I read a lot of news stories and columns about divorce, and I often find myself reading the same things over and over again. Similar stories, similar bits of advice and words of caution. So it really jumps out at me when I find something that offers a fresh perspective, and that was most definitely the case when I saw a column in a Michigan newspaper written by a high school senior who is a child of divorce.

What she had to say should resonate long and hard for any divorced parent, no matter what stage of divorce you're in. She writes about how her parents struggled to compromise as they worked to agree on a visitation schedule. As part of the process, the family was assigned a "friend of the court." Perhaps the most striking thing she wrote is that she never actually met the person who served in that official capacity.

When we talk about mediation here at FWW, it always seems to me like a foregone conclusion that whoever does the mediating would at least meet the children. The fact that it isn't a requirement is appalling. Perhaps there's a reason for it. Maybe the court doesn't want that person's decision-making process to be swayed by a child's undoubtedly emotional reaction. But you know what? I think that comes with the territory.

The writer goes on to say that by following the letter of the law, a parent could be thrown in jail if the visitation schedule isn't adhered to by all parties. And sometimes the visitations don't happen because emotions get in the way. Depending on how bitter and angry and resentful the parents are, the whole thing could easily be turned into a regrettable nightmare. But again, the most important message here is that you have a child of divorce telling you that nobody listened to her — mom, dad, the friend of the court — no one. She grew up feeling like she didn't have a role or a choice in what was happening to her family. She referred to herself as a prisoner of war.

In what sounds like South Korea's version of Britney and K-Fed, actress Ok So-ri has admitted to having an affair, which she pursued because of her sexless marriage to actor Park Chul.

You ever heard of them? Me neither. But it's got a lot of people's attention in South Korea, where the two of them have been media darlings. What's really disturbing is that adultery is a crime in South Korea that can result in jail time. And get this: The only way to prove adultery in the South Korean legal system is with "decisive evidence," including physical evidence such as photos of the person engaged in sexual intercourse.

No, I'm not making that up.

Apparently, it has to be full-on intercourse, too. Anything short of that doesn't meet the legal criteria. And Chul says he has the necessary evidence. No word on how it is he managed to get it. Hey, I'm thinking this is a legal system Bill Clinton would approve of.

OK, that's a cheap joke. Sorry Mr. President. I'm a big fan. But I couldn't resist. I mean, come on — do you believe this? You couldn't pay someone to make up something this ridiculous.

It seems South Koreans realize that the law needs to be changed, though it's been unsuccessfully challenged in court three times since 1990. Keep an eye on this case. It may get really interesting.

Click here for more.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a section on its Web site where they toss out issues for discussion and let readers enter their comments on the topic. They did one this week on dating after divorce, and it got a ton of traffic and a lot of interesting, honest responses.

This is a subject that gets covered an awful lot by newspapers and magazines. But after you read too many “tips on dating after divorce” stories, it’s easy to lose interest. They get stale after a while. The advice is always the same: Don’t rush into something you’re not really ready for, don’t introduce your date to your kids too soon, etc. If you have half a brain in your head, you know these things.

But I was pretty impressed with the depth and variety of the reader responses here. I found them far more interesting than most of the “staff-written” stories I’ve read on the subject. And that stands to reason: The responses are real.

One woman wrote about how she watched her mom go through two divorces, 14 years apart, and how challenging it was to understand and deal with what was happening, the first time at age 3 and again at age 17. Another person said it’s not a good idea to set firm milestones for a post-divorce relationship, such as “I’ll introduce my date to my kids once we get to six months.”

The whole thing is just a refreshing take on the topic, and worth reading.

Click here for more.

The woman admits to being young and naïve when she got married, adding that she didn't spend enough time dating and getting to know her husband. We probably all know someone who seemed to rush into marriage and then predictably starts having problems because they didn't think things through well enough. Again, I might be ignorant here, but somehow I get the sense that even the most hurried marriages in the U.S. are well-thought-out productions compared to the average marriage in Nigeria.

The woman organizing the counseling service talks about addressing "avoidable problems." That should be the goal of any pre-marital counseling. I don't think you can account for every possible difficulty. But you can confront the ones you know are looming before a couple ties the knot.

And by doing so, you can probably prevent some marriages from encountering trouble. I'd be interested to know how well her service does at preventing already-married couples from ending up divorced. I have a feeling that if those basic issues aren't addressed in advance, especially in a culture where those things aren't typically discussed, it may be too late to save most marriages.

Click here for more.

Somewhere, Lorena Bobbitt is smiling.

A court in Taiwan has granted a man a divorce because his wife has been threatening to cut off his penis.

What a perfectly lovely story this is.

The couple has been married for 10 years. Two years ago, the wife began to suspect that her husband was cheating. And that's when she started making threats against his manhood. She would wake him up in the middle of the night to interrogate him and let him know that bad things might be happening to that sensitive part of the anatomy.

You think that’s sick, try this: She started sharpening a knife and leaving it next to the bed. Think about how brave this guy must have been to get into bed every night with a woman like that.

