For aspiring writers, the rooms of literary figures—Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou, Joan Didion—are talismanic sites. But the quest to find the ideal creative space is often self-defeating, Joshua Rothman writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/d7BMjI

Alfred Tennyson’s poetry reckoned with the immensities of reality, time, and grief, confronting a world upended by new truths about the earth and the heavens. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/yQJZUr

Martin Weil, one of hundreds of journalists being let go at The Washington Post, has worked on local news there since 1965.

Dr. Gideon Koren was one of Canada’s leading pediatricians and toxicologists—but some of his work was revealed to be deeply flawed. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/CqEdlt

The cover of this week’s issue, “New York’s Toughest,” by Peter de Sève. Start exploring: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/qARBiP

“The existence of so many real and unvarnished images of [Alex] Pretti’s killing posed a problem that Trump’s underlings have tried to patch up with words,” Vinson Cunningham writes. www.newyorker.com/culture/on-t...

“A version of the problem exists on the opposite side of the age spectrum, too: instead of a phone-based childhood, a phone-based retirement.” @cwarzel.bsky.social’s great piece in The Atlantic

“My parents looked so old / and small next to them. Whose life was this size? / Up close, the gold paint was scotched and chipping.” Read a new poem by Drew Rollins:

Jollibee began as a response to demand for American fast food in a postcolonial Philippines. Now, the chain has designs on becoming one of the top restaurant companies in the world—and is reshaping the American palate, Yasmin Tayag reports:

Gift link, probably the funniest thing the Wall Street Journal has done this year.

School shootings now common enough that two students at Brown yesterday had experienced one before

“I uncover / orange embers, carry them / to a covered grill, and, glancing up, / see the stars’ braille / against the night’s black page.” Read a new poem by Arthur Sze:

“You will never tell me, / even if I could close / the broken skin of heaven / with my mouth.” Read a new poem by Imogen Cassels:

Imogen Cassels' poetry is a real delight: www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

The Atlantic’s editors pick their favorite books of the year—10 titles that distinguish themselves as worth reading and remembering. See the full list: theatln.tc/gaJVrZ7O

Amidst more and more cases of "AI psychosis," I talked to psychiatrists to figure out we do—and more importantly don't—know about how chatbots may be producing or exacerbating severe psychological distress. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Thank you @theatlantic.com --editors,staff & journalists. Amazing to work with. This poem is actually for you. ( turn phone or tablet sideways to restore lines) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

School photos are kitschy and expensive—but parents can’t seem to stop buying them. Annie Midori Atherton on the portrait’s enduring appeal:

You ever think the guy with the Tiny Desk just wants to get back to work?

“Let me / be more bound to my living in each moment, be held / by this hum, that cloud, this breath, that shroud.” Read a new poem by Traci Brimhall:

“Let me / be more bound to my living in each moment, be held / by this hum, that cloud, this breath, that shroud.” Read a new poem by Traci Brimhall:

Guess what? Time to preorder this book! Killing Spree. @fsgbooks.bsky.social thank you for agreeing to this beautiful cover...❤️❤️🙏

Before women, the workplace was perfect. It was full of trees. There was no need to labor with your hands. You didn’t have to wear pants, or any form of clothes. Every kind of animal was there. Hmm I may be thinking of something else women supposedly ruined www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

A retrospective at MOMA puts forth a persuasive case for Ruth Asawa, an artist who saw making her work and living with others as inextricably entwined. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/24/ruth-asawas-art-of-defiant-hospitality

It’s become conventional wisdom that America’s young men are in crisis. The reality is more complicated than that. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/what-did-men-do-to-deserve-this?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhtwitter&utm_content=null

Five people facing increasing health-care costs share their frustrations with Democrats for caving on a deal to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

spoke with the executive director of my local food bank today and got this really incredible line: "if you donate 1 can of green beans, we can give away 1 can of green beans. but if you donate a dollar, we can give away 6 cans of green beans"

“Aphids toiled brittle stems as we met the dike / to rob snakehead limbs of their fruit. I gathered / persimmons, podgy maypops.” Read a new poem by Carson Colenbaugh:

In the end, Andrew Cuomo’s long record was a gift to Zohran Mamdani. “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity—and what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience,” Mamdani told Cuomo in a debate.

The Trump administration released a final rule on Thursday that restricted who could participate in a student loan forgiveness program for public servants. Critics say the new rule gives the government broad tools to politicize the program and target groups that do not align with its values.

“And think— / just think / how light the head can be, / releasing velvet-covered extensions of the past.” Read a new poem by Carolina Hotchandani:

“I never crossed a border—only watched the land shift like a tired animal, folding / itself around my feet until I belonged to a country I didn’t name.” Read a new poem by Darrel Alejandro Holnes:

I’ve been evicted from the Pentagon, a building I’ve covered for 18 years, Nancy A. Youssef writes. I’ll keep doing my job anyway.

Zohran Mamdani is a prototype for a new generation of American politicians, an Obama administration official who has been advising him said: “He’s the first to arrive on the shore, but, just over the horizon, you can see more ships coming in.” http://nyer.cm/4yV6gng

wrote about a vibe shift that's been bugging me www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

In the 1967 poem "Early December in Croton-on-Hudson," Louise Glück recalls a blown tire on a trip to deliver Christmas presents. Read it here:

I became a Revolutionary War reenactor for work! I went to Massachusetts and I couldn’t wear makeup!!! 😭 War is HELL

250 years after the Revolution, the American project remains unfinished and troubled, but “a project worth pursuing,” @jeffreygoldberg.bsky.social argues in The Atlantic’s new issue.

What does it take to be a Revolutionary War reenactor? Caity Weaver traveled across New England and to New York’s Fort Ticonderoga, put on period clothing, and shot a musket to find out:

I toured NYC’s much reviled Friend AI ads with the startup’s CEO. Felt a lot more like an art installation than a business: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Gasped at the ending to this. (It's all cool edgy fun and games until someone gets chatbot-induced psychosis.) www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

A glittering, heartbreaking poem by Courtney Kampa: "Put your ribs into the wind when you say it. Expose a pearl-bellied throat to the sky. So many words for wrapping your mind around the self, instead of your arms around the ankles of another." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

The Atlantic Announces Free Digital Subscriptions for All U.S. Public High Schools www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...

"X and Grok are politically and culturally influential tools; Musk seems intent on turning them into not just instruments of the far right but also something like Maxim on steroids." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

This article, its structure, and especially its hall-of-fame kicker should all be taught in writing classes:

It's a particularly good day to read a poem by Arthur Sze, our newest Poet Laureate— www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

“And when those white-sailed ships / piled us together, cargo in the hull of hell, / the word rode with us, our tongues / anointed with the power of God.” Read “In the Beginning, There Was the Word,” a poem by Ashley M. Jones:

Today is a good day to read @mckaycoppins.bsky.social on the mind games, sibling rivalry, and war for power that culminated in Lachlan Murdoch winning his family’s succession fight: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

"We have everything we need, but we want more, and faster. The crushed garter snake is scrawled on the tarmac in an ampersand." Read “Summertime,” a poem in our October 2025 issue by Rosanna Warren.