Forever Flowers
The virus traveling among us has revived an almost bygone tradition: sending postcards.
The Fall of Icarus
You don’t expect to find insights into our troubled times from the Flemish Old Masters. But on a recent trip to Brussels I found myself wandering into the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.
Cracking Social Codes
The Dutch have adopted a do-it-your-way attitude toward social rules. American social life, in contrast, operates by rules that are often unspoken but rigorously observed.
The Love Song of T. S. Eliot and Emily Hale
On a rainy morning in early January, the two of us descend into the catacombs beneath Princeton’s Firestone Library to read the most famous sealed library archive in the world.
The Eye of the Hurricane
In Times Square, in the middle of Manhattan, I make my way into the huge Marriott Marquis hotel. I step into a glass elevator, which hangs on the outside of a column in the huge atrium. While we ascend, I get views of different worlds.
The History of a Moment
"We didn’t come this far, to only come this far.” Those are the words on the banner an older black woman is carrying through the streets of Princeton.
When Only One Recipe Matters
There are people who love to cook. They are mysteries to me. But my ricotta pudding is my pride.
When the Foxes Play
Now that almost all people are gone, the foxes have taken over the university. In broad daylight they roam the grounds, up the monumental stairs and through the ornate iron gates.
Guardian of Our Past
My mother is the chief curator of our family’s museum. She carefully monitors our past. Fortunately.
Rebooting My Neighbor
He had had a deadly variant of leukemia and maybe a few months left to live. Now there is no trace of the disease