The Energy Challenge: How Losing Yourself in A Task Can Boost Your Mood
Today, we’ll explore how low-stakes hobbies can energize us.
New Year, Very Old Restaurants
Happy new year. January is usually a month of fresh starts and new chapters. But to tell you the truth, I’m not ready to face the future yet. I don’t know if it’s the short afternoons, the feeble sunshine, the chafing wind or just a creeping dread of what might be down the road. But…
Anthony Dias Blue, Whose Writing Elevated California Wines, Dies at 82
Anthony Dias Blue, a longtime wine writer and radio personality whose love for California whites and reds helped elevate the reputation of American vintners, died on Dec. 25 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 82. His daughter Amanda Blue confirmed the death but did not provide a cause. Mr. Blue, known by friends…
June Jackson Christmas, Pioneering Psychiatrist, Dies at 99
June Jackson Christmas, a psychiatrist who broke barriers as a Black woman by heading New York City’s Department of Mental Health and Retardation Services under three mayors, died on Sunday in the Bronx. She was 99. Her daughter, Rachel Christmas Derrick, said she died in a hospital of heart failure. As a city commissioner, as…
Year of the Vegetable
Optimism abounds this time of year, the temporal fresh start a necessary reminder of our own potential for improvement, for clarity, for fulfillment. Last week, I encouraged readers to share their resolutions for the new year. I was moved by their buoyancy, particularly this note, from Suzanne: “I’m still forming my dreams and goals for…
Paxlovid Cuts Covid Death Risk. But Those Who Need It Are Not Taking It.
As Covid rises again, killing about 1,500 Americans each week, medical researchers are trying to understand why so few people are taking Paxlovid, a medicine that is stunningly effective in preventing severe illness and death from the disease. A study of a million high-risk people with Covid found that only about 15 percent who were…
The Coquette-Core Label Reimagining Power Dressing
Style Points is a weekly column about how fashion intersects with the wider world. On the spring 2024 runways, you famously couldn’t go five feet without running into a ruffle, rosette, or bow. Now, the style is devouring TikTok too, with ribbons adorning everything from TV remotes to chicken tenders. Fashion’s wave of sweetness may…
A Fantasy That Comes With a Price Tag
What happened to fun? In the clinical white of the gallery, art can be forbidding, aggrieved, elite, academic. Shouldn’t it also, sometimes, be joyous? The collaborators behind Luna Luna thought so. This was the amusement park staged in Hamburg, Germany, in 1987, where nearly 30 professional artists including Basquiat, Hockney and Dalí designed the rides.…
Fresh Spring Rolls, Pan-Seared Chicken With Harissa, and Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips
Tanya Sichynsky — a senior staff editor you might know from The Veggie — has written a friendly “start here” guide for common cooking resolutions. It’s worth a read, especially for this encouraging suggestion: “Try to become just a little bit better at something, rather than change your habits wholesale.” If one of your resolutions…
Happy Puppies and Silly Geese: Pushing the Limits of A.I. Absurdity
What is the happiest dog you can imagine? Is it beaming with joy on a celestial plane or frolicking in a field of psychedelic flora? If those images are hard to conjure, have no fear, or perhaps a healthy dose of it: Artificial intelligence can vivify even the most absurd scenarios in vibrant color, and…