthatone individual

hasto makesomethingbetter for an-

other,” she said.

Aconversation withher “awesomeand

interesting”10-year-old niecesalso

helpedshapethe story. Thegirls’ parents

are philosophers.They study knowledge

—how peoplethinkand reasonand how

theydeciderightfromwrong.The girls

thoughtthatphilosophyshouldalso con-

siderkindnessand animals.

Barnhilllistened.“The Ogressand the

Orphans”probeswhathappensto peo-

ple’s hearts andto the spirit of their

communitieswhentheygive to others—

or turnaway.Whathappenswhenthey

respectand includeothers—orseek

poweroverthem?

Andthereare lots of animals!Cats, a

crownamedHarold andablinddog

modeledon the Barnhillfamily’s beloved

rescue dog playkey roles.

Imagining15 kidsin ahouse

The15kids in the ramblingOrphan

House wereespeciallyfun to imagine,

Barnhillsaid.As the oldestoffivechil-

dren,she lovedthinkingaboutfamily

dynamicsas she created the characters.

Usuallyfairytaleshave one hero,but

thisbookhas several, all withdifferent

skillsand personalities.This is in keeping

with Barnhill’s viewofhow progress

occurs in real life.

“Wecan’t buildabetter worldby de-

pendingon onlyone person,one strong

leader,” she said.“Wemustall come

together—allourcomplicated,imperfect

selves—tohelp create [positive]change.”

BYMARYQUATTLEBAUM

MEETTHEAUTHOR

To start writing, Barnhill had

to slay the giant of self-doubt

CONTESTCALLOUT

ISTOCKPHOTO

BYCHRISTINABARRON

It’s notofficially spring, but we’re

hoping you are alreadythinkingabout

the season. Thinking and writing,that

is, ifyou aim to enterthis year’s Kids-

Post Poetry Contest. Spring is the

theme, andthedeadlinefor submit-

tingisless than amonthaway.To

enter:

lPoetsmustbeages6to14and live

in the UnitedStatesorCanada.

lAparentorateacher must read

the complete rules atwapo.st/Kids

Post_Poetry_ 2022 ,fill out the form

and submit yourentry.

lJustonepoemof100wordsorless

perpoet. Ateacherorparentcan

submitfor more thanone student or

child.

lPoemsmustbeoriginal —that

meanswritten entirely by you —and

not previously published.

Thedeadlinefor submissions is

March 23. As many as 10 submitted

poems will be publishedin KidsPost

on April 26. Kidswhose poemsare

selectedwillreceive apoetry-theme

prize package. If you, yourparentor

teacher have questions, pleaseemail

[email protected]

Springinto action

for our KidsPost

PoetryContest

FRABONIPHOTOGRAPHY

KellyBarnhill,whowontheNewberyMedalin 2017,wrote anewbookcalled
“TheOgress andtheOrphans,”whichhasseveral heroeswithdifferentstrengths.

ALGONQUIN

W

hat’sbig and gray and loves

to bakepies?

Thekindly ogress in

“The Ogressandthe Or-

phans,”anew fantasyby

Kelly Barnhill.

Barnhillnixedthe human-eating brute

of mostfairytales.Instead she created a

complexcharacter thatmakes readers

questionthe stereotypeof ogres(and

otherso-calledmonsters).

Thenovel is Barnhill’s firstfor young

peoplesincewinningthe NewberyMedal

in2017for “The GirlWhoDrankthe

Moon.”Likethatearlierbook,this richly

layeredstorydigs beneath surfaceap-

pearances.Whatexactly is going on with

thatlargeflockof crows,the suspicious

villagers, the charmingmayor andthat

secretiveogress?Whyistheonce-friendly

townso dividedand full of mistrust?

Self-doubtsaboutwriting

Thebookwas ahugechallengeto

write,saidBarnhillby phonefromher

homein Minneapolis,Minnesota.

