My house is not what it used to be. On any given morning, passing through the living room, I might spot a random Amazon package here, a pile of discarded face masks there. There’s a good chance that an open box of art supplies for my daughter’s Zoom summer camp is sitting in a corner…
TAICHUNG, Taiwan — At Wansho Laundry in central Taiwan, most dirty clothes dropped off to be steamed or washed or dry-cleaned end up right back in the hands of their rightful owners, cleaner than when they arrived. Abandoned garments, however, can end up on Instagram. The blouses and skirts and trousers adorn the bodies of…
A Black youth lays bare-chested in a field of wildflowers. Three others play double Dutch, framed from below, the blues of their jeans and tees fuzzing into the sky overhead. A woman sits on a placid beach, the sand-caked skin between her scoop-back swimsuit beating in the sun. This world that Tyler Mitchell conjures in…
I am an extreme planner. But I’ll admit that the task of planning a cross-country move during a pandemic with a suppressed immune system (and a sassy cat named Brünnhilde) was a daunting one. It was a plan born of necessity; I have Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disease that affects the intestinal tract, as well…
Send questions about the office, money, careers and work-life balance to workfriend@nytimes.com. Include your name and location, or a request to remain anonymous. Letters may be edited. Free Labor Boundaries A few weeks ago, I started a part-time internship. The work is remote and unpaid, and my supervisor and I are working across time zones.…
Juan Morel, a 38-year-old professional bodybuilder, has several nicknames. One is “Diesel,” for his resemblance to the similarly smooth-headed and muscled actor Vin. Another, “King of New York,” he earned for winning his second New York Pro competition last May. “And now,” Mr. Morel said recently over FaceTime from his Long Island home, “the ‘Cookie…
First there was the Zoom boom, followed quickly by Zoom fatigue. Then everyone became a gamer, inviting visitors to their virtual islands and sending friends digital gifts. There were raves, meetings, meditations and movie nights, all of which took place on the internet. Now, months later and with no sign of the virus’ end in…
The gate to the orphanage was smaller than I remembered. Nearly 25 years had passed since I lived there. I wondered if coming back was a good idea. My best friends Phu, Francis and Will had planned this trip to Vietnam and invited me to come. I met them 15 years earlier when I was…
Tom of Finland’s influence is so vast that it can be hard to calculate. Through sheer force of imagination, the artist was able to manifest a hyper-real, hypermasculine style of queer erotic illustration that would end up inspiring not just legions of visual artists but entire subcultures. Any time a stylist puts a young pop…
Before the pandemic changed the way we work out, possibly forever, Sarah Levey was among the boutique fitness industry’s fastest-rising stars. She and her husband, Mason Levey, are the founders of Y7, a yoga company with 14 studio locations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, with classes costing $25 each, taking place in candlelit…