Author: Michelle Korhonen

Baltimore’s B&O Railroad Museum aims to bring holiday cheer to children on the autism spectrum by making its Polar Express ride more sensory-friendly for neurodivergent young people.

An Iranian-backed group is attacking an essential shipping route. The U.S. will have to step in.Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters / ReduxDecember 24, 2023, 6 AM ETThe sooner President Joe Biden acknowledges that Americans will likely be drawn into a fight to protect shipping traffic through the Suez Canal, the more time the U.S. military has to plan, and the less severe the harm will be to the global economy. For months, ever since a deadly Hamas incursion into Israel triggered a massive Israeli military campaign in Gaza, the United States has sought to deter Israel’s enemies, most notably Iran…

For a few years of my childhood, Kwanzaa was a big deal. I recall attending three Kwanzaa celebrations hosted by Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Baltimore. My cousin Olivia Moyd Hazell, at the time the church’s director of Christian education, organized them. About 50 church members and friends, many wearing kente cloth, would file into a softly lit basement the weekend after Christmas. We’d listen to good music: Black R&B standards, Soul Train dance lines, and traditional djembe performed live. We’d eat familiar food, like collard greens and red beans and rice. And we’d speak unfamiliar words such as umoja…

December 23, 2023, 7 AM ETEditor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings or watch full episodes here.On Tuesday, Colorado’s Supreme Court disqualified Donald Trump from the state’s primary ballot after determining that his actions on January 6, 2021, made him ineligible under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause.The Colorado court’s actions come on the precipice of another tumultuous year in politics, one featuring a general election and a likely rematch of the 2020 race between the former and present U.S.…

This photo combo provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows an authentic Ozempic needle (left) and a counterfeit needle (right). The FDA said it has seized “thousands of units” of counterfeit Ozempic, the diabetes drug widely used for weight loss, that had been distributed through legitimate drug supply sources. FDA via AP hide caption toggle caption FDA via AP This photo combo provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows an authentic Ozempic needle (left) and a counterfeit needle (right). The FDA said it has seized “thousands of units” of counterfeit Ozempic, the diabetes drug widely used…

The wind washed over the rows of white tombstones and carried the last leaves of autumn on its breath. I held the map of Arlington National Cemetery up to my face, clinging to its edges as its corners fluttered. I looked up, and saw the statue I was searching for in the distance, encircled by tall steel fencing that caught and held the light from the afternoon sun. Inside the fence, concentric circles of tombstones surrounded the memorial—gravestones of the more than 200 Confederate soldiers buried beneath. Workers in white construction hats and highlighter-yellow vests moved about while security officers…

Plus: 20 movie families to spend your holidays withRKO Pictures / GettyDecember 23, 2023, 8 AM ETThis is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.The question “What is a Christmas movie?” might seem straightforward. But there’s one film that has scrambled the logic of the holiday movie for years now—at least for those who probably spend too much time online. “Because of the dreaded incentives of social media, we force debate upon…

Leo Tolstoy’s observation in Anna Karenina is famous to the point of becoming a cliché: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” But it wouldn’t have become a truism if it didn’t resonate—whether or not you agree with the first part, the second half is inarguably a fact. Every family plays host to its own histories, neuroses, feuds, foibles, tragedies, traumas, triggers, pains, pet peeves, and dysfunctional patterns. Literature has long borne witness to humanity’s enormous diversity of potential interpersonal horrors, all of which seem to become accentuated during stressful periods—such as the…

Family holiday meals often involve lots of time spent bent over cutting boards, peeking in the oven and reading thermometers or adding juices. High temperatures – and tempers – abound and there’s often a mess left to clean up at the end. As my mother would say, it’s “a big potchke.” If you find yourself reflecting on how food duties are distributed in your household, you’re not alone. Recently, Gallup and Cookpad published data from their worldwide survey of trends in home cooking. In every country but one, women cooked more than men, as NPR’s Allison Aubrey reported. Women made…

Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out.If you celebrate Christmas, you might assume that the “right” way to do so is simply to let loose: destroy your usual healthy diet with a lot of sugary, rich foods; drink more wine and liquor than normal; spend loads of money. Researchers have long affirmed that many people love this abundance bordering on excess. One study from 2007 found that the most common groupings of Christmas-holiday feelings related to bonhomie, gay abandon, ritualism, and love of shopping. Even hearing “Frosty…