Friendship
Essay 55: Do You Spend Enough Time With Other People?
Do you think you have a good balance of time spent with others and time spent alone in your life? Does more of the time you spend with your friends happen in person or via social media and texts?
What, if anything, would you change about your social life if you could?
In the Opinion essay “Happiness Is Other People,” Ruth Whippman writes:
But while placing more and more emphasis on seeking happiness within, Americans in general are spending less and less time actually connecting with other people. Nearly half of all meals eaten in this country are now eaten alone. Teenagers and young millennials are spending less time just “hanging out” with their friends than any generation in recent history, replacing real-world interaction with smartphones.
And it’s not just young people. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Time Use Survey shows that the average American now spends less than four minutes a day “hosting and attending social events,” a category that covers all types of parties and other organized social occasions. That’s 24 hours a year, barely enough to cover Thanksgiving dinner, and your own child’s birthday party.
... Study after study shows that good social relationships are the strongest, most consistent predictor there is of a happy life, even going so far as to call them a “necessary condition for happiness,” meaning that humans can’t actually be happy without them. This is a finding that cuts across race, age, gender, income and social class so overwhelmingly that it dwarfs any other factor.
And according to research, if we want to be happy, we should really be aiming to spend less time alone. Despite claiming to crave solitude when asked in the abstract, when sampled in the moment, people across the board consistently report themselves as happier when they are around other people than when they are on their own. Surprisingly this effect is not just true for people who consider themselves extroverts but equally strong for introverts as well.
Students: Read the entire essay, then tell us:
How do you feel about the amount of time spent—and the quality of that time—with other people? Is it enough? Would you prefer to have more or less time socializing? Why?
Have you ever heard “happiness lies within”? What does that mean to you? Do you agree?
The essay addresses the conflicting impulses to seek solitude and spend time with others. Have you ever felt torn between wanting to be alone and seeking the company of others? What conclusions have you drawn about which may work better for you?
The essay also states that today’s teenagers are “replacing real-world interaction with smartphones.” Do you feel that this is true? For comparison, ask people who are older than you about their habits of socializing when they were in their teens. What did you learn?
Essay 56: How Often Do You Spend One-on-One Time With Your Closest Friends?
Do you ever not feel like answering your phone, returning a text or leaving a message even for a close friend you like very much? Do you ever find your friends doing the same thing to you, even when there is nothing wrong between you?
Why do you think people sometimes choose to not communicate with those they really like?
In the Op-Ed essay “What My Friends Mean to Me,” Iris Smyles writes:
My phone doesn’t ring much anymore. It used to at all hours, but since I stopped answering, most of my friends have stopped calling. Mostly, I receive invitations by email, which is good, as it gives me time to compose my regrets. “I’m way too busy this week, how about next month?” All week I field invitations this way, worried constantly about my schedule being overwhelmed. Then the weekend arrives, and I find myself with nothing to do.
When my phone does ring, I wait until it stops. Then, depending on the urgency suggested in the voice mail, I’ll call back in a month or three.
… Thankfully, with friendship it’s the thought that counts, so once you’ve declared your desire to get together, there is little need to actually do it. Every friendship is tied by an invisible elastic band, however. You can stretch your friendship a pretty long distance, but stretch it too far, and it will snap. Knowing how important it is to have friends, every now and then I arrange to meet mine.
… The whole enterprise is exhausting. And yet, one needs friends.
I recently lost one of my mine. She called and emailed a number of times without reply before, finally, she gave up. This makes me sad. If only there were some way — besides calling or writing or seeing her face to face — to tell her that I think of her often, that, indeed, her friendship means the world to me. A few years ago, when we were still friends, she got married. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the wedding because of work obligations. I was unemployed at the time, but she didn’t know that, and so it seemed a good enough excuse. I did click onto her wedding registry, however. I bought the couple two gifts: wine glasses and scuba diving lessons. I just punched in my credit card info, and bam, my friendship obligation was fulfilled. It was such a simple exchange and I felt very good about it.
Students: Read the entire essay, then tell us …
How much do you identify with Ms. Smyles’s descriptions of her behavior toward her friends? Explain.
Have you ever lost a friendship because one or both of you didn’t put much effort into staying in touch? Have you ever repaired a friendship that had grown distant? If so, how?
