In the last week, leading epidemiologists from respected institutions have, through different methods, reached the same conclusion: About 85 to 90 percent of the American population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the current pandemic. The number is important because it means that “herd immunity” — the point at which a disease stops…
The one-bedroom co-op in Queens that Calvin Royal III shares with his partner, Jacek Mysinski, is not what you’d call expansive. Mr. Royal, who was recently elevated to principal at American Ballet Theater (the third Black dancer in A.B.T. history to achieve that rank), could surely make it from the front door to the balcony…
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about taking creative leaps in challenging times. Two decades ago, when the designer Stephen Burks was beginning what would become a renowned international career, there were virtually no African-American role models for him to look to. After breaking out with a furniture collection…
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about taking creative leaps in challenging times. On Valerie Schweitzer’s front lawn in Water Mill, N.Y., a structure of intersecting cylinders, thrust aloft on posts and partly enclosed by vertical cedar boards, reaches for the sky. Is it a building? A sculpture? An…
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about taking creative leaps in challenging times. It is not unheard of for ambitious homeowners to imbue a mere building with narrative dazzle. But rarely is the mythologizing as specific and literary as it is for the Long Island guesthouse of Betsy and…
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about taking creative leaps in challenging times. I was clearly in over my head. When I signed up for an online course in feng shui, an ancient Chinese practice of using design to enhance health and prosperity, I somehow missed the part about…
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about taking creative leaps in challenging times. Tap the history of an object, no matter how small or specialized, and it will open up the universe. These design books focus on the likes of claw foot bathtubs, sommeliers’ gadgetry, mahogany linen chests and…
This article is part of our latest Design special report, which is about taking creative leaps in challenging times. The last shelters on the Marangu route to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro are little structures known as Kibo huts, the first built in 1932. When Robert Hune-Kalter, a Colorado-based bank employee, reached the huts, in…
Kevin Langdon Ackerman had a good lead, so he left his home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Beachwood Canyon on a Tuesday morning in August and drove 18 miles northwest to Sylmar, Calif. He guided his metallic black BMW off the 210 and up the winding road to the top of Little Tujunga Canyon;…
This column is part of a series for the Design special report of The New York Times. Readers are invited to send questions to designadvice@nytimes.com. We moved into a new place in March, and our plans to furnish an extra room were waylaid by the pandemic. Is it a good idea to get a pullout…