Author: Lance Garrison
The truth is plain, but elusive: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is not only the world’s greatest entertainer, a feminist and a principled advocate of Black culture, but also something of a religious prophet. Her method is admittedly unorthodox and not uncontroversial: She delivers philosophy in Versace, theology in heels on a stage. Each night near the beginning of her performance on her Renaissance tour — and in the eponymous documentary film released on Friday — Beyoncé declared that she wanted the people gathered in her name to find a safe space for liberation.“After all that we’ve been through in the world, I…
When I learned that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had died, I felt not just the loss of a world historical figure but also the loss of someone who formed a part of my identity.As a young woman, I was in awe of Justice O’Connor. Her presence on the Supreme Court offered an answer to any doubts I had that I belonged in the law. As a young lawyer, I was lucky enough to work for a year as her law clerk.While clerking for her, I came to understand and appreciate not only her place in history but also her vision…
To the Editor:Re “Why Aren’t More People Marrying? Ask Women What Dating Is Like,” by Anna Louie Sussman (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 25):After reading this essay, I came away with a feeling that too often today, our society promotes victimhood. Women (and men) today should not blame the opposite sex for their decision not to get married.As a man who has been married for 45 years to the same woman, I would tell your readers a few things: Nobody is perfect, life is full of surprises (good and bad), and quitting is your last option, not your first, so take…
There is a land mine embedded in the United States Code, one that Donald Trump, if re-elected president, could use to destroy our republic. But it’s not too late for Congress to defuse the mine now and protect America.I’m talking about the Insurrection Act, a federal law that permits the president to deploy military troops in American communities to effectively act as a domestic police force under his direct command. In theory, there is a need for a well-drafted law that permits the use of federal troops in extreme circumstances to maintain order and protect the rule of law. The…
Of course, A.I. does not just run on metaphors. It runs on hardware. This is where Chris Miller’s “Chip War” is essential. The chips that power our iPhones and allow A.I. systems to carry out their calculations are magnificently intricate. “Unlike oil, which can be bought from many countries,” Miller writes, “our production of computing power depends fundamentally on a series of choke points: tools, chemicals, and software that often are produced by a handful of companies — and sometimes only by one. No other facet of the economy is so dependent on so few firms.”The iPhone 12 runs on…
I was sitting in my apartment in Beirut on the evening of Oct. 13 when I read that journalists had been struck by a missile attack in southern Lebanon. My close friend, Issam Abdallah, was working in the area as a cameraman for Reuters to cover the border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah after the war in Gaza began just days earlier. I called him immediately. It was a ritual we had developed over the years: Whether we were on the front lines in Ukraine or Syria, each of us knew to expect a call from the other anytime a…
If a group of math students fails to learn the material, that might be because the teacher is not trying hard enough or because she has been inappropriately tasked with, for example, teaching calculus to toddlers. Supposing, however, that neither of these things is true — the teacher is passionately invested in teaching, and she has many suitable students — yet her students all fail the final exam, eventually we would be forced to say that she might not know math so well.I believe that we humanists are in the position of this math teacher. We have been issuing a…
To the Editor:Re “Why Aren’t More People Marrying? Ask Women What Dating Is Like,” by Anna Louie Sussman (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 25):As a 72-year-old single male co-parenting children, I really appreciated everything Ms. Sussman wrote. The challenges so many women experience in dating are painful. I’ve heard about them repeatedly from friends and women I’ve met, from Match and JDate to Green Singles and Veggie Connection.However, after my five years of full-tilt online dating I’d like to share another side of the story from the perspective of one of the great guys they seek with all those wonderful qualities,…
For some time now, South Korea has been a striking case study in the depopulation problem that hangs over the developed world. Almost all rich countries have seen their birthrates settle below replacement level, but usually that means somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 children per woman. For instance in 2021 the United States stood at 1.7, France at 1.8, Italy at 1.3 and Canada at 1.4.But South Korea is distinctive in that it slipped into below-replacement territory in the 1980s but lately has been falling even more — dropping below one child per woman in 2018, to 0.8 after…
Can you walk more? That may be the last question that you want to hear when you have a blood vessel condition called peripheral arterial disease, or PAD. Even walking short distances, as you likely know, may cause your legs to cramp up.But doctors say that if you push yourself to move more often and walk farther, you will actually feel better. John Osborne, MD, PhD, a cardiologist in Dallas, says including supervised rehab therapy will give you the best results — and the pain will be worth the gain.Rehab focuses on “continuing to push your walking up until it…