Teaching Men Who Will Never Leave Prison

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story It’s 2018. I am, for the first time, in a classroom at Great Meadow Correctional Facility, in Comstock, New York, a men’s maximum-security state prison. There are sixteen students in the…

What Do Commercials About A.I. Really Promise?

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story If a recent crop of commercials touting the benefits of artificial intelligence is any indication, lots of Americans these days feel unduly burdened by the demands of everyday cognition. Apparently, it’s…

Earth’s Poet of Scale

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story Since Edward Burtynsky’s birth in Ontario, Canada, in 1955, the Earth’s population has roughly tripled, and its economy has grown tenfold. This “great acceleration,” to use the title of the (exquisitely…

Conor McPherson’s Reliable Treasure

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this storyYou’re reading the Goings On newsletter, a guide to what we’re watching, listening to, and doing this week. Sign up to receive it in your inbox. Conor McPherson’s small 1997 masterwork “The…

An Adolescent Crush That Never Let Up

Save this storySave this storySave this storySave this story John Updike’s professional relationship with The New Yorker began in 1954, when he was twenty-two and the magazine published his poem “Duet, with Muffled Brake Drums,” but his personal fascination began…