Persons of Interest
John Williams

The Force Is Still Strong with John Williams

At the age of eighty-eight, the self-effacing composer reflects on his extraordinary career.

Annals of Technology
David Malan.

How a Star Professor Built a Distance-Learning Empire

David Malan, of the hit class CS50, was working to perfect online teaching long before the pandemic. Is his method a model for the future of higher education?

Our Columnists
A long line of people.

Note to Congress: Don’t Leave the Unemployed Behind

Republican legislators seem intent on slashing unemployment-insurance payments to tens of millions of American workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

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Spotlight
Our Columnists
An illustrated portrait of Barbara Smith

Until Black Women Are Free, None of Us Will Be Free

Barbara Smith and the Black feminist visionaries of the Combahee River Collective.

On and Off the Avenue
A woman wears a white dress.

The Allure of the Nap Dress, the Look of Gussied-Up Oblivion

It is not a nightgown, or a caftan, or a housedress. It offers the twin promise of beauty and sleep.

Letter from Europe
Someone has their blood drawn outside.

How Munich Turned Its COVID-19 Outbreak Into a Scientific Study

Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians University devised a system for widespread antibody testing and contact tracing that has helped the city stem the virus’s spread.

Dept. of Memorials
Image may contain: Human, Person, Animal, Bird, Crowd, and People

From 1967: Columbia’s Apology to Langston Hughes

Seven months after the death of the Black writer, Professor James P. Shenton acknowledged at a memorial, “For a while, there lived a poet down the street from Columbia, and Columbia never took the time to find out what he was about.�

Books
It was Pauli Murray’s fate to be both ahead of her time and behind the scenes.

From 2017: The Civil-Rights Luminary You’ve Never Heard Of

Pauli Murray was an architect of the civil-rights struggle—and the women’s movement. Why haven’t you heard of her?

Crossword
Eustace with a crossword puzzle

A Challenging Puzzle

Indiana city nicknamed Middletown, U.S.A.: six letters.

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The Latest

Red Lobster Is Not Essential

Red Lobster Restaurant at night.

A son’s attempt to persuade his mother to stop working as a waitress during the coronavirus pandemic.

July 21, 2020

How to Repurpose Cop Gear if Police Get Abolished

Pepper-spray googles repurposed for scuba diving.

New uses for pepper-spray goggles, riot shields, bulletproof vests, and more.

July 21, 2020

Feds in Unmarked Van Looking for Suspicious Characters Pick Up Jared Kushner

Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner.

“He checked all the boxes for suspicious,� one of the agents said. “He definitely didn’t look like someone who should be anywhere near the White House.�

July 21, 2020

Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, July 21st

Image may contain: Human, Person, Comics, and Book

Some civil rights are more important than others.

July 21, 2020

Join Me in My Blissful Seven-Day Yoga Challenge for Unsettling Times

Person doing yoga pose.

Day 2’s practice even includes a djembe track, to drown out the sounds of your children knocking on the door, screaming for ham.

July 21, 2020
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From This Week’s Issue
Art
Jeffrey Gibson at Socrates Park

Eye-Catching Art for an Unprecedented Summer, in “Monuments Now�

The outdoor exhibition at Socrates Sculpture Park includes Jeffrey Gibson’s kaleidoscopic ziggurat “Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House,� performances by indigenous American artists, and more.

Books
Fuller circa 1850. She had invented a new vocation: the female public intellectual.

From 2013: The Desires of Margaret Fuller

The writer had a dazzling intelligence and was once the best-read woman in America, but a public hungry for transgressive heroines has failed to embrace her.

Postscript
Lorena Borjas

From 2020: Remembering Lorena Borjas, the Mother of a Trans Latinx Community

Borjas, who died in March, of complications from COVID-19, left behind a community of transgender women and countless L.G.B.T.-rights activists who looked to her for guidance, inspiration, and love.

Fiction
People in a field.

From 1948: “The Lottery�

“The people had done it so many times that they only half listened to the directions; most of them were quiet, wetting their lips, not looking around.�

Video

Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle Perform Songs from Their Upcoming Albums

The singer-songwriters Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle speak with Amanda Petrusich about making art during quarantine and global protest movements.

Daily Cartoon

Podcasts

Michaela Coel of “I May Destroy You,� and the State of the Biden Campaign

An illustrated portrait of Micaela Coel as her character in "I May Destroy You"

Staff writers discuss how the Democratic Presidential candidate is handling one of the most tumultuous periods in modern times. Plus, a conversation with Coel about dramatizing sexual assault on television.

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