CATEGORIES

SOME PERSONAL NEWS

The rise and rise of the entrepreneurial work ethic.

ARMCHAIR QUARTERBACK

Tom Brady's second act, as a football commentator.

A VISIT FROM THE CHIEF

Lidia often went to the third floor of the Graziano Institute and sat down on the wooden bench there, right across from her mother's room.

LANGUAGE LESSONS

Sanaz Toossi's “English” arrives on Broadway.

THE WITNESS

An activist fled Syria to reveal Assad's crimes. Then, mysteriously, he went back.

LINE OF FIRE

The fight to contain an inferno in Los Angeles.

PRODUCTION NOTES: "MELANIA"

Amazon has agreed to pay $40 million to license a Melania Trump documentary, as Jeff Bezos makes overtures to Trump

CAPYBARA, MON COEUR

A giant crush on a giant rodent.

KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR

It's never too early to imagine the end of the world.

PRIVATE EYE

How Celia Paul paints presence.

BANGING THE DRUM

Monday Evening Concerts has celebrated new music for eight decades.

THE CROSSWORD

A beginner-friendly puzzle

THE ST. ALWYNN GIRLS AT SEA SHEILA HETI

There was a general sadness that day on the ship. Dani was walking listlessly from cabin to cabin, delivering little paper flyers announcing the talent show at the end of the month. She had made them the previous week; then had come news that the boys' ship would not be attending. It almost wasn't worth handing out flyers at all—almost as if the show had been cancelled. The boys' ship had changed course; it was now going to be near Gibraltar on the night of the performance—nowhere near where their ship would be, in the middle of the North Atlantic sea. Every girl in school had already heard Dani sing and knew that her voice was strong and good. The important thing was for Sebastien to know. Now Sebastien would never know, and it might be months before she would see him again—if she ever would see him again. All she had to look forward to now were his letters, and they were only delivered once a week, and no matter how closely Dani examined them, she could never have perfect confidence that he loved her, because of all his mentions of a girlfriend back home.

WHEELS UP

Can the U.K.’s Foreign Secretary negotiate a course between the E.U. and President Trump?

A CRITIC AT LARGE - CHECK THIS OUT

If you think apps and social media are ruining our ability to concentrate, you haven't been paying attention.

PARTY FAVORS

Perle Mesta and the golden age of the Washington hostess.

CHARLOTTE'S PLACE

Living with the ghost of a cinéma-vérité pioneer.

THE CURRENT CINEMA - GHOST'S-EYE VIEW

“Presence.”

MILLENNIALS: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Fame is fickle, and no one knows this better than millennials. Once, they were everywhere—in television laugh tracks for “The Big Bang Theory,” in breathless think pieces about social-media narcissism, and acting the fool in 360p YouTube comedy videos. Then—poof! Gone like yesterday’s avocado toast.

ANNALS OF INQUIRY: CHASING A DREAM

What insomniacs know.

THE MASTER BUILDER

Norman Foster's empire of image control.

INTIMATE PROJECTS DEPT. THE GOLDFISH BOWL

There are roughly eight hundred galleries that hold the permanent collection of the Met, and as of a recent Tuesday morning the married writers Dan and Becky Okrent had examined every piece in all but two.

ON AND OFF THE AVENUE - Top of the Class

Whenever I consider “taking a class,” as a grown woman living in New York City, my mind immediately turns to “The Ladies Who Lunch,” the show-stopping number from Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical, “Company.”

LAUGH DEPT.PRECOCIOUS

In \"The Great Depresh,\" Gary Gulman's documentary-style comedy special about his lifelong struggle with depression, a camera crew follows him to his childhood home in Peabody, Massachusetts.

L.A. POSTCARD - GHOST TOWN

On most weekday afternoons, U.S. Route 101, which slices through the city of Los Angeles, thrums with traffic, brake lights blinking like those on a Christmas tree. Several days ago, as wildfires ravaged the city and the surrounding county, a haze of smoke filtered the sun like a silk scarf over a lamp. It was eerily smooth sailing from Silver Lake to Exit 9B, Hollywood and Highland, near Runyon Canyon Park.

AFTER THE FIRE: PAPER AND ASH

\"The first thing you think of when you see your home engulfed in flames is, My world and future have changed,\" Robert J. Lang, one of the world's foremost origami artists and theorists, said recently.

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

The conflagration that became known that became known as the Bel Air Fire broke out on the morning of November 6, 1961, in a patch of brush north of Mulholland Drive. Fanned by Santa Ana winds, the flames jumped the drive, then spread toward the homes of the rich and famous.

MING HAN ONG

Thadeus had never offered to take Johnny Mac out for a meal before. This is new, Johnny Mac says, grinning. For twenty-five years, Johnny Mac worked as a tenant-rights lawyer. He is a fount of varied and surprising knowledge.

ZORA NEALE HURSTON'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

What a long-unpublished novel reveals about her magnificent obsession.

FEAR AND LOATHING

Are all our arguments really over who's harmed?