What are your preferred methods for communicating with friends?
How often do you make phone calls, as opposed to sending a text, writing a direct message, etc.?
How satisfied are you with the quality and amount of communication you have with your best friend or friends? What about the quality and amount of time you spend together? Explain.
Dating & Sex
Essay 57: Have You Ever Been in Love?
The Wedding section this weekend profiled a pair of high school sweethearts who met again and married later in life, while the Sunday Review had a piece about what happens to passionate love over time.
Have you ever been in love? How did you feel? What did you learn from it? If you haven’t — or if you just don’t want to tell us about it — what have you observed about love from your family, friends and popular culture? Do you think there is a “soul mate” out there for everyone?
A Vows column by Margaux Laskey begins:
A broken heart is as common to being a teenager as acne and anxiety. All three usually heal with time, but when Nicole Duignan and Joshua Pittman’s romance fell apart, Ms. Duignan knew she had lost more than just a high school sweetheart.
Twenty years later, she counted their breakup as one of the worst things that ever happened to her.
Read the rest of their story to find out what happened to this couple.
In “New Love: A Short Shelf Life,” Sonja Lyubomirsky writes:
In fairy tales, marriages last happily ever after. Science, however, tells us that wedded bliss has but a limited shelf life.
American and European researchers tracked 1,761 people who got married and stayed married over the course of 15 years. The findings were clear: newlyweds enjoy a big happiness boost that lasts, on average, for just two years. Then the special joy wears off and they are back where they started, at least in terms of happiness. The findings, from a 2003 study, have been confirmed by several recent studies.
The good news for the holiday season when families gather in various configurations is that if couples get past that two-year slump and hang on — for another couple of decades — they may well recover the excitement of the honeymoon period 18 to 20 years later, when children are gone.
Students: Tell us …
Have you ever been in love? What was it like?
If you haven’t, or if you just don’t want to tell us about it, what have you observed about love from those around you?
Do you think everyone has a “soul mate”?
From your observation, do you agree with the Sunday Review article that the thrill of first love wears off (because of hedonic adaptation, “a measurable and innate capacity to become habituated or inured to most life changes”)?
Do you think all long-term relationships, not just love relationships, thrive on novelty and discovery, as researchers say marriages do? Why or why not?
Essay 58: What Advice Would You Give to Somebody Who Just Started Dating?
The most recent government report on high school students involved in abusive relationships found that nearly one in 10 has been physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend. Programs to teach teenagers about relationships are proliferating, but questions about their effectiveness and reach remain. What advice have you received about relationships? What advice do you wish you had received? What would you encourage a younger friend to keep in mind before dating?
In the article “A Warning to Teenagers Before They Start Dating,” Jan Hoffman writes:
Esta Soler, president of Futures Without Violence, a national anti-violence organization, said there were many reasons to start talking to younger students about abuse.
In middle school, Ms. Soler said, they are rocketing through emotional and social development, beginning to make their own choices. “But they still respond to input from caring adults,” she added. A 2010 study of 1,430 seventh graders in eight middle schools in three cities underscores the need for such education.
The study, commissioned by the Johnson Foundation and released this spring, showed that three-quarters of students had already had a boyfriend or girlfriend. One in three said they had been victims of psychological dating violence; nearly one in six said they had experienced physical dating violence. Almost half said they had been touched in an unwanted sexual way or had been the target of sexual slurs.
It can be daunting to engage adolescents about intimate topics. To ease their awkwardness, Ms. Miller incorporates the students’ creative work and pop icons. For example, her staff created surveys rating the relationships of the characters in “The Hunger Games” books and movie. They sponsor poetry slams, with teenagers reading “Love What’s Real” poems, dancing to a “Relationship Remix” of hits.
Middle-school intervention programs are so new that assessing their effectiveness is difficult. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave grants to middle-school programs in four urban sites last fall. In reauthorization drafts this spring for the Violence Against Women Act — Michael D. Crapo, Republican of Idaho, was a co-author in the Senate — the eligibility age for dating violence education and service programs is now as young as 11.
Students: If you have been dating for a while, what tips or words of wisdom would you give those who are new to it? If you haven’t, what kind of advice would you like someone older to give you? Have you ever heard of someone your age in a detrimental relationship? How would you help a friend in such a situation? What kind of behavior in a relationship would you consider inappropriate, and what might you do if you were the victim of it?
