The Patron Subjects

Who were the Wertheimers, the family that sat for a dozen of John Singer Sargent’s paintings?

A Giant of a Man

The legacy of Willie Mays and the Birmingham ballpark where he first made his mark

Adventures With Jean

Striking up a friendship with an older writer meant accepting the risk of getting hurt

Feels Like Coming Home
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The wonders of the coastal redwood

Free
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The knowledge of approaching death may allow some of us to experience time in new and liberating ways

Riding With Mr. Washington

How my great-grandfather invented himself at the end of Reconstruction

Bards Behind Bars

Reading Sartre aloud inside a maximum-security prison

Just When You Thought It Wasn’t Safe …

How Wilbert Longfellow turned America into a nation of swimmers

Corona Chasers

You never forget your first solar eclipse

For Whom Do We Create?

The conundrum facing so many American artists today

False Prophets

A recent film about a Black megachurch is often hilarious, but its flaws reside in the story it doesn’t tell

Putting the Story Back in History

Hayden White on truth, facts, and the allure of a well-told tale

Get Me Rewrite!

The relationship between a renowned author and a consummate editor can sometimes make for high drama

Knowledge Before the Fall

Sometimes you simply can’t prepare for a seemingly inevitable outcome

George’s Angels

Remembering my time with Balanchine’s dancers

The Lotus Position

What does one of television’s biggest hits have to say about the nature of a certain kind of American tourism?

Milking the G.O.A.T.

Why are we so obsessed with anointing the very best?

Mortal Music

Franz Schubert, silence, and the final reckoning

Night Visitors

The power of music at a New York City soup kitchen

Not Your Parents’ New York Phil

Opening night at David Geffen Hall was an attempt to reconcile with an institution’s past and map out a way for the future

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