Does ‘Creative’ Work Free You from Drudgery, or Just Security?

Does ‘Creative’ Work Free You from Drudgery, or Just Security?
One result of our obsession with creative jobs: You may now be expected to live like a starving artist in order to work for a massive corporation.
https://nyti.ms/2Tp4NLV

How Iran’s Greatest Director Makes Art of Moral Ambiguity

How Iran’s Greatest Director Makes Art of Moral Ambiguity
Asghar Farhadi’s films fill theaters in a country where taking sides can be dangerous. They’ve also captivated Hollywood.
https://nyti.ms/2Wtdkzo

I Am Learning to Abandon the World: for M

I Am Learning to Abandon the World: for M
Selected by Rita Dove.
https://nyti.ms/2TjaECt

The Secret History of a Vietnam War Airstrike Gone Terribly Wrong

The Secret History of a Vietnam War Airstrike Gone Terribly Wrong
An 1968 investigative report obtained by The Times offers new details into one of the Vietnam War’s worst friendly-fire incidents.
https://nyti.ms/2CR4hz6

How to Win an Argument

How to Win an Argument
Don’t lead with your strongest points. Anticipate miscommunication. Lower your voice.
https://nyti.ms/2Bd4b54

Behind the Cover: The Trillion-Dollar Nowhere

Behind the Cover: The Trillion-Dollar Nowhere
For this issue, a look at the center of China's campaign to dominate the global economy.
https://nyti.ms/2G8K6zY

How to Make a Store-Bought Camembert Into Something Delightful and Rare

How to Make a Store-Bought Camembert Into Something Delightful and Rare
Bake it.
https://nyti.ms/2MCZ2aO

What Soybean Politics Tell Us About Argentina and China

What Soybean Politics Tell Us About Argentina and China
A new superpower’s influence is growing in Latin America.
https://nyti.ms/2sQzdLw

Can China Turn the Middle of Nowhere Into the Center of the World Economy?

Can China Turn the Middle of Nowhere Into the Center of the World Economy?
In the barely inhabited steppes of Central Asia, it is establishing the next foothold in its trillion-dollar campaign to transform global infrastructure.
https://nyti.ms/2WpQAAt

Taraji P. Henson Almost Said No to ‘Empire’

Taraji P. Henson Almost Said No to ‘Empire’
The actor on hearing men’s thoughts, black women in Hollywood and what types of roles she turns down.
https://nyti.ms/2sPWPQl

Letter of Recommendation: Naturism

Letter of Recommendation: Naturism
Nudists believe you can escape society’s constraints by stripping down. It sort of works, but not for the reasons they think.
https://nyti.ms/2SaJkZQ

Will Sports Betting Transform How Games Are Watched, and Even Played?

Will Sports Betting Transform How Games Are Watched, and Even Played?
After decades of resistance to sports gambling, team owners and state officials are laying the groundwork for it — with potentially huge implications.
https://nyti.ms/2MENXX0

I Quit Watching Football Because It Harms Players. Can I Still Keep Up With My Team?

I Quit Watching Football Because It Harms Players. Can I Still Keep Up With My Team?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on balancing the negative effects of football against support for your team, and IVF against adoption.
https://nyti.ms/2Sc6xux

The Relics of War Left Behind in an Afghan Clinic

The Relics of War Left Behind in an Afghan Clinic
In this week’s newsletter: A look at Ross McDonnell’s photographs of homemade prosthetics, on display in I.C.R.C.’s orthopedic clinic in eastern Afghanistan.
https://nyti.ms/2B1Eog4

Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 18-24

Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 18-24
At least 90 pro-government forces and 21 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week.
https://nyti.ms/2FMqthP

The Day They Came to Tell Me My Husband Died

The Day They Came to Tell Me My Husband Died
Grieving people remember compassion, like the compassion I received from the sheriff’s deputies who stayed by my side until I was no longer alone.
https://nyti.ms/2SctoGE

