Author: Lance Garrison

But with time, as new economic opportunities in trade and in finance led to the accumulation of fortunes of unprecedented size, the increased presence of extremely wealthy individuals within the community could no longer be dismissed as an anomaly. From the 15th century, and beginning with the most economically developed areas of Europe such as central-northern Italy, the rich were assigned a specific social role: to act as private reserves of money into which the community could tap in times of dire need.Nobody made this point better than the Tuscan humanist Poggio Bracciolini. In his treatise “De avaritia” (“On avarice”),…

It’s also a remarkable amount of work, a second (or third) job. My partner, Ian, and I have sat down with groups and met with counselors. We have joined Zoom sessions, read the words of those who have come before us. Together with our surviving daughter, Hana, 10, we recently traveled to a conference at Boston Children’s Hospital to process our grief and try to face the absence at our table with other similarly reeling families.Such experiences aren’t in search of solace or solution, but of place. It is powerful to be around people who recognize the insistency of loss,…

In recent years, much of my life as a consumer has shifted to what I like to call background spending. As I’ve subscribed to more apps and streaming platforms, significant sums of my money tend to drift away each month without my ever thinking about it. It’s as if it were a tax being taken out of my paycheck, but one that is spent on something silly or indulgent like a subscription box of international snacks, instead of — I don’t know — basic public infrastructure.Think of it as automated capitalism. Spending without the hassle of spending. Acquisition without action.…

Two and a half years ago, when I was asked to help write the most authoritative report on climate change in the United States, I hesitated. Did we really need another warning of the dire consequences of climate change in this country? The answer, legally, was yes: Congress mandates that the National Climate Assessment be updated every four years or so. But after four previous assessments and six United Nations reports since 1990, I was skeptical that what we needed to address climate change was yet another report.In the end, I said yes, but reluctantly. Frankly, I was sick of…

On Tuesday, Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma decided to settle a social media beef in the middle of a Senate hearing titled “Standing Up Against Corporate Greed.” Mullin read from a months-old post by Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters, in which O’Brien called Mullin “a clown & fraud,” mocked the senator with an unflattering photo and the hashtag #LittleManSyndrome, and challenged the senator to a fight: “Anyplace, Anytime cowboy,” O’Brien boasted.Mullin’s reply to O’Brien, who was at the hearing as a witness: “Sir, this is a time, this is a place. If you want to run your…

In the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress sent $190 billion in aid to schools, stipulating that 20 percent of the funds had to be used for reversing learning setbacks. At the time, educators knew that the impact on how children learn would be significant, but the extent was not yet known.The evidence is now in, and it is startling. The school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms at the start of the pandemic may prove to be the most damaging disruption in the history of American education. It also set student progress in math and reading…

By Rabia Malik, MD, as told to Kara Mayer RobinsonMyasthenia gravis (MG) is sometimes referred to as the “snowflake disease” because no two people with MG are ever alike.This is also true for treatment response. Like other autoimmune diseases, there’s no cure for myasthenia gravis. The goal of treatment is to have more days where you feel like yourself instead of a person with MG.A Variety of TreatmentsYour doctor may consider different types of treatment. They may have varying results.For mild disease, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors like pyridostigmine may give you some relief.If your symptoms are more severe, your doctor may try…

You can donate easily to the three nonprofits through the Kristof Holiday Impact Prize website, which I’ve used for five years now to support the nonprofits in my giving guide. Here’s what your contributions will accomplish:Help girls in Africa attend school. That’s the work of Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education: For just $150, you can support a girl in secondary school for a year and give her a chance to become a teacher, a nurse, a doctor.Of the dozens of nonprofits I’ve recommended, Camfed is the top audience favorite, with readers contributing $4.6 million and giving tens of thousands…

By Alexandria Edwards, as told to Keri WigintonI have severe, refractory MG. I’m 25 now. But my symptoms started when I was 15. I was at school, and my speech started to slur. My legs collapsed. I felt really weak. They thought maybe I had a stroke. One doctor guessed it might be migraines.I actually had myasthenia gravis. But I didn’t learn about my condition, or get the right treatment, until several years later.How Was I Diagnosed With Myasthenia Gravis (MG)?My MG symptoms came and went all through my late teens and early 20s. I dealt with episodes of slurred…

There was a lot of news this week, and I could not write a column about every event. Instead, here are some quick thoughts on a few events that caught my eye. You can think of this as something like a lightning round.Rumble on the Senate FloorOn Tuesday, Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, challenged Sean O’Brien, the president of the Teamsters, to a fight during a Senate hearing. The two had previously exchanged insults after Mullin complained that unions were trying to undermine his plumbing business. Asked about his more recent conduct, Mullin told CNN: “I’m not somebody…