Jim Windolf The New York Times

Attitudes toward grown men crying are changing, but when John Boehner, Kanye West and Wilmer Flores wept in public this year, it still made news.

Health-scare stories, even those that are not overblown, draw their special power from the fact that we go through the days denying our mortality.

Attitudes toward grown men crying are changing, but when John Boehner, Kanye West and Wilmer Flores wept in public this year, it still made news.

Health-scare stories, even those that are not overblown, draw their special power from the fact that we go through the days denying our mortality.