New Sentences: From Sy Hoahwah’s ‘Hinterlands’

New Sentences: From Sy Hoahwah’s ‘Hinterlands’
A whole sprawling history of the United States, packed into one line of poetry.
https://nyti.ms/2HvE6nl

6 Takeaways From the Mitch McConnell Profile

6 Takeaways From the Mitch McConnell Profile
The Senate Republican leader’s legacy is now tied to a president he can’t control.
https://nyti.ms/2B3joWd

Judge John Hodgman on Weird Sleep Rituals

Judge John Hodgman on Weird Sleep Rituals
Can you coerce your significant other to replicate a childhood tradition? What if it’s really strange?
https://nyti.ms/2Td6AUg

Lost and Found: The Homemade Prosthetics of Afghanistan

Lost and Found: The Homemade Prosthetics of Afghanistan
In 2012, a photographer visited a medical clinic that was filled with relics from a past when Afghans, wounded in war, had to rely on their own ingenuity.
https://nyti.ms/2DuoXyG

Behind the Cover: Opportunity Cost

Behind the Cover: Opportunity Cost
For this issue, a look at Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader.
https://nyti.ms/2CJBBbg

Is Being a ‘Minority’ Really Just a Matter of Numbers?

Is Being a ‘Minority’ Really Just a Matter of Numbers?
It feels like simple math: One group of people outnumbers another. But as those numbers change, this logic — and what it implies about power — falls apart.
https://nyti.ms/2Hrfpbv

The Joys of Grilling in the Winter

The Joys of Grilling in the Winter
Slow-cook a smoky pork shoulder in the muffled silence of snowfall.
https://nyti.ms/2R8b5gY

A Private Investigator Wanted to Prove His Clients Innocent. Were His Methods His Own Undoing?

A Private Investigator Wanted to Prove His Clients Innocent. Were His Methods His Own Undoing?
In the poorest congressional district in the country, where thousands of people are arrested each year, one former cop with a complicated past made high-profile cases fall apart by insisting that the ends justified his means.
https://nyti.ms/2HsgJv0

How to Become Less Angry

How to Become Less Angry
Understand what triggers your anger, then try some role-playing exercises. Don’t count on catharsis or pharmacology.
https://nyti.ms/2S1o6xv

Letter of Recommendation: Spider Webs

Letter of Recommendation: Spider Webs
A chance to encounter the sublime — without having to leave your backyard.
https://nyti.ms/2U9FSvT

Regina King Believes Hollywood Can Reach Parity

Regina King Believes Hollywood Can Reach Parity
The actor, director and producer on her recent Golden Globe win, her commitment to hiring women and why Oprah is an industry role model.
https://nyti.ms/2U6srN6

Mitch McConnell Got Everything He Wanted. But at What Cost?

Mitch McConnell Got Everything He Wanted. But at What Cost?
The president whom the Senate Republican leader helped elect has turned out to be the one thing he can’t control.
https://nyti.ms/2FHah1d

My Son’s Tutor Slipped Me Entrance-Exam Questions. Should I Report Him?

My Son’s Tutor Slipped Me Entrance-Exam Questions. Should I Report Him?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on informing a school you’ve been given its entrance exam and contacting a half-sibling after a birth parent declines to meet you.
https://nyti.ms/2Dqb2JY

Letter of Recommendation: Rides to the Airport

Letter of Recommendation: Rides to the Airport
Any city where someone is waiting curbside with a car is still home.
https://nyti.ms/2FDVF1M

We’re Looking for People Who Love Their Job

We’re Looking for People Who Love Their Job
Have you been doing the same job for 40 or more years because you absolutely love it? We want to hear from you.
https://nyti.ms/2QVey2s

What Happened in Iraq: ‘Seven Months of Blood and Fire and Broken Glass’