Winning theNewbery—the most

prestigiousaward for achildren’s book—

was an amazingexperience,she said,but

thenshe beganto wonderif she could

writeanotherbook.She was full of self-

doubt.

Maybe you’vefelt the samewayafter

finishingan incredible gymnastics rou-

Hi,Carolyn:My

bestfriendisin

the process of

getting divorced,

and during her

separation she

rekindledthings

withanold flame.

This old flame

causedtheir

original breakupby cheating on

her multiple times. He also made

veryuncomfortable advances

toward me backin the day, and I

nevermentioned it to my friend.

Nowthatthey’re backtogether

I’mquestioningwhether to say

somethingto her aboutit.

Obviouslypeoplecan change, but

Ijustfeel in my heartshe cando

better.

As aplot twist, she also just

foundout she’spregnant withthis

newguy’s baby,and she’snow in

tremendous turmoilabout what

to do.

It seemscrueltounload one

morethingontoher alreadyfull

plate, especially if she decidesto

keep the baby and pursuea

relationship. I’mfeelinglostat

howbesttosupport my friend

and would love an outsider’s

perspective on asuper-

complicated situation.

—BestFriend

Best Friend:Super-complicated

for her —for you, I’mnot so sure.

Your only decisioniswhether

to tell. Andifyou don’twant to,

thenyou have cover: The

information you possess, and that

she doesn’t, is arguablynolonger

useful. Sheknows he was

unfaithfultoher in theirfirstgo-

round; isn’tthatenough about his

pastfor her to work from?

Youalsohavejustification to

tell:Cheating on apartner and

hitting on her bestfriendare

similar awfulnesses, but they’re

not the same.

There’s also the matter of how

you behave around them.Ifyou

can’trelaxand it’s hurting your

friendshipwithher,thenabest

friend deserves to knowat least

the generaloutlinesofwhy.

If you settle on transparency,

thendon’tdancearound. Just tell

her.“Iwouldhavetold you then,

but you brokeupand Ithought it

was moot.Ialso knowhe may

have changed since then.I’m

telling you nowonly so you

understandmyawkwardness. I

willbackyou regardless,

whatever you choose.”

Meanwhile, sheneedstoassess

his present-daycharacter whilein

the turmoil of adivorce,a

pregnancyand (no doubt)a

riptide of second-guessing.You

canhelp herthink just by

listening to her carefullyand,as

opportunities ariseand if she’s

receptive, askingher some

emotional essayquestions:

“Looking backonyour biggest

regrets, wouldyou saythey’re

frombeing rash, or too cautious?

Pessimism,orwishful thinking?

Give examples.”

“Istheresomething you’re

afraidtosay outloud,oreven

admit to yourself?”

“If you couldmakeany

outcomehappen, which would

you choose?”Then,“Okay,how

muchofthatisyours to decide?

What’sstandingin the way?”

“Are thereanywrongdecisions

here, or are they justdifferent?”

By all means, substitutethese

prompts with yourown; thepoint

is to offer her,through all the

swirlingemotions, aplaceto

planther feet.

And to knowshe still mightnot

use it. (Or appreciate it.)

This has no bearing on howyou

support yourfriend through her

immediatecrisis, but something

elsetokeepinmind:Years ago

you kept information fromher

about her then-flame. I’mnot

sayingthatwas wrong;Idon’t

knowall the facts and trustyou

hadyourreasons.However,it’s

worth mentallyreturningtothat

choicenow,long enoughto

updatehow you’d handle it if

somethingsimilar wereto

happen again.The simplestway

to be agood friendis stilljust

caring enoughtotry to getitright.

Writeto CarolynHaxat

[email protected]

columndeliveredto yourinboxeach

morningatwapo.st/gethax.

Jointhediscussionliveat noon

Fridays at washingtonpost.com/live-

chats.

The return of afriend’s awful ex

Carolyn

Hax

NICK

GALIFIANAKIS

FOR

THE

WASHINGTON

POST