James Baldwin was a prolific writer, poet, essayist, and civil rights activist. Though he spent much of his life abroad, he is undoubtedly an American writer, whose works serve as a prism through which to view Black American life. Apart from being an esteemed literary talent, Baldwin routinely participated in the necessary criticism of both the...Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic hit teachers like a pop quiz. The shift to the virtual classroom tested their technological skills, while the new digital learning environment forced them to modify their lessons.

As the need for new skills increased, so did teachers' workload and feelings of burnout. Combined with the uncertain future and widespread ...Read more

In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, a transgender woman went to her polling place to cast a vote, only to be met with poll workers demanding to see her ID. Though no law required voters to provide ID when casting a ballot in the state in 2019, the poll workers scrutinized her. They almost didn't let her vote because, as she later alleged in ...Read more

In a March 2023 Deloitte survey, 47% of Americans said they would order from a restaurant that delivers food with a drone or an autonomous vehicle. That's up 3 percentage points from the company's 2021 survey about restaurant trends.

In that first survey, researchers noted there was "massive uncertainty in the industry, and many worried that...Read more

For more than a century, the evolution of popular music has delivered stark parallels to Western society's progression. Popular songs and styles partake in a tangible feedback loop, simultaneously responding to and informing cultural shifts. In turn, the best tunes make either purposeful or inadvertent statements about the era in which they're ...Read more

Computer servers run by the city of Dallas were found to be infected with malware on May 3, 2023, spurring staff to begin shutting off computers to prevent its spread.

The effects of the attack were sprawling, including hits to police and public courts, hampering residents' ability to report nonemergencies to the city's 311 service, leaving ...Read more

American consumers have long been a driving force of the country's economy and, for the last decade, have been responsible for nearly 70% of U.S. gross domestic product. While spending has changed only a few percentage points since 2007, spending habits have undergone seismic shifts. 

Online sales were already growing before the onset of ...Read more

There's something unmistakably mesmerizing about seeing childhood photos of celebrities.

Maybe it's the fact that some actors look remarkably similar to how they did as children, while others look like they could be two entirely different people. Maybe it's because, sometimes, you feel like you can catch the sparkle of stardom and charisma ...Read more

It's easy to forget how much goes into making a film—how many people it takes, how much time is spent, and all the foibles and faults that can disrupt the process along the way. Audiences are given a shiny finished product, and then they decide whether or not they like the film. This judgment determines the film's fate, completely ...Read more

Humans have long had the urge to document our experiences. The first cave painting dates back to more than 64,000 years ago. Unsurprisingly, medical records became a key part of human history as the first healers, scholars, and physicians attempted to record their experiences with sickness, illness, and death.

Cave paintings in southwestern ...Read more

Experts are predicting a renaissance in the events industry after reeling from the financial fissures caused by the pandemic. By 2028, Verified Market Research predicts the events industry will bring in $2.194 trillion, nearly 2.5 times the revenue generated in 2020.

If the predictions become true, the increased revenue could offset the 20 ...Read more

Scientists and physicians have been experimenting with organ transplantation for centuries, with the first successful transplants in the 1950s. But science has come a long way since then.

One of the primary obstacles to a successful organ transplant is ensuring that the recipient's body doesn't reject the donor organ. A patient's immune ...Read more

Each weekday, roughly 1 million adults in the U.S. miss work because of stress, according to Zippia Research. Absenteeism induced by depression and other mental health conditions costs businesses $51 billion a year, treatment amounts to an additional $26 billion, and at least 4 in 5 Americans (83%) suffer from workplace stress.

The Centers ...Read more

Spending for in-person and online goods and services has moderated over the past year after seeing outsized growth during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decline in sales growth has forced some retailers to roll out discounts. Others warn sales could drop further as consumers feel the squeeze of college debt payments returning ...Read more

If the last time you flew first class was before 2010, you may not recognize it today.

That's thanks to a trend in which airlines have focused their investments on pricier cabins and rewarding high spenders over frequent or long-distance flyers, says Eric Rosen, director of travel content at The Points Guy.

Many of these upgrades have ...Read more

The Great American road trip has turned nautical. There's an alternative to the van life that has inspired so many to take to the roads for months or years at a time: ventures by watercraft.

Imagine a year spent weaving through intercoastal waterways, traveling through marshlands, and along rivers under the shadow of skyscrapers. Those who ...Read more

Some trace the American obsession with pickup trucks back to the horse and buggy. It's a natural evolution of our instinctual first stab at transportation. Others chalk it up to our largesse—America's insatiable desire for bigger, shinier, newer, state-of-the-art goods.

But Americans are also known to be price-conscious—about gas prices,...Read more

Not only is Hollywood an incredibly hard place to get your foot in the door, but it's an even more difficult one to stick around in for decades. Ever-changing trends, shifting audience preferences, and persistent ageism can mean that today's biggest stars could soon become tomorrow's has-beens.

Though crafting a long-lasting career in the ...Read more

The two-and-a-half-year real estate rollercoaster has calmed in 2023, at least somewhat, as more Americans decide to stay put.

"The big story for the last couple of months has been lack of inventory due to mortgage rate lock-ins," Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said. "Now that rates are above 7%, it doesn't make sense for a lot of ...Read more

Between mobile wallets and digital payments, the U.S. dollar seems like it's falling more and more into disuse. In the U.S., about 4 out of 10 Americans say their typical week of purchases is cashless, according to the Pew Research Center. While many experts seem to agree that the paper U.S. dollar is not at immediate risk of becoming obsolete,...Read more