At his older brother’s friend’s birthday party, 11-month-old Oliver Oldham had his mind set on one thing: the red birthday cake. He had never really had sweets before – certainly not a birthday cake – and this was the perfect opportunity for him to sneak over and grab a taste of the dessert before it was cut. “Oliver went two paws in – smeared it all over his face,” says his mother, Kristi Oldham. When he finally lifted his bright red, frosting-coated face, something felt wrong.“I kept thinking...

As hundreds of people file into the ballroom and an anticipatory buzz surrounds the temporary runway of the Woman’s Club of Evanston, a small blonde woman darts through the crowd. A nearby group catches her eye, and she sweeps over and nods her head sheepishly in response to the “congratulations” and “good lucks.”

“I’m not the talent,” she said. “They are.”

I had no idea what to wear to my first Northwestern football game. Simply, there were too many options! During the summer, I had curated the perfect wardrobe for gamedays, shopping in local Houston boutiques in the Texas Christian University section since they had a purple school color. My mom even found a designer on Instagram to make me a custom beaded bag strap for my clear purse that said “Go ‘Cats,” like the ones girls back home wore at their Southern schools. Would a dress be too much?