Decades Ago, the Sociologist Erving Goffman Had the Answer
In the spring of 2020, when masks abruptly became a common sight in the United States, they introduced a new element into our social relations. They hampered our ability to communicate, muffling our voices and hiding our smiles.
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How has religious experience changed in a secular age?
Originally published December 28, 2020 in The Nation
Last May, the writer Tara Isabella Burton published a piece in the New York Times Sunday Review about a nascent faith community.
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A tour of contemporary fandom
Anyone can be a fan, and almost everyone is. Perhaps this low bar to entry explains why fans don’t get much respect: a fan is a follower, a hanger-on, one in a crowd of interchangeable masses.
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The climate hazards of air travel
Originally published August 31, 2019 in NYR Daily
In mid-August, to much fanfare, sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg set sail from England on the Malizia II, a solar-powered yacht. With a small crew, she embarked on a journey across the Atlantic in order to attend the UN Climate Action summit in New York in September.
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Half-statement, half-ornament
Originally published June 24, 2019 in The Guardian
I am usually late to catch on to shifts in the zeitgeist; this one came to my attention just recently. While watching the HBO show High Maintenance, I noticed that Lee, the protagonist’s hip and beautiful love interest, was sporting hairy armpits.
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