Wednesday
October 16, 2019
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Web Essays

<em>Porgy and Bess</em> at the Met

Porgy and Bess at the Met

The pinnacle of American classical music and the nation’s most venerable opera company have long needed each other

by Joseph Horowitz | Wednesday, October 09, 2019
American flag

One For All

A sociologist's plea for the common good

by Steve Lagerfeld | Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Trees

It’s Not Easy Being Green

In an era of global warming, not all tree-related questions are equal.

by James Conaway | Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Girl sitting at window reading

Uncommon Podcasts

Three outlets for the radically curious

by James McWilliams | Thursday, September 05, 2019
Punting along a river

July 21

by Charlotte Salley | Wednesday, September 04, 2019
Pond

July 10

by Charlotte Salley | Tuesday, September 03, 2019
Brick wall in Cambridge

June 29

by Charlotte Salley | Tuesday, September 03, 2019
Running in a meadow

June 22

by Charlotte Salley | Monday, September 02, 2019
Sunrise over spires

June 19

by Charlotte Salley | Monday, September 02, 2019
A bicycle

June 3

by Charlotte Salley | Sunday, September 01, 2019
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THIS WEEK’S ARCHIVE PICK

2nd Look

What Does Columbus Day Really Mean?

by William J. Connell

Whether you celebrate Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Discoverers’ Day, or Native Americans’ Day, historian William J. Connell observes that, in the end, this controversial civic holiday is just that: a holiday. In his essay “What Columbus Day Really Means,” Connell writes that President Benjamin Harrison created the holiday in 1892 to honor both Native Americans and the many immigrants who were only then arriving in the country. “It was to be a national holiday that was not about the Founding Fathers or the Civil War, but about the rest of American history,” Connell writes—a day for celebrating the country and all its people. Sounds to us like a pretty good reason to take the day off of work.