thought
As a 48-year-old single mom working full-time and raising two teenagers in Seattle, one of America’s most expensive cities, I was exhausted. I’d recently represented myself in a prolonged divorce and custody case, was struggling to make a living as a freelance communications consultant, and worried constantly about how to…
Ukraine’s new drones are letting its soldiers “free hunt” in areas far behind the front lines that Russia long considered safe.The mid-range strike drones are making Russian logistics deep behind the front increasingly vulnerable, giving Ukrainian operators access to target-rich areas with limited defenses. One soldier described attacking Russian targets…
I don’t spend much time with anyone over 50, besides my parents.As someone in my early 30s, I mostly find myself interacting with people in a similar life stage: completing postgrad degrees, building careers, and figuring adulthood out.I typically take my trips solo, too, connecting with other travelers around my…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hamza Mostafa, 21, who lives in San Francisco. The following has been edited for length and clarity.Growing up, I wanted to work in the medical field like most of my family did. But after taking a computer science class in high…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Fareed Kotb. It has been edited for length and clarity.After photographing two World Cups in Russia and Qatar, I wanted my third to be different.I somehow wanted to connect to the first World Cup in 1930, nearly 100 years ago, and…
When I saw two pink lines again, I assumed I would feel relief. Instead, it still felt like I was holding my breath.Trying to conceive became all-consuming.Each month, I tracked everything. My temperature. My symptoms. The timing. I told myself it would give me some sense of control. It didn’t.…
For sixteen years, the same photo has been my Facebook cover. It’s me and my twin boys, Charlie and Thomas, then 3, in matching Australia jerseys, taken before I flew to the 2010 World Cup. I crouched beside them shortly after my marriage ended and promised that when they were…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Caroline Huber, cofounder and co-CEO of Jones. It has been edited for length and clarity.I started smoking very casually, mostly at parties after I’d had a few drinks. I wasn’t dependent, and it didn’t feel like a problem. I was happy…
Growing up, all I wanted was to leave my rural hometown of Edenton, North Carolina, behind and move to a big city.Alongside a population of less than 5,000, Edenton has one big grocery store and a downtown that really just consists of a single short main street.Almost every bar and…
When I finished university, people would always ask me what I wanted to do. I saw myself eventually moving to London, building a career, and settling down there. A lot of my friends had already done just that, and I thought I’d do the same.I was living with my parents…