What Happened in Iraq: ‘Seven Months of Blood and Fire and Broken Glass’
In this week’s At War newsletter: Many veterans know something that the politicians who speak for military action often do not: for those who do the fighting, war is often reduced to who is near and whatever happens.
https://nyti.ms/2Rzpo3f

Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 11-17

Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 11-17
At least 62 pro-government forces and three civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week.
https://nyti.ms/2Dj6xRs

New Sentences: From a Poem by Ben Purkert

New Sentences: From a Poem by Ben Purkert
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word,” Mark Twain wrote, “is really a large matter.”
https://nyti.ms/2ARH6od

Behind the Cover: Game of Bones

Behind the Cover: Game of Bones
For this issue, a look at our past through the insights of ancient DNA.
https://nyti.ms/2W0jTZW

Can I Cut Off a Relative With Hateful Views?

Can I Cut Off a Relative With Hateful Views?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on how to handle a relative whose views you find repugnant, apologizing to an ex and more.
https://nyti.ms/2FtbTf2

I’m Prepared to Talk About the Things I Did in Iraq. Are People Ready to Listen?

I’m Prepared to Talk About the Things I Did in Iraq. Are People Ready to Listen?
I’m ready for the questions about the things I did when I went to war. But the truth might prove to be more than people want to hear.
https://nyti.ms/2FDHw4R

Is Ancient DNA Research Revealing New Truths — or Falling Into Old Traps?

Is Ancient DNA Research Revealing New Truths — or Falling Into Old Traps?
Geneticists have begun using old bones to make sweeping claims about the distant past. But their revisions to the human story are making some scholars of prehistory uneasy.
https://nyti.ms/2Fw2pzK

5 Takeaways From the Ancient DNA Research Story

5 Takeaways From the Ancient DNA Research Story
Paleogenomics is upending of our assumptions about prehistoric times and shaking up how people envision their ancestry.
https://nyti.ms/2FtKERu

He’d Never Had Allergies, But Suddenly He Had Two Episodes That Nearly Killed Him. Why?

He’d Never Had Allergies, But Suddenly He Had Two Episodes That Nearly Killed Him. Why?
A patient does his own sleuthing and figures out what is putting him into anaphylaxis.
https://nyti.ms/2SUn43C

Poem: Dark

Poem: Dark
Selected by Rita Dove.
https://nyti.ms/2B0rDCD

Judge John Hodgman on Whether a Tail Is Part of the Butt

Judge John Hodgman on Whether a Tail Is Part of the Butt
With assistance from George R. R. Martin.
https://nyti.ms/2T1wB8Y

How Secrecy Fuels Facebook Paranoia

How Secrecy Fuels Facebook Paranoia
The social platform knows everything that happens within its walls — that’s the whole point — but it is oddly reticent when it comes to misinformation campaigns.
https://nyti.ms/2TOlXCy

A Secret Ingredient Makes This Chef’s Galbijjim Perfect. Just Don’t Tell Mom.

A Secret Ingredient Makes This Chef’s Galbijjim Perfect. Just Don’t Tell Mom.
What set this Korean-style short-rib stew apart?
https://nyti.ms/2RJzNZF

Bryan Stevenson Wants the U.S. to Face Its History

Bryan Stevenson Wants the U.S. to Face Its History
The lawyer and social justice activist on mass incarceration, the national lynching memorial and Robert E. Lee Day.
https://nyti.ms/2FAIcrK

How to Wear Camouflage

How to Wear Camouflage
Avoid laundry detergent that contains UV brighteners. Wear brown shoes if they don’t match the clothes.
https://nyti.ms/2Fu4snR

How Tarell Alvin McCraney Moved from ‘Moonlight’ to Broadway — and Beyond

How Tarell Alvin McCraney Moved from ‘Moonlight’ to Broadway — and Beyond
His musical ‘Choir Boy’ just opened. His next film will air on Netflix. What ties his work together? Plumbing the depths of black beauty and grief.
https://nyti.ms/2T02Rti