Looks & Fashion
Essay 59: Are Models Too Skinny?
Does the model in the Gucci ad above look “unhealthily thin”? Do the fashion and advertising industries project an unhealthy body image for girls and women?
Are models too skinny?
In “Model in Gucci Ad Is Deemed ‘Unhealthily Thin’ by British Regulator,” Dan Bilefsky writes:
LONDON — The model in the Gucci ad is young and waiflike, her frail body draped in a geometric-pattern dress as she leans back in front of a wall painted with a tree branch that appears to mimic the angle of her silhouette.
On Wednesday, the Advertising Standards Authority of Britain ruled that the ad was “irresponsible” and that the model looked “unhealthily thin,” fanning a perennial debate in the fashion industry over when thin is too thin.
The regulator said that the way the woman in the image had posed elongated her torso and accentuated her waist, so that it appeared to be very small. It said her “somber facial expression and dark makeup, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt.” It said the offending image — a still photograph of the model that appeared in an online video posted on the website of The Times of London in December — should not appear again in its current form.
The specific image was removed from the video on Gucci’s YouTube channel, though the model still appears in the ad directed by Glen Luchford.
The Italian fashion brand, for its part, had defended the ad, saying it was part of a video that portrayed a dance party and that was aimed at an older and sophisticated audience. Nowhere in the ads were any models’ bones visible, it said, and they were all “toned and slim.” It noted that “it was, to some extent, a subjective issue as to whether a model looked unhealthily thin,” according to the authority.
The decision by the advertising authority, an independent industry regulatory group, barred Gucci from using the image in advertisements in Britain. The ruling comes amid a longstanding debate on both sides of the Atlantic about the perils of overly thin models projecting an unhealthy body image for women. As when critics lashed out against idealized images of “heroin chic” in the early 1990s, some have voiced concern that fashion houses are encouraging potentially hazardous behaviors by glamorizing models who are rail-thin.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:
Are models too skinny?
Are fashion houses encouraging potentially hazardous behaviors by glamorizing models who are rail-thin?
How much pressure do you think there is on girls and young women to have the bodies of fashion models?
How have you seen that pressure play out among the girls you know? How many are afraid of being fat? Have you seen body image issues lead to problems like eating disorders, drinking, acting out sexually, suicide or bullying?
Last year, the French Parliament approved measures prohibiting modeling agencies from hiring dangerously thin models and requiring altered photographs of models to be clearly labeled. Do you think laws like this are good public policy? Why?
What responsibility do the fashion and advertising industries have to promote healthy images of women? Why?
Essay 60: Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have ‘Perfect’ Bodies?
New York City’s latest public health campaign takes on unattainable notions of beauty promoted by advertisers to tell girls that they are beautiful the way they are.
What do you think of a campaign like this? Do you think it is needed? How much pressure do you think girls feel to have “perfect” looks? What effects of that pressure have you seen on girls you know?
In “City Unveils Campaign to Improve Girls’ Self-Esteem,” Anemona Hartocollis writes about the ads and the idea behind them:
Mainly through bus and subway ads, the campaign aims to reach girls from about 7 to 12 years old, who are at risk of negative body images that can lead to eating disorders, drinking, acting out sexually, suicide and bullying. But unlike Mr. Bloomberg’s ads to combat teenage pregnancy, smoking and soda-drinking, which are often ugly, revolting or sad, these ads are uniformly upbeat and positive.
“I’m a girl. I’m funny, playful, daring, strong, curious, smart, brave, healthy, friendly and caring,” one ad, featuring DeVoray Wigfall, a robust, laughing 12-year-old from University Heights in the Bronx, says. The ads show girls of different races and sizes, some playing sports and one in a wheelchair. Each one ends with the campaign’s overall slogan: “I’m beautiful the way I am.”
City officials and experts in adolescent health said it was the first campaign aimed at female body image that they knew of to be carried out by a major city. Ads began going up on buses and in subways on Monday.
… City officials cited evidence in The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing and elsewhere that more than 80 percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat, that girls’ self-esteem drops at age 12 and does not improve until 20, and that that is tied to negative body image.
