This weekend the Washington Spirit play in the NWSL semi-finals, and I got a chance to chat with team captain and goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury about the pressure of penalty kicks, the rowdy Spirit fanbase, and her favorite baked goods in the D.C. region: 51st.news/aubrey-kings...

This is such a fascinating cultural overview of a disappearing part of American life. I feel this tension in DC's public pool locker rooms, for ex—no one really knows if we're getting naked in front of each other or not www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

Today on Reddit, @emmasarappo.bsky.social and @boriskachka.bsky.social are answering questions about how they helped select The Atlantic’s list of 65 essential children’s books. Ask them about their choices, trends across kids’ literature, and more at 2:30 p.m. ET: www.reddit.com/r/childrensb...

🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.

This is the perfect article. Reporter's like "Why would Carlota, who never lived in San Luis Potosí, be there" and the governor is like "Maybe she felt like it that day..." meanwhile footage is just of a normal human woman walking around in a room

Really good hobby drama

What a glorious day for picture books! So thrilled to have this list out in the world for @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

Certified: I read the Cat Sebastian on this list and found it delightful www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

“In a world where nothing felt safe, that room functioned as a sanctuary.” Zoé Gillette illustrates the experience of visiting their childhood bedroom.

Fervor over books such as Judy Blume's Forever might feel quaint to some. But book banning is, unfortunately, all the rage—fittingly, Banned Books Week starts on Monday.

Not that everything is about us but too few Americans recognize how absolutely stupid life can be in the District of Columbia when the feds can't get their act together. Example 4 billion: wamu.org/story/25/09/...

if you're in the D.C. area: @emmasarappo.bsky.social is talking to @tricialockwood.bsky.social about her new book tomorrow night at Politics and Prose! politics-prose.com/events?srslt...

Maybe interesting www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

It’s not a chilling effect. It would only be chilling if you had something horrid to say, and you don’t, do you? Certainly nothing critical of the regime, and absolutely no paraphrasing, not of anyone, not at this time!

"One assumes there will be widespread debate over the accuracy of Kimmel’s offending comments. That is a distraction from the fundamental assault on free speech that is happening here."

The point is that many can live quite normally under the thumb of authoritarianism. Yes: many suffer and suffer now but large swaths of the American public chooses to be clueless and it’s not difficult. This is how the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. www.vox.com/the-big-idea...

Sometimes it's nice to remember that even Marcus Aurelius was like "you don't have to comment on everything bro"

wrote on charlie kirk for the newsletter this weekend

"In an atmosphere of national paranoia and hatred, each act of political violence makes the next one more likely." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

ARYNA SABALENKA LL QUESTION YESTERDAY—BIG DAY FOR ME!

Challenger by Adam Higginbotham (2024) www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

I look fair-weather because I haven't made a public statement before now but around the time of the French Open I decided to stan Aryna Sabalenka largely on the basis of her lip filler. Big day for me

Until you’ve participated in union contract negotiation it can be hard to conceptualize that an owner or manager would care more about screwing their workers than keeping a business profitable or indeed open at all, but it’s actually not so uncommon!

We asked 12 staffers at The Atlantic: What’s the one book you recommend again and again to friends and loved ones? One of their favorites will, we hope, be the title you pick up next: https://theatln.tc/VebePpnm

"The remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington was the second time in recent days that it was unable to persuade grand jurors to bring an indictment in a felony assault case against a federal agent."

Once again I find myself in the trenches, defending women's right to write memoir in which they behave poorly or do not acquit themselves well ... while having to do so on behalf of bad writing

on the one hand I should absolutely put my phone down but on the other hand what if the forces attacking democracy operate on weeping angels logic

I debated writing this. It can feel tempting, upon encountering yet another instance of this administration’s racism, to let it be. How many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? And yet we have to write it down, if for nothing else, so those who come after us know we were against it.

all of this is basically a trojan horse for my sinking feeling right now that generative AI will be 'good enough' and that's...potentially a very bad outcome!

Check in on your DC residents because my brain is actually melting out of my ears. I was here allllll of 2020 and 2021 and this is worse.

“Can I land at SCRM,” he asked, referring to the King George Island airport. The official responded, “Yes” with a thumbs-up emoji.

Insane timing to have just finished The Hot Zone www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Wait so did we do a round of stomp clap discourse about the OTHER Home by Phillip Phillips or not? I'm happy to start that

“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the world’s leading hunger monitor said in its strongest warning yet on the rapidly growing starvation crisis.

Religion, Medicine, and Suffering in the West—the first time I was made to openly confront the idea that for many people minor suffering like a headache has become optional (via analgesics) instead of a universal human experience

My first job was in listings and it’s both more fun and much harder than it looks—now that I’m on the consumer side I truly miss picking up a City Paper and flipping to the back; when I’m visiting cities that still have alts it’s the first thing I do

A Chorus Line opened on Broadway 50 years ago today. The show is often celebrated as a love letter to dancers—a tribute to the unsung heroes of musical theater. But the full story is messier. 🧵

Harrowing lead story and image on the Washington Post homepage right now. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Amy Sherald says the Smithsonian suggested removing a painting of a transgender woman as the Statue of Liberty from her upcoming show at the National Portrait Gallery “to avoid provoking President Trump.” Sherald: “I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship”

genuinely fascinating story about redemption and art from @douglascorzine.bsky.social !!! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/t...

"What I Heard On A Suicide Hotline For Trans Kids" "My callers wished their parents weren’t in denial and didn’t echo right-wing talking points. They wished they didn’t feel so alone late at night. They called from Utah and Arizona and Iowa...'Somebody has to give me a reason to live.'"

At the Washington, D.C., World Pride, the queerest generation in history celebrated their rights, even as they confronted the prospect of losing them. Emma Sarappo on a season of whiplash:

10 years ago today, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal across the U.S. I remember that day very clearly—waking up to the news, calling my best friend. Many in Gen Z might not. I wrote about the weird intervening decade for @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

At the Washington, D.C., World Pride, the queerest generation in history celebrated their rights, even as they confronted the prospect of losing them. Emma Sarappo on a season of whiplash:

Highly recommend this story from my friend @emmasarappo.bsky.social — it captures the pain of living through an unprecedented backlash against trans and LGBTQ+ rights while reflecting on the joys that we're still holding onto.

a great story by @emmasarappo.bsky.social that I wish she hadn't needed to write www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...