Dustin Schneider made quite an impression with Lindsay Hirsch in December 2018, when he complimented a photo of Ms. Hirsch dressed as Ariel from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” that was posted on the dating app, the League. “I was super excited,” said Ms. Hirsch, now 31, who was then living with her mother, Marilyn Kahn…
By Siraad Dirshe In recent months, we’ve been forced to reimagine how we gather, whether virtually or in person. Alicia Walters, a facilitator, artist and cultural innovator, believes that gathering in person (responsibly, of course) is essential, especially right now, for the black community. “There is power in black people taking up space, particularly when…
Today’s lesson in the virtual classroom of Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, a public academic, writer, and lecturer, is “to give a more critical lens” for people “to view how they exist in the world.” For the mostly white “classroom” that is her Instagram account — “white women make up about 75 percent of my follower count,”…
Hardcore gamers and post-apocalyptica enthusiasts have waited years for a sequel to The Last of Us, an immersive video game set in a dark, dismal future after a fungus ravaged Earth and zombies have become the ruling class. The game unspooled through the lens of two unlikely companions: a hardened, Texan smuggler named Joel and…
When Shaniyat Chowdhury, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York, was asked about the most urgent concern facing his district, his options were not in short supply. He could have said housing or hunger. Healthcare was certainly on the table. But when prompted in a local news interview to name what he intends to…
“SoJo,” the cat of Representative Ayanna Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, is a celebrity in her own right. SoJo is a minor Twitter influencer; her appearance there wins likes and replies that include snapshots of admirers’ cats. Her popularity reflects how social media tastes lean toward cute pet clips and also speaks to me as a…
Kenneth Timmons, who works for a federal government agency in Houston, said the first thing he usually does before every Juneteenth is take the day off work. Mr. Timmons usually invites friends over to cook and eat together. “My co-workers know why I’m off, I tell them I don’t work Juneteenth,” Mr. Timmons, 47, said.…
I was just five years old when the vibe in my grandmother Nannie’s kitchen aroused my culinary curiosity. It took 30 years and a dozen other hidden figures of the food world for me to appreciate the kitchen as a site for social change. Quaker Oats announced this week that it will be retiring Aunt…
When Opal Lee was growing up in Texas, she would spend Juneteenth picnicking with her family, first in Marshall, where she was born, then in Sycamore Park in Fort Worth, near the home she moved into at age 10. She and her family lived in a predominantly white neighborhood in Fort Worth. When Mrs. Lee…
When Courtney Love traded her “kinderwhore” trappings for an Atelier Versace gown that clung to her like Saran Wrap at the 1997 Oscars, some fans felt betrayed—as though their grunge goddess had sold out. But these days, when a young artist like Billie Eilish shows up on a red carpet in Gucci or Chanel, it…