The campaign was conceived by an aide to Mr. Bloomberg, Samantha Levine, 38, the mayor’s deputy press secretary, who is serving as project director. Ms. Levine said she had been moved by stories of little girls wearing body-shaping undergarments and getting plastic surgery to improve their appearance. She said she had also been galvanized by reading the advice columnist Cheryl Strayed, who said a failure of feminism was that women still worried about what their buttocks looked like in jeans.
Students: Tell us …
How much pressure do you think there is on girls and young women to have the bodies of fashion models?
How have you seen that pressure play out among the girls you know? How many are afraid of being fat? Have you seen body image issues lead to problems like eating disorders, drinking, acting out sexually, suicide or bullying?
What do you think of the ad campaign itself? Do you think it can help? Do you think it is a good idea to target girls from 7 to 12 years old?
Do you think boys feel pressure to have perfect bodies, too? Last year we posed a Student Opinion question on that issue that is still open for comment.
Food
Essay 61: What Foods Bring Up Special Memories for You?
Do you have a special dessert or a favorite birthday cake? Do certain foods make you think of particular times in your life?
“An Ideal Sundae,” by Dorie Greenspan, begins this way:
Having decided quite suddenly to marry, Michael and I had a wedding so small that when my mother claimed we eloped, I didn’t disagree. There was some family fallout, but the disadvantages were minor when set against the joy of not having to worry about who wasn’t speaking to whom and where they were seated, or the relief of avoiding bridesmaids’ discontent. Best of all, the ceremony was short, which meant that at 10 p.m. I was just where I wanted to be, sitting next to Michael at New York’s long-cherished and now-gone Rumpelmayer’s ice cream parlor, sharing a hot-fudge sundae generously crowned with whipped cream — a dessert I still consider a celebration and one I wouldn’t swap for a fancy wedding cake.
She continues:
Each spoonful should contain some of each ingredient. I follow the “everything on the spoon at once” rule, too, and consider it a triumph if my last spoonful looks like a scaled-down replica of the original sundae. But that’s a bonus. The greatest pleasure hews to no rules — it’s an unfailing sense of happiness. I know this truly, because Michael and I celebrate each anniversary as we did the night we married: We share one sundae with two spoons.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:
What foods remind you of special times in your life, or special people, and why? Choose one and tell us about it. What is it about the food itself, and the memory, that makes it special?
Are there foods you avoid because you have negative memories associated with them?
How do special foods evoke strong emotions? Is the reverse true as well? Does a particular emotion make you want to eat, or avoid, a certain food? Why or why not?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Essay 62: What Are the Most Memorable Meals You’ve Ever Had?
Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine was devoted to food. One feature asked former Times restaurant critics about memorable meals, restaurants, “guilty pleasures” and food trends.
This inspires us to ask you about the memorable meals you’ve had — whether because they were wonderful or because they were terrible. What comes to mind?
In “When I Was a New York Times Restaurant Critic …” Maya Lau collects interviews like these:
Worst dish ever encountered
“I wake up in a cold sweat when I recall the Hudson Cafeteria’s retro Cherry Coke Jell-O with whipped cream. In my review I described it as tasting the way I would imagine toxic waste does.”
William Grimes (1999-2003)
Guilty pleasure
“The bread pudding at Cannelle, a French patisserie that, like a miracle, descended from the clouds and landed in a strip mall in East Elmhurst, Queens, a few years ago. The big dangers include a criminally rich red-velvet cake and a shortbreadlike gâteau Breton.”
William Grimes
Students: Tell us about meals you remember:
When did you last have a wonderful meal, whether because the individual dishes were excellent, because the company was delightful, or for any other reason?
What, like the Cherry Coke Jell-O Mr. Grimes describes, are some memorably awful meals or dishes you’ve had?
What are your guilty pleasures?
Sports & Games
Essay 63: What’s the Most Impressive Sports Moment You’ve Seen?
A leaping catch in the back of the end zone. A bottom-of-the-ninth, come-from-behind grand slam. A perfect landing off the balance beam.
Whether you’ve been lucky enough to watch it live or just on television, what is the most impressive sports moment you’ve seen?
In “Big Shot on Campus, and Everywhere, After Buzzer-Beater,” Greg Bishop reports on Khalil Edney’s 55-foot, game-winning shot in the final split-second of a high school playoff contest.
In the 24 hours that followed the buzzer-beater turned international Internet sensation, Khalil Edney rode in a limousine, stayed overnight at a Manhattan hotel, conducted national television interviews, held a makeshift news conference and resumed the end of his usual routine — an anticlimactic high school basketball practice.
Life was different. Way different.
On Sunday, Edney was a 17-year-old star quarterback who moonlighted with the New Rochelle High School basketball team. He ranked second in scoring, but as a reserve, and an injured one at that, who nearly missed this particular playoff game with a bum ankle.
By Monday, he had become a new-age celebrity, a (young) man of the moment, sought after, in demand, and all because of one play that lasted a couple of seconds: a two-handed heave that traveled 55 or so feet and won New Rochelle a playoff contest. It became known simply and unoriginally as The Shot.
Students: Tell us …
What’s the most impressive sports moment you’ve seen? Describe what happened.
Did you watch it live, either in person or on television, or did you see the replay later?
What was your reaction as you watched?
Game-winning buzzer-beaters are rare, but we can all still dream of getting our 15 minutes of fame. If you could have any achievement, in sports or elsewhere, caught on camera for the world to see, what would it be?
NOTE: Students, please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.
Essay 64: Who Is Your Favorite Athlete, and Why?
In an interview with NPR recently, Clinton Yates, a sportswriter at ESPN, said that tennis champion Serena Williams “is my favorite athlete of all time.” He continued:
It was the last Wimbledon where I said — wow, not only is she my favorite athlete from a standpoint of playing the game, but I am here for the fashion. I am here for what she does off the court. I am here for her eloquence and intelligence and personal standards. The situation that happened at Indian Wells — she didn’t play there for years because she felt it was a racist location, and she was not going to deal with that.
Do you have a favorite athlete? What is it about that athlete that keeps you coming back for more?
In “Serena Williams Beats Venus Williams to Win Her 7th Australian Open Title,” Christopher Clarey writes:
Serena Williams is now within one victory of Margaret Court’s career record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
“Good on her if she’s good enough to do it,” Court said during the week in Melbourne.
Williams has closed in on Court with an unprecedented run of success at an age when most great women’s tennis players of the past had already retired. Graf, for example, was done by 30. But Williams has now won 10 major singles titles since turning 30. On Saturday, she became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open era, breaking her own record set at Wimbledon last year. Venus, 36, was the oldest Australian Open finalist in the Open era.
“There’s no way I would be at 23 without her; there’s no way I would be at 1 without her,” Serena Williams said of her sister in the on-court ceremony. “There’s no way I would have anything without her. She’s my inspiration. She’s the only reason I’m standing here today, and the only reason that the Williams sisters exist. So thank you, Venus, for inspiring me to be the best player I could be and inspiring me to work hard. Every time you won this week, I felt like I’ve got to win, too.”
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:
Do you play sports? Does your favorite athlete play a sport that you also play?
What makes your favorite athlete different from all other athletes?
Does your favorite athlete’s off-court or off-field behavior add to her or his appeal? Why or why not?
Travel
Essay 65: Where Do You Want to Travel?
Are you someone who likes to travel — to other countries, neighboring cities or just to new sites in your hometown? If so, why do you enjoy traveling? If not, why not?
Each year, The Times Travel section publishes a list of “52 Places to Go.” Here are a few of the destinations the editors suggest visiting in 2018:
New Orleans, Louisiana
There is no city in the world like New Orleans. Influences from Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and indigenous peoples have made it the ultimate melting pot. And that diversity expresses itself in a multitude of ways that define New Orleans in the American imagination: music, food, language, and on and on. Though it’s been a long recovery from Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans isn’t just back on its feet, it is as vibrant as ever — particularly impressive for a 300-year-old.
Colombia
After over a half-century of civil war coming to a close, Colombia is eager to become the adventurous, cosmopolitan hot spot it deserves to be. While much work is needed to integrate former rebels back into society, foreign tourism rose 250 percent during the past decade. In the pulsating capital of Bogotá, dozens of luxe hotel chains have opened, while the food scene has gotten a boost from spots like Leonor Espinosa’s restaurant Leo. Elsewhere, you will find coffee fincas turned into luxury hotels, eco-resorts on isolated desert peninsulas and colonial buildings transformed into spa retreats. Once off-limit attractions like Pacific Coast rain forests and the rainbow-color river Caño Cristales are now in every guidebook.
