Episode 19: ‘Hands On’ Producer Jamila Wignot When sweaty, barely covered bodies bend and twist in tight space in a yoga class, boundaries can get blurry. What one person may consider a well-intentioned hands-on adjustment to a yoga pose can seem inappropriate to someone else. The combination of physical touch, spirituality and power dynamics have…
Emma Thompson, double Oscar winner (“Howards End” for acting, “Sense and Sensibility” for writing), environmental activist and dame (anointed in vegan sneakers), is frank: She admits that her bank balance often rules her career. “Sometimes I’m not very rich, so I say to my agents, ‘Can you find me a job that might pay well?’”…
On the June day in 1956 when a young woman named Annette Adkins left Woodbridge, Va., to spend the summer with relatives in Kentucky, Bob Harvey lost the love of his life. Mr. Harvey, who had slow danced with her weeks earlier at the junior prom, remembers seeing her get in a 1955 tan Pontiac,…
Nixon predicted it. Workers have asked for it. And businesses and governments have experimented with it for decades. The world has been talking about the four-day workweek for half a century, so what’s taking so long? The idea pops up every so often in expectant headlines. Just last week, Microsoft Japan inspired a flood of…
Rachel Brathen had no idea of the deluge headed her way when she asked her Instagram followers if they ever had experienced touch that felt inappropriate in yoga. This was nearly two years ago. Ms. Brathen, 31 and a yoga studio owner in Aruba, heard from hundreds. The letters described a constellation of abuses of…
MUSCAT, Oman — In the alleyways near the Mutrah Souk here, amid the chattering families out for a stroll or the barefoot old men playing cards outside a small neighborhood mosque, Bangladeshi and Indian tailors tend to the business of dressing Omani men in their everyday best. Such scenes have played out all across the…
Pearls have always adorned scepters, crowns, thrones and formal attire, symbolizing wealth and power. Queen Elizabeth I stacked pearl bracelets; Queen Elizabeth II favors a three-strand necklace. And then there’s a different slice of history: Consider the all-but-ubiquitous pearl necklaces and stud earrings of 1950s feminine America (calling Betty Draper). But when Rihanna hit the…
ImageLyndon B. Johnson in 1965, signing into law the bill that created Medicare and Medicaid. Looking on is Harry Truman, who sought to introduce universal health care during his presidency.Credit…Associated Press Photo/ As presidential hopefuls campaign on a national “Medicare for all” system, a California congressman is pushing for a different path to universal coverage:…
Black Friday, the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, is best known for doorbuster deals and irresistible sales on gifts. Deals on hotels, airfare, tours and cruises may have little to do with gift-giving and more with tempting shoppers to indulge in their own wanderlust, but increasingly, travel bargains are part of the promotions around…
A superstar in Quebec with a growing global following — he recently sold out a four-month residency in Paris — the comedian Sugar Sammy relishes returning to Montreal after touring. “I love living here because it’s a big city, but not so big that you feel lost,” said the 43-year-old Montreal native who was born…