Solidarity in a Wedding and a March

A familiar soundtrack of police choppers, emergency sirens and rhythmic chants could be heard outside the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany on June 6 in Philadelphia, where Brad Luna and Adam Ouanes had just been married by the Rev. Robert Smith, an Episcopal priest. Mr. Luna, 43, and Mr. Ouanes, 31, walked out…

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…