The playground padlocks are starting to come off. Now that all 50 states have begun to reopen, children in some areas are once again zipping down slides and swinging from monkey bars after months of waiting. A handful of states, including Massachusetts, Colorado, Ohio and Iowa, announced in June that playgrounds could start reopening, though…
Riot helmets, ballistic vests, shields, batons — fully decked-out police officers have become staples in New York City as the protests against racism and police brutality approach their third week. But increasingly, one piece of equipment has attracted attention with its absence: the face mask. On any given day, any corner, any group of officers,…
Last week, Gushers and Fruit by the Foot, two fruit candies from the 1990s, now manufactured by General Mills, joined forces on Twitter to announce a deep commitment to … something. “Gushers wouldn’t be Gushers without the Black community and your voices,” the brand’s tweet read. “We’re working with @fruitbythefoot on creating space to amplify…
A young woman whose lungs were destroyed by the coronavirus received a double lung transplant last week at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, the hospital reported on Thursday, the first known lung transplant in the United States for Covid-19. The 10-hour surgery was more difficult and took several hours longer than most lung transplants because…
Over the last two weeks, the number of Americans who have downloaded Signal, an encrypted messaging application, has skyrocketed. Many are using the app to organize and participate in protests against police brutality (without being spied on by law enforcement). The week before George Floyd died on May 25, about 51,000 first-time users downloaded Signal,…
Aunts, uncles, homies, bartenders, barbers, gamblers, church deacons, Harlemites, Pittsburghers, grad students, school principles, lawyers, landlords, Deltas, Dominicans, felons, Ellen DeGeneres — it doesn’t matter. If you’ve faced me in spades at any point in the last decade, you almost definitely walked away a loser, and probably wanted to fight. I’ve played approximately 70 times…
Since selling their home in Fort Collins, Colo., in September 2018, Tom and Mona Mesereau have logged 18,000 miles through 30 states in their 32-foot Class A recreational vehicle, running their public relations business from the road. “Starting out in an R.V. is a little like moving into a new house,” Tom wrote in an…
I had a lot of reasons not to write this column. For one, it stretches back to the other side of the divide, before the pandemic, when the wine panel was able to convene and taste together without trepidation. It seems unreal to recall sitting down in unmasked fellowship on a chilly day at the…
In the best of times, a board game can provide hours of entertainment, filled with camaraderie and tests of wits and guile, thrilling twists of fate and daring acts of strategy and, of course, friendly competition. But a game also comes with a note of danger: Throw yourself into it too deeply, and it’s easy…
According to Nancy Lublin, the chief executive and co-founder of Crisis Text Line, a free mental health texting service providing confidential crisis intervention, the top three topics in conversations since the pandemic began have been “anxiety,” “depression” and “relationships.” But in the past week, as the demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor…