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Articles by Anna Diamond
Too Late to Celebrate America’s 250th? Nah, There’s Still Time.
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Too Late to Celebrate America’s 250th? Nah, There’s Still Time. The Labor Day weekend might be your last, best chance to celebrate the United States’ semiquincentennial. Here’s what’s on offer.
Too Late to Celebrate America’s 250th? Nah, There’s Still Time.
23 hours ago Nine years ago this month, America was introduced to what was then called the “alt-right” and is now pretty much just “the right.” On Aug. 11, 2017, we witnessed what had been advertised as a “Unite the Right” rally in which a large group of young white men marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, …
A summer travel checklist for America’s 250th birthday
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By Anna Diamond For The New York Times Birthdays can be complicated. They might bring about mixed emotions, introspection, regret, hope. Now, for a birthday about to be observed by 350 million people, it’s no surprise that America’s big two-five-o is feeling a little fraught.
A Summer Travel Checklist for America’s 250th Birthday
Birthdays can be complicated. They might bring about mixed emotions, introspection, regret, hope. Now, for a birthday about to be observed by 350 million people, it’s no surprise that America’s big two-five-o is feeling a little fraught. There’s anxiety about what the anniversary means and tension between the two organizations at the center of the semiquincentennial, the bipartisan America250 and the President Donald Trump-aligned Freedom 250.
Sights and sounds that make America’s 250th birthday a blast
Sights and sounds that make America’s 250th birthday a blast Travel checklist includes Declaration of Independence readings, ball drops, concerts, tall ships and exhibits. The New York Times The Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corp leads a procession in front of the Capitol in Richmond, Va. (Steve Helber/The Associated Press) Comment Gift Share America turns its big two-five-o this year.
A Summer Travel Checklist for America’s 250th Birthday
Commemorations are prone to being contested and co-opted, but they can also be engines for starting powerful conversations. “It is really a moment to stop and take a beat and think about the totality of our history, find ways to reflect on where we have made achievements, where we’ve fallen short,” said M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska, an associate professor of history at American University.
A Summer Travel Checklist for America's 250th Birthday
Birthdays can be complicated. They might bring about mixed emotions, introspection, regret, hope. Now, for a birthday about to be observed by 350 million people, it's no surprise that America's big two-five-o is feeling a little fraught. There's anxiety about what the anniversary means and tension between the two organizations at the center of the semiquincentennial, the bipartisan America250 and the President Donald Trump-aligned Freedom 250.
How to Make Water Conservation a Habit
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Dear headway Small, everyday actions to minimize water use add up the more people do them. Listen to this article · 7:01 min Learn more Credit...Adali Schell for The New York Times Sept.
A Danish Christmas Tradition That Comes From the Heart Original
Liselotte Elsborg can't remember when she learned to make the paper decorations that are ubiquitous in her native Denmark during Christmas time. "In my mind, I have always been able to do these things," she said. She's been expertly interlacing the strands of Christmas hearts, or julehjerter (YOU-luh-YAIR-duh), for so many decades, she said, that it "is probably part of my DNA." Denmark itself is a little fuzzy on the origins of these crafted hearts, which are also made in Norway.
Lo que los adolescentes quieren saber
Hemos hecho a estos adolescentes algunas preguntas importantes: ¿Cómo te estás involucrando con las elecciones? ¿Por qué te estás involucrando o por qué no? ¿Qué temas te importan? Hasta ahora, hemos escuchado a un amplio abanico de estudiantes, desde los que se describen a sí mismos como adictos a la política hasta los más indecisos o poco involucrados. En total, hemos intercambiado mensajes con casi 1500 estudiantes de todo el país.
The 10 most common questions teenagers asked about the election
This is republished as part of a series in collaboration with the Headway Election Challenge. Chalkbeat and Headway at The New York Times will ask young people to share their insights and perspectives throughout the 2024 presidential election. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.
Cochise County supervisor enters plea for refusal to certify midterm election
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here. One of the two Republican supervisors in Cochise County, Arizona, who refused to certify the county’s 2022 midterm election on time has accepted a plea agreement. Supervisor Peggy Judd was initially charged with two felony counts of conspiracy and interference with an elections officer, and had pleaded not guilty.
Hundreds of teens sent us questions about the presidential election. Here are our answers.
This is republished as part of a series in collaboration with the Headway Election Challenge. Chalkbeat and Headway at The New York Times will ask young people to share their insights and perspectives throughout the 2024 presidential election. Throughout 2024, Headway and Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization focused on education in America, have been in conversation with teenagers about the upcoming presidential election.
Philly parents say they like the year-round school pilot but want more information
Sign up for Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system. Two months in, Philadelphia’s year-round school program is blossoming, officials say. But so far, the effort seems focused on giving more families access to programs that already existed, rather than revising the academic calendar. Mayor Cherelle Parker continues to tout the program as a new vision for the city’s schools and the realization of her campaign promise.
‘I’ve got binders’: Departing NYC schools Chancellor David Banks says he’s writing a book
Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to keep up with NYC’s public schools. Departing New York City schools Chancellor David Banks is already lining up his next act: a book based on his experiences leading the nation’s largest school system.
Hundreds of teens sent us questions about the presidential election. Here are our answers.
This is republished as part of a series in collaboration with the Headway Election Challenge. Chalkbeat and Headway at The New York Times will ask young people to share their insights and perspectives throughout the 2024 presidential election. Throughout 2024, Headway and Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization focused on education in America, have been in conversation with teenagers about the upcoming presidential election.
Is this a happy meal? Popularity — and cost — of universal free breakfast and lunch grow.
Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. A few years ago, so few high schoolers ate breakfast in Vermont’s Essex Westford School District that the cafeteria looked like “a ghost town” in the morning, recalls Scott Fay, the director of child nutrition. But now that breakfast is free for all students, kids are packing the cafeteria to talk, munch on fresh cranberry-orange bread, and finish homework before the first bell.
The historian who created history
In the 1960s, Mabel Addis was an elementary school teacher in a small town in New York in the US when she was offered an opportunity that would make history: create an educational game with IBM. What resulted was the Sumerian Game, an early video game that taught the basics of economic theory to sixth graders. In it, a student would act as the ruler of the Mesopotamian city-state of Lagash, in Sumer, in 3500 BC.
Mabel Addis, Who Pioneered Storytelling in Video Gaming Original
This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. In the 1960s, Mabel Addis was an elementary-school teacher in a small town in New York State when she was offered a unique opportunity that would make history: Create an educational game with IBM. What resulted was the Sumerian Game, an early video game that taught the basics of economic theory to sixth graders.
Remembering Resurrection City and the Poor People's Campaign of 1968
One day in early December 1967, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. laid out his vision for the Poor People’s Campaign, his next protest in Washington, D.C.,: “This will be no mere one-day march in Washington, but a trek to the nation’s capital by suffering and outraged citizens who will go to stay until some definite and positive active is taken to provide jobs and income for the poor.” Three years earlier, when President Lyndon Johnson declared his war on poverty, 19 percent of Americans—an...
Do You See What I See? A Holiday Lights Quiz
Holiday lights hold a special place in the winter months, breaking through the cold and dark to provide some illumination. An evening walk around your neighborhood might offer the chance to admire twinkling displays outside of homes, decorated Christmas trees, lit candles in Kwanzaa kinaras and Hanukkah menorahs set up in windows. This year, we're testing your knowledge of holiday lights around the world - as well as geography, history and traditions.
This Holiday Season, The Best Gifts Cost Nothing at All
On Christmas Eve in 2013, Elisa Stead, an American living abroad in Iceland, was ready to celebrate the holiday with her fiancé and his family. But when she tore open the wrapping on his gift for her, she was disheartened to discover what lay inside: a car-window scraper. Sure, she lived in a frosty place, but she didn’t own a car. Receiving such a thoughtless gift made for an unhappy holiday, and the relationship ended within the year.
Surfing to rodzinny biznes Marksów... I nieźle się kręci
Wśród znawców surfingu, błyskawiczny awans CarolineMarks jest dobrze znany. Zaczęła surfować w wieku 11 lat i niemal natychmiast zaczęła wygrywać krajowe zawody. W wieku 15 lat została najmłodszą osobą, która kiedykolwiek zakwalifikowała się do World Surf League Championship Tour. Trzy lata później, mając zaledwie 17 lat, stała się jedną z pierwszych czterech Amerykanek, które zakwalifikowały się do turnieju olimpijskiego, gdy surfing debiutował na igrzyskach.
Why can’t Arizona count ballots as quickly as Florida?
Why can’t Arizona be more like Florida? In the last few days, this has become a common refrain. “How come Florida w/ population of 22 million can get same day election results and Arizona w/ population of 7 million can’t?” Greta Van Susteren tweeted Thursday. Florida had posted the vast majority of election results by the end of the night on Election Day. But on Thursday afternoon, Arizona still had a substantial quantity of ballots outstanding.
BRONZECOMM Friday Morning News and Events Round-Up 9/03/21
We Advocate Participation In the Friday Morning Bronzecomm Newsletter: .....Redistricting Plan Does More Harm Than Good For Black Voters .....EPA Details Why Climate Change Will Hit Minorities the Hardest .....FREE Blues at the Quarry this Weekend .....Back 2 Business Grant Program .....Colors of the Musical Tones of Duke Ellington .....Is Credit Racist? ...and more, much, much more. Meanwhile, share today's Bronzecomm Newsletter with anyone you think can use the information.
Fighting for the Vote With Cartoons
Cartoonists used the press to battle anti-suffrage stereotypes and create a new image for the movement to enfranchise women. A 1915 cartoon by Rose O’Neill, who created Kewpie babies. Published Aug. 14, 2020Updated Aug. 19, 2020 When Alice Paul recruited a cartoonist for her newspaper The Suffragist in 1914, the idea of that activist was already sketched in the public mind — and it was not pretty.
#Docuhistory: More Than a Word
More Than a Word #Docuhistory with John Little, Robert Keith Collins, Cate Denial & Eric Beckman Join us Thursday, July 30, 2020, for a watch party, Twitter conversation, and public Zoom discussion about the award-winning documentary film, More Than a Word (2017). For years, Native American groups have been leading the fight against indigenous sports mascots.
Why Is Ivory So Precious? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts In Africa, ivory has been a status symbol because it comes from elephants, a highly respected animal, and because it is fairly easy to carve into works of art. (Illustration by Sonia Pulido) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe July 2020 Q: What makes ivory so precious? —C.B. | Redwood City, California It has no intrinsic value, but its cultural uses make ivory highly prized.
Start With a Polaroid, Then Add Disinfectant. Here's the Result
In mid-March, days before Britain instituted a lockdown, I flew from my native Bermuda, where I’d been documenting the island’s diverse identity in a personal photo project, to my home in the London neighborhood of Bermondsey. My husband and I began to self-isolate. Suddenly confined to our house and worried about the worsening Covid-19 outbreak, I picked up my camera and started taking Polaroid photographs—of my husband, myself and our surroundings.
Make Thomas Jefferson's Recipe for Ice Cream
The founders shared a love of ice cream, but none was more devoted than Thomas Jefferson. In 1789 he returned from France with his chef—newly trained in making frozen desserts—and a resolve to keep enjoying it. In Philadelphia in 1791, he sent to France for 50 vanilla bean pods, which, he later wrote, are “much used in seasoning ice creams.” He built an ice house at Monticello in 1802.
