In early March, when Ethan Rasiel read that Italy was going into a nationwide lockdown because of the coronavirus, he had one overriding response: envy. When, in-mid March, Mr. Rasiel, the owner of a public relations firm in Maplewood, N.J., learned that the Bay Area had issued a similar directive, California started looking very good…
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It’s the smell of line-dried laundry. Some atmospheric chemists like that scent, too. In a paper published this year in Environmental Chemistry, researchers examined line-dried towels at the molecular level, to try to pinpoint the source of their specific fragrance. Silvia Pugliese led the research while she was a master’s student at the University of…
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The adult male scarlet tanager is a medium-size songbird with glaring crimson feathers and jet-black wings. It can be hard to spot, because the species tends to forage among the upper branches of tall trees. But it does come down to earth, and sometimes can be caught hanging out with pigeons outside of the Freeport…
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Some people bring home magnets, key chains and maps from their travels; I bring home accessories. Floral scarves, beaded headbands, colorful hats, kitschy coin purses. But more than anything else, I bring home jewelry. Not crazy, need-a-bodyguard, can’t-check-my-luggage jewelry. Fun jewelry. Some of my frill is extra, but most of it isn’t; some of it…
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Strawberries may grace the supermarket produce aisle all year round, but the juicy, brightly colored varieties that come around in late May and June are almost a different species, altogether soft and delicate and needing to be devoured as quickly as possible. You can smell their floral, candylike aroma at the market before even laying…
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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. These days, I am largely unemployed. Normally, I am on the road, speaking at colleges and universities and other organizations — but during a pandemic, proximity is a…
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Chiedza Mushayamunda and Matthew Hooker went through “a range of emotions,” as Mr. Hooker put it, when they realized their long-planned May 30 wedding would have to be severely downsized because of the coronavirus. The wedding was to have taken place at the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem, N.C, with more than 200 guests, including family…
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Steve Burke saw Lillie McDonough walk into the bar where he was playing bass with a Rolling Stones cover band in 2014, and he was hoping she was the woman he had been told to look for. Ms. McDonough’s uncle, who had been impressed by his playing days earlier, sent her to meet him. “She…
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Morgan Clark walked into the bedroom of his fiancé, Elizabeth Reilly, on March 18 and found her sobbing. The devastating effects of the coronavirus forced the couple to move their originally scheduled wedding date up to March 22, from May 8. And they had to change the location of the church, from the Incarnation Anglican…
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Mary Noelle Guido and Nicholas Raymond McMurray realized they were Buckeyes through and through when they met in 2014 at a rooftop party in Washington. They grew up 30 minutes from each other in Ohio — she in Brecksville and he in Euclid — and both graduated from Ohio State cum laude. He also went…
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