All the President’s Memes

All the President’s Memes
It’s disorienting enough that the president communicates using internet memes. It’s even stranger to consider that his policies might work the same way.
https://nyti.ms/2RqtV88

‘On Parris Island, We Felt Isolated From the Rest of the World’

‘On Parris Island, We Felt Isolated From the Rest of the World’
In this week’s At War newsletter: a Times reporter and former Marine writes about his life in boot camp, in response to the service’s gender-integration news.
https://nyti.ms/2smOByX

New Sentences: From N.K. Jemisin’s ‘The Ones Who Stay and Fight’

New Sentences: From N.K. Jemisin’s ‘The Ones Who Stay and Fight’
To “glean” means to pick grain out of a threshed field — or, these days, knowledge from the air around us.
https://nyti.ms/2D4BE2S

Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 4-10

Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 4-10
At least 139 pro-government forces and 15 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week.
https://nyti.ms/2D3pjvP

May I Cut My Daughter Out of My Life?

May I Cut My Daughter Out of My Life?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on whether a parent can cut off contact with a difficult child, when a parent can break a child’s confidence and more.
https://nyti.ms/2AAsc5I

‘I Don’t Want My Writing to Be Charming’

‘I Don’t Want My Writing to Be Charming’
In her latest book, the Norwegian novelist Linn Ullmann turns to a subject she has always avoided: her complicated upbringing and her famous parents.
https://nyti.ms/2VF1SAd

Judge John Hodgman on Bringing Partially Eaten Pies to Parties

Judge John Hodgman on Bringing Partially Eaten Pies to Parties
If most of it is still left, is that OK?
https://nyti.ms/2QwzPzj

Behind the Cover: Beauty and the Beasts

Behind the Cover: Beauty and the Beasts
For this issue, a look at the extravagent splendor of the animal kingdom that is making scientists rethink evolution.
https://nyti.ms/2FjpLI1

I Grew Up Believing My Grandfather Was a War Hero. Army Records Said Otherwise.

I Grew Up Believing My Grandfather Was a War Hero. Army Records Said Otherwise.
Home from World War II, my grandfather told family members about being in a fierce tank battle. Years after his death, I started doing research and piecing the story together.
https://nyti.ms/2ABV8u6

Bing Liu Sees Skateboarding as a Tool for Life

Bing Liu Sees Skateboarding as a Tool for Life
The filmmaker on his newdocumentary, “Minding the Gap,” and dealing with trauma through skateboarding.
https://nyti.ms/2SLCM0E

How to Do CPR on a Foal

How to Do CPR on a Foal
Cover the nostril closest to the floor and breathe into the other one. Have a partner perform 80 to 120 chest compressions per minute.
https://nyti.ms/2AC0FRf

How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution

How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution
The extravagant splendor of the animal kingdom can’t be explained by natural selection alone — so how did it come to be?
https://nyti.ms/2SM2mD0

Delicious Doesn’t Always Mean Pretty

Delicious Doesn’t Always Mean Pretty
Introducing a one-pan chicken dinner designed for flavor, not hashtags.
https://nyti.ms/2Rgyjqc

Judge John Hodgman on Giving Fake Names to Sweatshirts

Judge John Hodgman on Giving Fake Names to Sweatshirts
O.K., remember “The Fugitive”?
https://nyti.ms/2QxnU4m

The Scourge of ‘Relatable’ in Art and Politics

The Scourge of ‘Relatable’ in Art and Politics
We praise our literature, television shows and politicians for reminding us of us — but why do we want to see ourselves everywhere we look?
https://nyti.ms/2siigcl

Letter of Recommendation: Balding

Letter of Recommendation: Balding
Hair loss is often associated with wisdom — and for good reason.
https://nyti.ms/2sh0rui

How Cities Make Money by Fining the Poor

How Cities Make Money by Fining the Poor
In many parts of America, like Corinth, Miss., judges are locking up defendants who can’t pay — sometimes for months at a time.
https://nyti.ms/2Qt9JNy