How Do Libraries Clean Books? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got question. We’ve got experts Fumigation was used on library book collections in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when book-borrowing was seen as a possible disease vector. (Illustration by Fatinha Ramos) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe June 2020 Q: I read in Susan Orlean’s The Library Book that libraries fumigated books for public health reasons. Do they still do that?
The 1924 Law That Slammed the Door on Immigrants and the Politicians Who Pushed it Back Open
“AMERICA OF THE MELTING POT COMES TO END,” the New York Times headline blared in late April 1924. The opinion piece that followed, penned by Senator David Reed of Pennsylvania, claimed recent immigrants from southern and Eastern European countries had failed to satisfactorily assimilate and championed his recently passed legislation to severely restrict immigration to the United States.
Has Anyone Ever Run for President While in Prison? And More Questions From Our Readers
Q: Has anyone ever run for president while in prison? — L. M. Frank | Los Angeles Eugene V. Debs was in an Atlanta penitentiary, serving a ten-year sentence, when he lost the 1920 presidential election. Two years earlier, Debs, a labor leader, had spoken out against America’s involvement in World War I. He was convicted of violating the Espionage Act of 1917, after the prosecution argued that his antiwar speech obstructed military enrollment.
The Enumerated Story of the Census
On January 21 of this year, Lizzie Chimiugak Nenguryarr, a 90-year-old elder in Toksook Bay, Alaska, became the first person to be counted in the 2020 Census. Workers from the U.S. Census Bureau and the agency’s director traveled to a rural corner of the state to kick off the decennial survey that helps apportion funds and representation.
These Are the Winning Photos of Smithsonian Magazine's 17th Annual Photo Contest
On any given day, millions of motorbikes zip across Hanoi. Jon Enoch, a London-based photographer, traveled to the city, Vietnam’s capital, to photograph bikers with their gravity-defying cargo loads of plastic toys, cartons of eggs or—in the case of the Grand Prize winner of our 17th Annual Photography Contest—live fish. But sights like this will soon be a remnant of the past: Hanoi is planning to ban motorbikes by 2030 to cut down on traffic and pollution.
Why Does Lightning Rarely Strike in the Arctic? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts As climate change brings moister, warmer air, lightning is increasing and causing fires in the boreal forests where that used to be rare. (Illustration by Traci Daberko) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe April 2020 Q: I’ve heard lightning rarely strikes in the Arctic. Why is that? — Carter Matthew | Boston For thunderstorms and resultant lightning to occur, there must be rising currents of warm, moist air.
How the Smithsonian Is Documenting the Work of Immigrant Rights Activists
On November 12, 2019, curators from the National Museum of American History assembled at the U.S. Supreme Court as observers, and collectors, of history. That day, the justices heard three cases pertaining to the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
How Do Scientists Record Sounds From the Sun? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts Oscillations originating deep inside the sun become detectable only on the surface. (Illustration by John Hersey) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe March 2020 Q: I understand that scientists record noises from the sun, but I thought sound didn’t travel in a vacuum. How do they record these sounds? — Frederick Vogt | Grand Rapids, Michigan You’re right: Sound waves cannot travel in a vacuum.
Feminist Friday 2/7 - Lady Science
A weekly list of feminist thought from around the web. Dee Rees and the Art of Surviving as a Black Female Director by Jenna Wortham Stop Blaming History for Your All-White, All-Male Movie by Aisha Harris The 100 greatest books ever written by African American women by ZORA editors Disabled and in Love With Me: The Abled’s Worst Nightmare by Imani Barbarin She Found Carson McCullers’s Love Letters. They Taught Her Something About Herself.
The History of Wives Replacing Their Dead Husbands in Congress
Tomorrow, Marylanders in the state’s 7th congressional district will vote in a primary election to decide who will be the nominees to replace Congressman Elijah Cummings, whose death in October 2019 left open the seat he had held since 1996. Among the many names (more than 20) on the Democrats’ primary ballot is Cummings’ wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, a public policy consultant and the former chair of the Maryland Democratic Party.
