Signal Is the Messaging App of the Protests

Over the last two weeks, the number of Americans who have downloaded Signal, an encrypted messaging application, has skyrocketed. Many are using the app to organize and participate in protests against police brutality (without being spied on by law enforcement). The week before George Floyd died on May 25, about 51,000 first-time users downloaded Signal,…

The Remorseless Confessions of a Champion Underbidder

Aunts, uncles, homies, bartenders, barbers, gamblers, church deacons, Harlemites, Pittsburghers, grad students, school principles, lawyers, landlords, Deltas, Dominicans, felons, Ellen DeGeneres — it doesn’t matter. If you’ve faced me in spades at any point in the last decade, you almost definitely walked away a loser, and probably wanted to fight. I’ve played approximately 70 times…

Why Wine? Why Burgundy? Why Now?

I had a lot of reasons not to write this column. For one, it stretches back to the other side of the divide, before the pandemic, when the wine panel was able to convene and taste together without trepidation. It seems unreal to recall sitting down in unmasked fellowship on a chilly day at the…

It’s Only a Game! Or So They Say.

In the best of times, a board game can provide hours of entertainment, filled with camaraderie and tests of wits and guile, thrilling twists of fate and daring acts of strategy and, of course, friendly competition. But a game also comes with a note of danger: Throw yourself into it too deeply, and it’s easy…

What’s Worrying Teenagers Right Now

According to Nancy Lublin, the chief executive and co-founder of Crisis Text Line, a free mental health texting service providing confidential crisis intervention, the top three topics in conversations since the pandemic began have been “anxiety,” “depression” and “relationships.” But in the past week, as the demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor…