Art of Craft is a series about craftspeople whose work rises to the level of art. When Ayoung An was 8, her parents bought her a violin. She slept with the instrument on the pillow next to her every night. Two years later, a shop selling musical instruments opened in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, her hometown,…
On TikTok, a woman blends a half cup of rolled oats with a cup of water and the juice of half a lime. She forces a smile and then hesitantly takes a sip. “That,” she says with a colorful flourish, “is nasty.” The drink isn’t meant to taste good; it’s supposed to be a weight…
In 1817, James Parkinson expressed a hope about the disease that is named after him. He thought that at some point there would be a discovery and “the progress of the disease may be stopped.” Now, nearly 200 years since Parkinson expressed his hope, and after four decades of unsuccessful clinical trials, a group of…
The tips of deciduous trees are showing the barest tinge of green, and flowering fruit trees are in full bloom. A neighbor’s forsythia has come to life, bulbs are busily doing their thing. Spring has arrived. At farmers’ markets on the West Coast, where I reside, peas and fava beans are showing up, and just…
THE ARTIST PAUL Cadmus was flipping through Modern Maturity, the AARP’s official magazine, in 1991 when he saw something that made him angry. A disgruntled reader had written a letter to the editor slamming the publication for reproducing the Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio’s famous painting of Adam and Eve without including the fig leaves that…
“We ran into some locals who said, ‘Come with us.’ They knew of a dam across the river,” Mr. Creery said. “So we went past big ‘Verboten’ signs, carrying our bikes over barbed wire, but what are you going to do? We got where we needed to go.” New and expanding bike trails and reserved…
Japan’s public transportation is known for its punctuality, efficiency and high-quality service, which means train travel is a great way to see the countryside and to experience Japanese culture — even if you’re squeezed into Tokyo’s crowded Yamanote line at rush hour or experiencing the popular high-speed Shinkansen bullet train. But many savvy visitors crisscross…
When construction at the Hotel Maria is completed in June, 159 chandeliers will hang from the ceilings of its 79 rooms, 38 suites and public areas. Its bar will serve 31 types of Champagne. And the renovations on its four buildings — two of which opened in December — will have included the restoration of…
For our last night in La Paz, Mexico, we kept it simple: A couple of cans of cold Pacifico, a bench on the malecón, the city’s waterfront promenade, and the sunset glowing orange over the shimmering silver-blue Sea of Cortez. My husband, Alex, and I had spent nearly a week taking scenic desert drives and…
I’m from a lush land. Green abounds in the South. Our climate is so dewy, so thick, that we learn how to breathe through our skin down here. The nearly neon green kudzu, not just a romantic notion, climbs. The vines creep over our lives, over corners, around hills, down slopes, into gutters. We pulse…