How World War I Planted the Seeds of the Civil Rights Movement
In early April 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson addressed a joint session of Congress seeking to enter the United States in the first World War, he urged the “world must be made safe for democracy.” A. Philip Randolph, the co-founder of the African-American magazine The Messenger, would later in its pages, “We would rather make Georgia safe for the Negro.” The debate over democracy, and who it served in the U.S., was central to the black experience during the Great War.
Fifty Years Ago, the Idea of a Museum for the People Came of Age
A Smithsonian symposium asked experts to weigh in on the strength of the community museum and chart its way forward John Kinard, the first African American to head a Smithsonian museum, took the helm of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in 1967. The museum was housed in a former theater on Nichols Street in a Southeast neighborhood of Washington, D.C. (Smithsonian Archives - History Div, OPA-1654R1-05A) smithsonianmag.com December 26, 2019 How should museums relate to their surroundings?
Answers to Interesting Questions
Health Editor’s Note: Here are some answers to varying questions. You might learn something new…..Carol What Bird Lays the Biggest Eggs Compared to Its Body Size? Where Does ‘Lame Duck’ Come From? And More Questions From Our Readers by Anna Diamond/Smithsonian Magazine 2020 I’ve read that ostriches lay the biggest eggs. But what land bird lays the biggest egg for its body size?
What Bird Lays the Biggest Eggs Compared to Its Body Size? Where Does 'Lame Duck' Come From? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got question. We’ve got experts The North Island brown kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird that lays the biggest egg relative to its body size. (Marilyn Foehrenbach) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe January 2020 Q: I’ve read that ostriches lay the biggest eggs. But what land bird lays the biggest egg for its body size?
Chandra Telescope Observes Two Decades of Turning Theory Into Reality
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM | Nov. 26, 2019, 2:12 p.m. When looking at glorious images of cosmic phenomena, like black holes and supernovae, with striking colors set against the stark, dark backdrop of the universe, it’s important to remember that before that picture could be made, it started as a researcher’s hypothesis. Ideas of these brilliant, stunning celestial forces start as data points on a page before scientists can even develop a sense of what they might look like.
Why Do Mosquitoes Exist? Why Do Elephants and Donkeys Represent the GOP and the Democrats? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts While mosquitoes can be pesky, they're an important part of the food chain. (Illustration by Kaley McKean) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe December 2019 Q: What purpose do mosquitoes serve? — Lana Carlton | Bradenton, Florida While they can seem pointless and purely irritating to us humans, mosquitoes do play a substantial role in the ecosystem.
Why Do Mosquitoes Exist? Why Do Elephants and Donkeys Represent the G.O.P. and the Democrats? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts Q: What purpose do mosquitoes serve? — Lana Carlton | Bradenton, Florida While they can seem pointless and purely irritating to us humans, mosquitoes do play a substantial role in the ecosystem. Mosquitoes form an important source of biomass in the food chain—serving as food for fish as larvae and for birds, bats and frogs as adult flies—and some species are important pollinators.
Was Jakob Brodbeck First in Flight? And More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts The Wright brothers' 1903 flight made history, regardless of other claims about earlier flights. (Illustration by Michael Hirshon) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe November 2019 Q: Texas has a marker stating that Jakob Brodbeck was the first person to fly an airplane. I was taught it was the Wright brothers. What gives? — Richard DeLong | San Antonio, Texas Ignore the plaque.
Was Jakob Broadbeck First in Flight? and More Questions From Our Readers
You’ve got questions, we’ve got experts The Wright brothers' 1903 flight made history, regardless of other claims about earlier flights. (Illustration by Michael Hirshon) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe November 2019 Q: Texas has a marker stating that Jakob Brodbeck was the first person to fly an airplane. I was taught it was the Wright brothers. What gives? — Richard DeLong | San Antonio, Texas Ignore the plaque.
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