Firsthand: Life Without Democracy

If the regime becomes repressive, Mohammed Mupenda added, “you can make a few good career moves snitching on your colleagues and neighbors, doing little else.” And there are cosmetic improvements: “Noisy minorities, bums, and panhandlers disappear from the streets, which visibly enhances the urban environment.”

How COVID Stole Everybody’s Sense of Smell

I miss hugs, an accidental brush against a stranger’s arm, the downy head of a friend’s baby as I curve my hand to support it. But above all, I miss how people smell. The soft, milky smell of that baby’s skin. Exhalations of coffee, garlic, chocolate. The drench of heavy…

How C.L.R. James Created the Haitian Revolution That Created Him

Brandishing the tools of genetic criticism, Rachel Douglas illustrates how James wrote and revised texts not simply as part of his own creative development, but to recast his political insights for new audiences and changing circumstances.

The Art of Sauntering

So often we walk at someone else’s pace, keeping up with a companion’s long strides or the pedestrians jostling alongside us. Sauntering requires a deliberate aimlessness, an ease.

A Delicate Constitution

The theme is coming clear: Principle is sacrificed in order to either amass money or protect money. But what about the tortuous pursuit of equality and justice in the United States? On the surface, that does not fit the pattern.

What It Would Be Like to No Longer Live in a Democracy?

If a police officer or a soldier came into view, our first impulse would be to step into the shadows. If light glared, we would keep our heads down. If we got arrested for insubordination or treason or somehow thwarting the State, we could try to plead our case in court and might even prevail—as long as the judges were nonpartisan, detached from any political agenda.

How Bronze Shapes the Life We Live

Harry Weber specializes in sports and historical figures, and there is a good chance you have seen his work at a stadium or public site. His 150 installations include Bobby Orr, Bill Bradley, Payne Stewart, Lou Brock, Chuck Berry, Daniel Boone, Dred and Harriet Scott, Lewis and Clark, and St. Francis of Assisi.

Is a Play on Zoom Still Theater?

On screen, even something happening in real time does not feel live. When does a piece stop being theater and become film, I wonder.

The World Is Still Wobbling

In everyday life, zozobra just means anxiety. But Emilio Uranga went deeper, exploring the sense of destabilization Mexicans have had for far longer than we have. Zozobra meant wobbling between two perspectives, unable ever to land.

“This Getting Older, It Ain’t for Cowards”

When we are young, we talk with greatest feeling about our dreams for the future. The adventure of old age is staying alive just a little bit longer, and the great battle is with one’s own mind and body. Old people are fighting nonstop, even as they sit in sunrooms or knit with seeming contentment.

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