Back in 2014, the first year of Wine School, we spent some time drinking zinfandel. From my point of view, it did not go entirely well. Although I was a fan of zinfandel earlier in my wine-drinking life, I had gravitated away from them. The wines we drank did not win me back. While I…
Complexity is a good thing in a wine, right? It’s a descriptive term that is almost always used approvingly. You would not disparage a wine by calling it complex. Yet at times, complexity might be wasted on its audience. Whether because of fatigue, distraction or life getting on your last nerve, a complex wine may…
In a year of endless viral outbreaks, the details of the Diamond Princess tragedy seem like ancient history. On Jan. 20, one infected passenger boarded the cruise ship; a month later, more than 700 of the 3,711 passengers and crew members had tested positive, with many falling seriously ill. The invader moved as swiftly and…
McLEAN, Va. — Tim Jessell, a lanky divorced Washington corporate attorney and father of three, had given up on love in 2008 when he was set up on a blind date with a beautiful blond New Yorker who had also given up on love. They clicked, and many years later began that old sitcom debate…
An experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson protected monkeys from infection in a new study. It is the second vaccine candidate to show promising results in monkeys this week. The company recently began a clinical trial in Europe and the United States to test its vaccine in people. It is one of more…
At 145th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, a line begins outside a modest storefront near the subway station and extends down the avenue for about 10 hours straight. The line is overwhelmingly filled with Black people, elderly and young, parents and children, singles and couples, who come for the fried whiting, shrimp and…
A few Fridays ago, just before what I had come to think of as “showtime,” I lined my eyes, stepped into my costume, readied a prop and adjusted the lighting, which mostly meant fiddling with a bedside lamp. Then I logged into a Zoom meeting. That meeting, an online recital for friends and colleagues, capped…
With the coronavirus spreading into red America, policymakers there have been forced to change course. Some reopening plans have been scuttled; Republican leaders in Washington have broken ranks with President Trump on response policy; and the president himself eventually declared that Americans should wear protective masks. At the grass-roots level, however, it’s not clear if…
Lexi Shangraw, a San Francisco resident, flew to Phoenix in early March for what was supposed to be a brief visit. But when lockdowns started, she ended up staying longer than anticipated in hopes of waiting out Covid-19. Last month, she decided it was finally time to return home. Dubious about the safety of big…
In early July, Bruna Borelli, along with her husband and two other couples, drove a minivan for 12 hours from Sterling Heights, Mich., to New York City for a vacation. Before they left, the friends watched the news carefully, making sure that Michigan hadn’t been added to the long and growing list of states whose…