Book Tour From Home

Authors releasing books in the past year have experienced a radically altered literary landscape — perhaps most significantly, they have lost the ability to venture out on the standard book tour, which typically includes a series of readings and talks across the country. While many book lovers yearn for the days of big-name events or…

Make a Kite Out of Newspaper

Easy to build, simple to fly, the diamond kite — two sticks crossed and bound together, covered by a diamond-shaped piece of paper — is the most recognized kite shape in the Western world. A woodcut image from the 1600s is the oldest known reference to the diamond kite. And all it requires is a…

Is the ’21’ Club Really Closing?

It should not have, but it came as a shock that the jockeys had vanished. There they’d stood outside the “21” Club on West 52nd Street for decades, 35 of them, with their cast metal arms upraised to grasp the reins of some invisible mount, their silks brightly painted in the colors of storied thoroughbred…

One Year Together, Apart

In the year since the pandemic began, people learned to be together while apart and navigated the pain of feeling apart while together. Screens, small and large, became crucial links to the rest of the world. Activities and routines that commanded crowds — visiting museums, attending concerts, working out, learning, traveling, partying — ceased or…