The Ancient Art of Calligraphy Is Having a Revival

For the first time in many years, a teacher was correcting my handwriting. “Go more slowly,” Laura Edralin, a calligraphy teacher in London, told me, as she walked around a table of beginners on a recent Wednesday night, explaining how to achieve even, flowing strokes. As a breaking news reporter for The New York Times,…

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So Close to Sicily, So Far From the Crowds

For years I had been hearing about the island of Pantelleria, the craggy, hard-to-get-to Eden with middle-of-nowhere tranquillity that sits 89 miles southwest of the island of Sicily and about 50 miles east of Tunisia. Luca Guadagnino’s 2015 film “A Bigger Splash” painted a seductive idyll of mud baths, romantic ruins and secluded swimming coves….

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Should You Delay Your Morning Caffeine?

Q: I’ve heard that drinking coffee first thing in the morning can interfere with my ability to feel awake and can lead to an afternoon energy crash. Is that true? It’s an idea that has been popularized by online influencers: Avoid consuming caffeine for 90 to 120 minutes after waking up, they say, and you…

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The Ingredient That Unites My Favorite Salads

The summer after my freshman year of college, I bused tables at a restaurant by the water in St. Augustine, Fla. Parched and sticky with sweat, I watched one particular salad — huge, geometric chunks of watermelon and feta, stacked on a plate with basil — go to nearly every table. I cleared those plates,…

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