Culture | Opinion

Our kids’ lingo is not only better than any we used; it’s a useful window into the way they think.

A pop diva inspires and unites fans in ways that few other cultural figures can. Which is why we should all be rooting for Celine Dion.

We had a chance to treat sex categories in sports with curiosity and compassion instead of condemnation. We still can.

Everything Donald Trump knows about picking a running mate in 2024 he learned while hosting “The Apprentice.”

There were no trees. There was no road. I was the trees, and I was the road. That darkness was like no darkness I’ve ever known.

When I met Morgan Spurlock, he was trying to make amends. What I saw changed how I think about #MeToo.

Intentional periods of sexual abstinence can help us better understand the nature of our desire. If we do Dry January, why not Dry Spell July?

Some say that becoming as dull as a rock is an effective way to disengage.

Betting puts pressure on pro athletes. The cracks are starting to show.

Nashville’s Parthenon proves that doing the right thing with looted artifacts doesn’t have to be a fight.

The past can look very different with the passage of time.

The Golden State Warriors were young once, and now they’re not.

The liberal arts are fading just when we need them most.

Comedies make you laugh. Thrillers make you cheer. Some Hollywood films used to make you sob your eyes out. We need those movies again.

We are very different writers, but I have kept Alice Munro in mind, daily and for decades, as an example to follow.

Gotham’s 400th birthday calls for a celebration worthy of the great metropolis it is.

A beef between two rap titans isn’t just about egos. It’s about the future of the genre, as determined by the legacy of its past.

It was one of the best Black musicals ever to make it to Broadway, and you’ve probably never heard of it.

We need to rethink the policy of preserving families, seemingly at all costs.

In an era of sexual decline, celebrities are dressing up in outfits that are barely there. But no one seems to be enjoying it much.

We must be able to create a more civic-minded internet, with tools that would empower users to better control what they see.

We live in a complex world. We can’t afford to make art that serves up only simple moral lessons.

The effects of semaglutide drugs won’t be just cosmetic.

An artist in Ukraine considers “The Zone of Interest” and what happens when the horrors on the other side of the wall are too close to home to ignore.

Tiger Woods said he owes his career to Charlie Sifford, the first Black member of the P.G.A. But the golf world has done far too little to promote Black players.

A new film is not a dangerous provocation. It’s a necessary warning.

Larry David’s long-running show was hilarious, but it also revolved around a complex view of modern philosophy.

Stephen King’s debut novel, about a bullied girl who gets revenge, used to horrify me. Now I find Carrie’s story inspiring.

Beyoncé singing country music in this political climate was always going to cause a stir.

How an introvert rediscovered the power of friendship on an improbable 15-person adventure.

As a professional climber, I needed to be able to suffer to stand out. Then I began to question that mentality.

Her special is a harbinger of how the weight-loss industry is rebranding: Obesity is a disease, and — for the first time — it’s not your fault.

Private equity is cannibalizing the music industry by buying up old hits and pushing them back into our cultural consciousness.

The conviction of a “Rust” crew member in a tragic on-set death highlights what Hollywood must do to avoid fatal accidents.

The Oscar-winning film centers on one man’s remarkable history. My uncle’s life tells a very different story about the fallout of the atomic bomb.

In the movie’s central love triangle, I rooted for one outcome. But my dating life told a different story.

“Zone of Interest” avoids the pitfalls of fictionalizing the Holocaust. It is also unsettlingly relevant to our current moment.

In a popular TV show, my grandmother is fictionalized as one of Truman Capote’s swans. I wish she’d had the chance to tell her story in her way.

It’s time to find out what the film industry’s new normal looks like.

The literary canon is constantly evolving — and critics’ often-frustrating kvetching about reissues is a key part of that evolution.

Spring training means new hope for a glorious season. But for me, it’s the prospect of losing that keeps me hooked.

Chaim Soutine’s identity was never integral to his art, even as a Jew whose death Nazis caused. Artists in Gaza, Syria and Ukraine share his universality.

I ask my writing students to stand in another person’s shoes. They’re finding it harder and harder to do.

Midsize cultural venues are teetering on the brink. To save them, we need to fund them like other forms of essential infrastructure.

He’s best known for a red-state anthem. But he existed in a tradition of country rabble-rousers of all political stripes.

The city is rewriting its antiquated zoning code. We should seize the chance to create a metropolis of opportunity that evolves with the times.

Mental health practitioners are hiking, camping and braving the elements with their clients — all in an effort to help them connect with the Earth, and with themselves.

The gig economy is expanding and exploiting more workers.

Marketing is consuming our culture to the point that the product seems almost irrelevant to its own success.

It’s easy to make fun of him. It’s also dangerous and it needs to stop.

The best shows of the last two decades were the product of unusual creativity and incredible risk. Too bad the TV business has left those qualities behind.

The way this 24-year relationship came to an end tells us everything we need to know about why it succeeded.

I grew up watching the brief beauty of my sister’s life weaponized to usher in an era of mass incarceration and true crime obsession.

A monumental art exhibit at the Met explored the kind of rivalry that can complicate, and fortify, a friendship. I recognized it all too well.

Tommy DeVito, the Giants’ improbable quarterback, brought new popularity to an age-old hand gesture. Here’s why you should raise your pinched fingers high.

Whether she is conscious of it or not, Ms. Swift signals to queer people — in our language — that she has some affinity for queer identity.

How the left, not just the right, helped bring Gay down.

For 25 years, Britney Spears has been a convenient scapegoat for whatever her audience needed. But if we truly want her to be free, we finally have to let her go.

What if, instead of focusing on improving ourselves, we focused on improving the world?

The primary online destination for book lovers has become synonymous with backbiting, scandal and deceit. But it’s not too late to fix it.