Our son and his fiancée, both 24, are getting married next summer. The bride’s mother has commandeered the planning. When the kids express an opinion, she gets huffy and overrules them. Early on, she asked my son, “Are your parents splitting the cost of the wedding with us?” Flustered, he said yes. But no one…
Today’s wildly ornamented creations veer even further from tradition and toward self-expression. In Berlin, Hana Betakova, 29, sells surreal tiered cakes through her bakery, Růstcakes, that are edible studies in opposition. She likes to work with aquafaba meringue, which is easily shaped into peaked dollops, obscuring the fluffy crumb within. Her signature style pairs frosting…
Shortly after Santina Rizzi graduated from Florida State University in spring 2021 with a degree in political science, she started working as a paralegal at a Miami law firm where the office dress code was business casual: button-up shirts, long skirts (or short skirts with tights) and closed-toe shoes. Ms. Rizzi frequently opted for crop…
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans, eyeing a midterm election victory that could hand them control of the House and the Senate, have embraced plans to reduce federal spending on Social Security and Medicare, including cutting benefits for some retirees and raising the retirement age for both safety net programs. The Republican Party is billing the moves…
Lawmakers are seeking to make online assistance of suicide a federal crime, pushing to hold accountable both individual users and the tech companies and websites that allow such content on their platforms. A bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Monday, the Stop Online Suicide Assistance Forums Act, comes amid rising concern over…
If you let a Roku idle long enough, you will eventually be transported to a magenta cityscape beyond time and space. The screen slowly pans across cozy diners, gothic mansions and a sumptuous, moonlit lagoon, all sheathed in a groovy, “Blade Runner”-esque color palette. A small gallery of vivid Hollywood references are hidden in the…
The key to enjoying exercise after a fitful slumber is to start early and keep it simple.
My first pecan tart came from a crush. A guy who lived next door. In the way of queer latchkey teenagers globally, we baked at his place in the afternoons. I crushed pecans. He sifted sugar. Sometimes we brushed hands, folding butter into flour. Once the tarts had been baked, we split them down the…
A Visit to a Dude Ranch The patient was a slender, energetic man who looked younger than his 62 years, Azar noted when he met the man the following week. Informed by the results of the biopsy, the infectious-disease doctor asked the patient the same questions the C.D.C. raised about his recent travel. Had he…
“We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country,” said Mr. Vance, whose mother-in-law is a college provost at the University of California San Diego. “The universities do not pursue knowledge and truth,” he added. “They pursue deceit and lies.” That world has, in turn, started to reject Mr. Vance. Ahead of…