Author: Michelle Korhonen
The paintings that appeared on eBay in the fall of 2012 featured skeletal figures with frenzied eyes, blocky crowns, and gnashing rows of teeth. They were done in brilliant blues and electric reds, mostly on scraps of cardboard that ranged from notebook-size to as big as a kitchen table. According to the man who was selling them—a professional auctioneer named Michael Barzman—he’d found them in a storage unit whose contents he’d bought after its renter had fallen behind on his bills. Barzman claimed he’d tossed the art in the trash. Then he’d fished it out and put it online.Explore the…
Just before Christmas, I took my kids to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for an exhibition called “Lightscape.” Neon lights electrified trees and made the gardens glow. In one large field, hundreds of illuminated orbs pulsed, making it seem as if a gentle tide were flowing in and out; arbors became like candlelit cathedrals.“Lightscape” is one of many such exhibitions in New York of late. There’s the wonderful “Invisible Worlds” interactive at the Natural History Museum, installations featuring the art of Marc Chagall and Wassily Kandinsky at the Hall des Lumières, a garden night walk called “Astra Lumina” in Queens, even…
Sometime around 1970, the American personality changed. In prior decades, people tended to define themselves according to the social roles they played: I’m a farmer, teacher, housewife, priest. But then a more individualistic culture took over. The University of Michigan psychologist Joseph Veroff and his colleagues compared national surveys conducted in 1957 and 1976 and found a significant shift in people’s self-definition: A communal, “socially integrated” mindset was being replaced with a “personal or individuated” mindset. The right-wing version of this individualism (which emphasized economic freedom) and the left-wing version (which emphasized lifestyle freedom) were different, but it was individual…
Elon Musk says the first human has received a brain implant from his Neuralink company. NPR’s Leila Fadel talks to Rafael Yuste of Columbia University and co-founder of the Neurorights Foundation.
Jorge Rubiano outside a temporary migrant shelter where he stayed after arriving in Chicago last summer from Colombia. Manuel Martinez/WBEZ hide caption toggle caption Manuel Martinez/WBEZ Jorge Rubiano outside a temporary migrant shelter where he stayed after arriving in Chicago last summer from Colombia. Manuel Martinez/WBEZ Jorge Rubiano arrived alone in Chicago, but his pain and trauma came with him. For months, he tried to find steady work. For months, he’s been sleeping in a crowded temporary shelter, worrying about his wife and mother back in Colombia. Are they safe? Did I make the right decision? He recalls a frightening…
I’m a Zionist who often walks through the campus of Columbia University, which since October 7 means I feel like Dr. Evil in a frumpy sweater. The protest chant du jour is “Min el-maiyeh lel mayieh, Falasteen Arabiya” (“From water to water, Palestine will be Arab”); a recent sign of note expresses support for the Houthis, the terrorist group whose motto includes the phrase “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews.” I put myself through this because I write in the Columbia library and you court bad luck when you change a writing routine. But the…
Listen to this articleProduced by ElevenLabs and NOA, News Over Audio, using AI narration.When the Federal Reserve began jacking up interest rates in 2022, home sales cratered almost overnight; inventory dried up; the housing market “froze.” People who have mortgages with interest rates below 4 percent—which is more than 60 percent of homeowners—aren’t going anywhere. They’re not selling their houses. They’re staying put.The current availability of homes for sale is about 36 percent lower than before the pandemic; this past October, home sales dropped to their lowest level in more than 13 years, and in November, the share of homebuyers…
Updated at 7:33 p.m. ET on January 30, 2024Just about everyone in America seems to be angry at higher education. Congress is angry. State governments are angry. Donors are angry. Parents are angry because schools are so expensive, and students are angry because they aren’t getting what they paid for. Just 36 percent of Americans now tell pollsters that they have significant confidence in higher education, down from 57 percent less than a decade ago.Elite schools in particular have become the site of culture-war battles over free speech, representation, global politics, and state control. Higher education has come under fire…
Building long lasting habits can be challenging, but with the right mindset and strategies, it is 100% achievable. Whether you want to incorporate fitness into your daily routine or another positive habit, consistency is key. Here are some tips to help you build sustainable habits that will stick: 1. Start Small and Be Realistic When it comes to building habits, it’s important to start small and be realistic with your goals. Setting unrealistic expectations can lead to frustration and eventually giving up. Begin by incorporating small, achievable actions into your daily routine. For example, if you want to start exercising, commit…
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.One by one, most of the major streaming services have introduced ads to their subscription offerings. Now consumers face a choice: Pay up, or sit through commercial breaks like it’s 1999.First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:The Ads EraI’m old enough to remember the days when you could stream an episode of television without being interrupted by ads for laundry detergent or car…