Behind the Cover: An American Dream Destroyed

Behind the Cover: An American Dream Destroyed
For this issue, a look how innocent high schoolers are caught up in the crackdown on MS-13.
https://nyti.ms/2GUnjtH

The End of the Navy's Bread-and-Water Punishment

The End of the Navy's Bread-and-Water Punishment
In this week’s At War newsletter, a look at one of the oldest and most archaic punishments in the United States military: three days’ confinement on bread and water.
https://nyti.ms/2F6FxG2

Afghan War Casualty Report: Dec. 28-Jan. 3

Afghan War Casualty Report: Dec. 28-Jan. 3
At least 75 pro-government forces and 14 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week.
https://nyti.ms/2F8XEv1

Readers Respond to the 12.23.2018 Issue

Readers Respond to the 12.23.2018 Issue
Here’s what they had to say about our stories on Democrats investigating Trump and the denaturalization of immigrants.
https://nyti.ms/2AovF7p

Letter of Recommendation: Old English

Letter of Recommendation: Old English
What does a language lose as it changes?
https://nyti.ms/2F8aY3k

Poem: One-Way Gate

Poem: One-Way Gate
Selected by Rita Dove.
https://nyti.ms/2F7fb6J

New Sentences: From Nasser Hussain’s ‘SKY WRI TEI NGS’

New Sentences: From Nasser Hussain’s ‘SKY WRI TEI NGS’
An entire book of poems, built from the bureaucratic scraps of three-letter airport codes.
https://nyti.ms/2SA2nK2

What Driving Can Teach Us About Living

What Driving Can Teach Us About Living
How we respond to the rules of the road offers insight into being human.
https://nyti.ms/2SBg8rJ

I Ate Mall Pizza and Fell in Love With America

I Ate Mall Pizza and Fell in Love With America
When my brother and I still had identification cards with the word “alien” on them, barbecue chicken pizza helped us feel at home.
https://nyti.ms/2F7yfTc

One of America’s Most Vital Exports, Education, Never Goes Abroad, but It Still Faces Threats

One of America’s Most Vital Exports, Education, Never Goes Abroad, but It Still Faces Threats
Trade wars, visa restrictions and anti-immigrant sentiments make it harder for the U.S. to school the world.
https://nyti.ms/2CKX450

How to Get Preschoolers to Share

How to Get Preschoolers to Share
Ask them, while reading picture books, to label the emotions on display. Let them see you be bighearted.
https://nyti.ms/2Av1Sdd

What Could Be Wrong with a Little ‘Moral Clarity’?

What Could Be Wrong with a Little ‘Moral Clarity’?
Americans are rediscovering the appeals of cutting through complexity and acting with zealous, unswerving righteousness. But certainty has its dangers.
https://nyti.ms/2SsAgMB

He Thought He Just Had the Flu at First. Then His Heart Could Barely Pump.

He Thought He Just Had the Flu at First. Then His Heart Could Barely Pump.
The disease should have dried him out, yet his body was producing liter after liter of excess fluid. Why?
https://nyti.ms/2SvnDAD

Was I Wrong to Facebook-Friend My Nephew’s Girlfriend?

Was I Wrong to Facebook-Friend My Nephew’s Girlfriend?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on intergenerational disaffection on social media and with an estranged father.
https://nyti.ms/2AntQHB

Harry Reid Has a Few Words for Washington

Harry Reid Has a Few Words for Washington
The former Senate majority leader on Trump, Schumer and why he doesn’t regret ending the filibuster.
https://nyti.ms/2F0Jn49

Hakeem Jeffries Doesn’t Want to Be Called the Next Obama

Hakeem Jeffries Doesn’t Want to Be Called the Next Obama
The New York congressman on Democratic oversight into the Trump administration and how Brooklyn has changed over the years.
https://nyti.ms/2Aq2Bwn