Wellington's image rising with Bruce Springsteen's real estate purchases

December 2, 2008

So another Northeasterner is grabbing up South Florida real estate to have a little refuge during winter.

Recent columns

• SunPass gift may make me change lanes

  November 30, 2008

  I'm selling out.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Hard times make our giving of thanks ring true

  November 27, 2008

  Sometime between way back then and right now, Thanksgiving became less about gracias and a lot more about pass the turkey and gravy.

• Registry and location requirements now serve only to keep predators moving

  November 25, 2008

  Three years ago, while doing a column on sexual predators and offenders, I decided to check out a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Web site to see how many convicted predators and offenders lived in my ZIP code.

• C'mon holiday lights, get us out of this funk

  November 23, 2008

  We're not waiting.

• How to help

  November 20, 2008

  How to help

  To donate food, time or money:

• Let the guilt of good fortune goad you into giving to local food banks

  November 20, 2008

  Guilt is a beautiful thing, really.

• Despite setbacks in fight for gay rights, hope remains

  November 18, 2008

  I've always been bemused at this notion that sexual orientation is a choice.

• Hurricane stirs coastal Cuban town's disaster memories

  November 16, 2008

  We are linked by a thread. An electronic thread. And a question:

• Everglades land deal now makes sense

  November 13, 2008

  We're at the forefront of a massive transformation in this country. Really, in this world.

• Now is the time to recognize the service and sacrifice of blacks in WW II

  November 11, 2008

  Generations of Americans have gone off to war, to kill or be killed. Most returning with the conviction that the memories of war are for forgetting.

• Whatever your woes, I know the guy to blame

  November 9, 2008

  If you didn't like the outcome of the election, I've got a suggestion.

• Palm Beach County election shows how we have changed

  November 6, 2008

  Are you feeling it? That cool wind of change.

• Uneventful polling in Palm Beach County still tugged at some hearts

  November 5, 2008

  This presidential campaign was the most intense of my lifetime.

• Palm Beach County under the spotlight on many counts

  November 4, 2008

  So here it is. Election Day.

• Thank-you note leads to title role for star's biggest fan

  November 2, 2008

  "This is my memorial wall to Vivian Leigh," Mildred Levine says as we walk into her workroom, crammed with video tapes and DVDs, a flat-screen monitor and recording equipment.

• Latest craze in Palm Beach County a common one

  October 30, 2008

  n. 1. commons The common people; commonalty.

• Pondering the mystery of the rush to vote early

  October 28, 2008

  You've got to know your strengths.

• Watching nature turn kids into young adults

  October 26, 2008

  My wise and beautiful wife, Maria, lives closer to the kumbaya side of life than I do.

• Don't just talk trash — plan for it

  October 23, 2008

  Despite our best efforts to pretend otherwise, we are animals.

• I vote in favor of appointing elections boss

  September 16, 2008

  So there I was, at a building on the fringes of Palm Beach International Airport, living the setup line for the ultimate Palm Beach County joke:

• I'm Here To Take On Bullies And Build Bridges Between Us

  February 21, 2008

  A smarter man than I once said great stories happen on the borders, in those gray areas where cultures rub up against one another. Where friction occurs.

• Lead doesn't belong in the lipstick my daughter is trying on

  October 18, 2007

  My little girl is perfect.

• Bridge tender's firing makes community a little colder

  July 29, 2007

  All I wanted was to tell the story of a charming little bridge.I'm so taken by the 11th Avenue swing bridge in Fort Lauderdale that I take a little longer to get to work, just so I can cross it.

• Fort Lauderdale bridge tender loses job for talking to Sun-Sentinel columnist

  July 29, 2007

  All I wanted was to tell the story of a charming little bridge.

• The wired child

  November 26, 2006

  The sun is setting on a fall Friday, and boys are being drawn to the blue neon-lit storefront at a Greenacres strip mall like virtual moths to a digital flame. Inside, terrorists await. And maybe an orc or two. "Hey Scott, are you on?" a boy turns away from his computer and calls out to his friend, Scott Desiderio.

• A boy's life: A matter of substance

  October 29, 2006

  I was about 13 or 14 the first time I got puke-drunk. An unpleasant experience in so many ways. And yet, despite the unbelievable embarrassment, I felt ... well ... a strange sense of crossing a hurdle. As if I had stepped into a different person. And I knew the family and friends who were at the New Year's Eve party where I lost control would forever see me differently.

• A boy's life: It's hair today, adulthood tomorrow

  June 18, 2006

  Thing is, I remember. I remember what it was to be 12, 13, 14. I remember too well those uncertain years when you know way too much to be a child. But not near enough to be a capable teen, much less a man. An entire world staring you in the face, but just ... out ... of ... reach. Alcohol, music, sex and every other thing that ever teased from the shadows of childhood. Freedom.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Back to old life? Fat chance

  December 5, 2004

  This is the day I've been anticipating for five months.

• Ralph De La Cruz: `Fab Five' swap success stories, share secrets

  November 7, 2004

  Real change doesn't take place in crowds or raucous celebrations.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Dietician makes a big case of my late-night snacking

  October 3, 2004

  The neighborhood Roberta Seago patrols can be a dangerous place. Full of thug carbs lurking in dark corners. Mindless calories running wild. Roberta, you see, cruises the not-so-lean streets and hardening byways of my gluttony.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Facing up to my old friend, fat

  August 1, 2004

  There are days when I miss the comfort of my friend.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Readers weight in on diet

  July 18, 2004

  "I'm calling, not because I like you -- I have no use for liberals, and after reading some of your articles, you're a total liberal," began the call. "But I want to tell you that your adventure into losing weight is going to fail. And I'll tell you why." I'm loving this "Let's Take It Off!" project. Not just for the chance to turn around my eating and exercise habits, but because it helps remind me that we're all connected by that which makes us fatter.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Live and let diet

  July 11, 2004

  At the start of our recent vacation, it seemed we had a serious problem.

• Ralph De La Cruz: Weight becomes exercise in control

  July 4, 2004

  The things we don't dare say are the brick and mortar that form our internal prisons. Silence a key component of our most despotic emotions: fear and shame.