So, given all this information, the court decided there was no way this couple could continue living together and granted the divorce.

See what you started, Lorena?

Click here for more.

Sounds horrendous doesn't it? Like the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a soap opera. But under the circumstances, it is the right thing to do.

The man's wife has an incurable condition and will be in a coma for the rest of her life. He has agreed to arrange for her care. But he also has an ailing mother to take care of, so the court has permitted his divorce. There are no easy decisions here, for either the court or the man involved.

A story in the China Post briefly says that the comatose woman can't "fulfill her role as a wife." I was just about to suggest that rulings like this show that maybe Chinese authorities are beginning to demonstrate a more progressive approach. But this is still a very patriarchal society. I can't help but wonder what the court's ruling might have been if things were reversed, and it was the husband in the coma.

Click here to read more.

One of the things that going through a divorce means for many people is that eventually you have to re-learn how to date.

Yes, re-learn. Because no doubt at least a few things have changed since before your marriage. And if you have children, it’s not just a whole new ballgame, it’s an entirely different sport. The Hartford Courant ran a story this week that had some tips for divorced parents who are dating again. These are tricky waters to navigate, and the story mentions that you and your kids may not see eye to eye on everything, regardless of how old they are.

There were two main pieces of advice in the story. First, make sure you’re ready to date and that you’re not just trying to find a new relationship to relieve the pain of your divorce. And second, don’t introduce your date to your kids too soon.

That seems to be one of the biggest problems that divorced parents run into when they start dating again. Just because you’re ready to be “out there” again doesn’t mean your kids are ready to accept that. They may still have unresolved emotional issues about your divorce. And if you and your ex haven’t taken steps to make sure you’re co-parenting well, there’s likely to be a ton of friction as you start dating.

Get to know a date first, take your time. You owe that to yourself, and you owe it to your kids to make it as easy on them as you can.

Click here for more.

According to statistics cited in the story, the number of 20-somethings who have never been married rose sharply between 2000 and 2006. Among both men and women, the number of people in their 20s who had never been married increased nine percent over that span.

But it's the actual percentages that are particularly interesting: 73 percent of men and 63 percent of women weren't married before age 30.

There are a lot of reasons why this is happening. Obviously fear of divorce has something to do with it. The USA Today piece mentions one possible reason is that it's becoming more and more difficult for 20-somethings to achieve financial independence. And with the housing market the way it is, that's only likely to continue.

But it also seems pretty clear that attitudes about marriage are shifting among young adults. Think about it: How many people do you know who haven't done the "live together" thing? A lot of young couples see that as a necessary step before deciding to get married.

Of course, as I've mentioned before, you can go round and round eight ways to Sunday with statistics. Let's say you live with someone for a couple of years and then the relationship ends. To me, that's just like going through a divorce, at least from an emotional standpoint.

But, of course, that doesn't count as a divorce. Someday I'd like to see the stats on people who have lived with someone out of wedlock and split up, because I consider them divorced too.

Divorce among 20-somethings continues to rise. And it'll be interesting to know whether there will be fewer divorces among people who wait until their 30s to get married.

Click here for more.

The writer who brought us “The Starter Wife” is developing a comedy-drama series about divorce for NBC.

Novelist Gigi Levangie Grazer’s “The Starter Wife” was adapted into a mini-series that aired on USA Network earlier this year. A Reuters report on Levangie Grazer’s deal with NBC didn’t mention when the new show would air or what its title would be. But based on its premise, the show sounds like it’ll be worth watching.

It’ll tell the story of a 30-something couple with two kids that’s getting a divorce, but still living together. Levangie Grazer knows the subject well. She’s in the process of her second divorce, splitting up with Hollywood producer Brian Grazer. The show will deal with a lot of the issues we write about here at FWW, namely how to divorce in peace and how to co-parent through a divorce. As Levangie Grazer said in the Reuters story, acrimonious divorces are "so 1990s."

I’m interested to give this one a shot. Here’s hoping NBC doesn’t give it a quick hook and pull the plug on it before it finds its footing. A show like this could give a lot of people a little sense of comfort. Sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of a reminder that there are lots of people out there dealing with the same things you are.

Click here for more.

On Friday, we heard from Thomas W. Weeks III, the minister accused of attacking his wife, televangelist Juanita Bynum. Apparently, he’s decided not to contest the couple’s impending divorce, as we previously wrote about here at FWW.

You don’t get much more bizarre than a man of God abusing his wife.

Weeks said all the right things, denying he’d assaulted his wife and denouncing the abuse of women. But there’s still the little matter of that police report where Bynum claimed that he choked her, threw her to the ground and stomped on her. And regardless of what actually happened between them, Bynum is still seeking a divorce.

This whole thing is a little bit of déjà vu. We all remember the many televangelist scandals of yesteryear. As someone who’s happily non-religious, I always think it’s funny when these things happen to religious leaders. But it’s also a reminder that real-life situations, like marriages that don’t work, can happen to anyone.

Click here for more.