Author: Lance Garrison
Penny Williams of Asheville, N.C., still remembers the day she got a call from her son’s kindergarten teacher. It was the second day of school, and the teacher requested a meeting for that same day.“He was always a really rambunctious boy, but he was also so sweet and caring,” says Williams, an author, podcaster, and parenting coach for neurodiverse families. “And then he went to school, and everything fell off the rails. … He was so wild and active and unfocused and so was really struggling with following along with the system of the classroom.”About a year later, her son…
He has an easy smile, blue eyes and a life-threatening bone infection in one arm. Grateful for treatment, he jokes with the medical intern each morning. A friend, a fellow doctor, is supervising the man’s care. We both work as internists at a public hospital in the medical safety net, a loose term for institutions that disproportionately serve patients on Medicaid or without insurance. You could describe the safety net in another way, too, as a place that holds up a mirror to our nation.What is reflected can be difficult to face. It’s this: After learning that antibiotics aren’t eradicating…
These problems persist. A recent report by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy found that property assessments were regressive (meaning lower-valued properties were assessed higher relative to value than higher-valued ones) in 97.7 percent of all U.S. counties. Black-owned homes and properties in Black neighborhoods continue to be devalued on the open market, making this regressive tax, in effect, a racist tax.The overtaxation of Black homes and neighborhoods is also a symptom of a much larger problem in America’s federated fiscal structure. By design, this system produces winners and losers: localities with ample resources to provide the…
You could be forgiven — when browsing the Smithsonian’s political history collections, where I work as a curator — for assuming that the chief battle in American political history was fought in 1892, between two great leaders named Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland playing cards and Harrison top hats fill glass cases and steel cabinets. By 1892, a giddily consumerist, venomously partisan Gilded Age society had gotten good at churning out campaign tchotchkes.Americans were less good at picking leaders. The 1892 election marked Cleveland and Harrison’s second contest against each other. It was an unwanted rematch between unloved combatants.…
Since Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, a rare consensus has formed in Washington around this conviction: America must provide military support to Ukraine’s resistance. Three administrations and large majorities of both parties in Congress have consistently held that President Vladimir Putin’s aggression cannot be tolerated. When has such deep solidarity last occurred on any difficult subject?Now members of Congress are arguing that we must turn away from spending more money to help Ukraine, choosing instead to focus on our own needs, pursuing our own interests. This is a false choice.The choices facing America are always based on the…
“Not one man in America wanted the Civil War, or expected or intended it,” Henry Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, declared at the beginning of the 20th century. What may seem inevitable to us in hindsight — the horrifying consequences of a country in political turmoil, given to violence and rived by slavery — came as a shock to many of the people living through it. Even those who anticipated it hardly seemed prepared for its violent magnitude. In this respect at least, the current division that afflicts the United States seems different from the Civil War. If there…
With the ongoing war and suffering in Gaza, this year’s holy month of Ramadan has also been a painful one for Muslims around the world. In this audio essay, Times Opinion staff editor Meher Ahmad reflects on the support she has found during Ramadan in her Muslim community, and why she hopes other Muslims also reach out beyond that world of safety and understanding.(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.)This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Derek Arthur. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek…
Unfortunately, Benjamin Netanyahu is right — “unfortunately,” I say, because he is the most incompetent, corrupt and divisive Israeli prime minister ever, as many in Israel believe. But he is right that it’s crucial for Israel to conquer Rafah and destroy the Hamas battalions ensconced in that city at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, protected by a human shield of some 1.4 million residents and refugees from the north.If this does not happen, Hamas will survive to fight and murder and rape another day — and its leader, Yahya Sinwar, will emerge from his hiding place declaring victory.…
Like the invasion of Ukraine, the ferocious offensive in Gaza has looked at times like a throwback, in some ways more closely resembling a 20th-century total war than the counterinsurgencies and smart campaigns to which Americans have grown more accustomed. By December, nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s homes and more than half its buildings had been damaged or destroyed. Today fewer than one-third of its hospitals remain functioning, and 1.1 million Gazans are facing “catastrophic” food insecurity, according to the United Nations. It may look like an old-fashioned conflict, but the Israel Defense Forces’ offensive is also an ominous hint…
April 10, 2024 – Got health questions about eating right, dealing with stress, or ways to stop smoking? You can ask S.A.R.A.H., and she’ll answer back.S.A.R.A.H. is a new interactive artificial intelligence resource from the World Health Organization. S.A.R.A.H. can also provide information on mental health, cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes. I asked, “What is a healthy weight for man who is 5 feet 10 inches tall?”“The ideal weight for a man who is 5 feet 10 varies, depending on factors such as age, muscle mass, and overall health,” S.A.R.A.H. said. “It’s important to focus on maintaining a healthy…