Today’s Atlantic Trivia: Twain on Language
The famed 19th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson was a lover of learning. As the dictionary maker once wrote, he dedicated his...
The Paradox of James Watson
How do we reckon with the legacy of people who have done excellent work, but who have said or done...
The Show That Launched a Thousand House Tours
When MTV Cribs premiered 25 years ago, it promised to pull back the curtain on celebrity homes. The series followed...
Love Song Set to a Tune of Gathering
Aphids toiled brittle stems as we met the dike to rob snakehead buds of their fruit. I gathered persimmons, podgy...
Pay Attention to the First 10 Minutes of SNL
Keeping up with national politics this year hasn’t been easy. Even amid a government shutdown, so much is happening in...
Senate Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake
The conventional wisdom about government shutdowns is that they always fail. Senate Democrats probably assumed as much when they shut...
Why They Mask
A few days after President Donald Trump took office, I got an invitation from ICE officials to observe the administration’s...
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Earlier this year, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, a graveyard was spared by the fire that sent...
What Actually Changed in 1776
America’s year of independence, 1776, began with virtually all of those living in Britain’s 13 North American colonies content to...
The Costs of Instant Translation
When I heard about the “Live Translation” feature of Apple’s newly released AirPods, what came to mind was my first...
The First Amendment Won’t Go Quietly
Early last month, the White House convened a meeting of right-wing influencers for a livestreamed discussion of antifa and the...
