I no longer curse cats. Back in my townie decades, I detested felines as vermin. Every spring I would clear winter’s detritus from beneath shrubs. Rakes reach only so far. My hands attempted to finish ...

At Halloween, more than any other time, the myth of the unlucky black cat looms large. Sandra DeFeo sees this through her job as executive director of the Humane Society of New York, where black cats ...