Melissa Petro

Stock photos seemed to get pregnancy and parenting all wrong. When a Facebook friend posted looking for a real life pregnant stock photo model, I offered.

It's pretty well understood in 12 step programs that "who you see here and what you say here, stays here."

"Certainly, my life as an alcoholic was not what most would imagine. I was a writer, living in the West Village of New York City, enrolled in a prestigious graduate program and working on a book. At least, this was my cover story."

Want to work responsibly on the issue of sex trafficking? Here’s some of what you should know.

[I]t looks like our wedding will cost us more like $10,000. That is a hell of a lot of money. Still, it’s our one and only wedding. And for a wedding in Manhattan that includes most of the typical expenditures [...] that’s not too bad. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to make your big day (relatively) less expensive.

It's time to talk substantively and honestly about how sex work isn't any one thing.

If you missed my weekly column this summer all about getting engaged and planning a wedding, here’s the highlight reel: after doing

"We built a luxury dream home but can only afford to have two children."

Teaching sex ed the right way doesn’t have to be weird or hard.

“If someone’s crying at work, it’s because it’s their only outlet to release tension,” says Greg, age 30, a public school teacher. When people cry at work, Greg says, it’s because they’ve became “overwhelmed” or perhaps feel as if “they’re not meeting their goals.”