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Ellen Goodman established a name for herself by making serious work of what have traditionally been considered "soft subjects." Her nationally syndicated newspaper columns, nestled among politically hard-hitting editorials, deal with topics such as parenting, friendship, divorce and alternative lifestyles. The columnist, however, does not regard the issues she concentrates on as trivial. "I write about different things than other columnists. But I do it out of a sense of news judgment," she explained. "The major stories today are the family and what I call life-and-death issues."