Basilicata, Italy
This is a chance to visit Italy’s southern region before the world catches on. Between the heel that is Puglia and the toe that is Calabria, you will find Basilicata, the arch of Italy’s foot. Despite a storied and ancient past, the region has been overlooked in modern times. Easily Italy’s best-kept secret, Basilicata is revered for beautiful beaches, ancient towns and a dearth of organized crime. In 2019, the town of Matera, a Unesco site, will host the European Capital of Culture. It is also known for its ancient caves — once used for livestock, later as primitive homes, and today, as private residences and hipster, beautifully restored, Flintstone-esque hotels. But for now at least, the secret is still safe.
The Caribbean
Hurricanes Irma and Maria delivered a one-two punch to the Caribbean in 2017, battering many islands, including Dominica, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin and the United States Virgin Islands. While more than 70 percent of the tourism-dependent region was unaffected, hoteliers and tourism agencies across the islands banded together to help their neighbors and spread the word that business for one means survival for all.
For the first time this year, The Times has hired a travel writer to visit all 52 places on the list and write about them. The Travel editor received over 13,000 applications for the job from an amazing variety of people, from a father-daughter team to a best-selling author.
Video
The 52 Places Traveler: Meet the Applicants
Over 13,000 people applied for our first-of-its-kind job: someone who will go to every destination on this year’s 52 Places to Go list. Meet a few of them here.
On Jan. 10, it was announced that Jada Yuan would be the new 52 Places correspondent.
Students: Read the entire article and watch the video, then tell us:
Where, of the 52 places named by The New York Times, do you most want to go and why? Have you been to any of these destinations? If so, which ones and what did you think about them?
Are there any cities or countries that did not make the list that you would recommend? What are they and why do you think people should visit them?
What is your ideal kind of travel destination? A place to be adventurous or a place to relax? A country where you can learn about a different culture, try new foods and practice speaking another language? Or somewhere more familiar? A site where you can enjoy nature or revel in the excitement of a bustling city?
Would you like to have Jada Yuan’s job as the 52 Places traveler? What would be fun about this job? What might be challenging?
In your opinion, what makes someone a good travel writer? What qualities would that person need to have? What types of experiences would you like to read about?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Essay 66: What Is Your Fantasy Vacation?
T Magazine’s spring travel issue lists ideas for vacations from biking in Africa to shopping at a Belgian flea market, while “The 45 Places to Go in 2012” include London for the Olympics, Mexico for a food festival and a Caribbean Island for pampering at a five-star resort. Where would you like to go, and what would you like to do, on your fantasy vacation?
The introduction to the Spring travel issue of T Magazine reads:
The spring travel issue of T kicks off in China, where the model Liu Wen leads a tour through her home province of Hunan, charting remarkable changes in her native land (and in herself). The personal journeys continue with Daphne Merkin’s meditation on the allure of Haworth, England, home to the Brontë sisters; Gideon Lewis-Kraus’s pilgrimage to Ukraine with his gay dad and 50,000 Hasids; Ethan Hauser’s trip to California in search of the Bakersfield sound; and Lynn Yaeger’s spree through a mammoth Belgian flea market. Elsewhere, Jim Lewis reports from Newfoundland on an ambitious plan to save tiny, gorgeous Fogo Island, and Kevin Gray finds that in the midst of crisis, Lisbon’s creative scene is flourishing. Along the way, we touch down in Mumbai’s hottest neighborhood, check out the biggest New York hotel opening of the year and serve up a smart and stylish guide to the most bike-friendly cities around the globe.
Students: Tell us about your dream vacation, whether it’s something exotic like sailing around the world, or something much closer to home (and more modest in price). Where would you go and what would you do? How long would you stay? With whom would you go? Do you think you’ll ever be able to take this fantasy trip? Why or why not?
Holidays & Seasons
Essay 67: How Do You Celebrate Your Birthday?
Birthdays can often be a huge deal for children: themed parties, elaborate cakes, lots of presents, even goody bags. But at some point, do we outgrow celebrating our birthday? Or is it still fun to celebrate ourselves once a year with friends and family?
How do you celebrate your birthday?
In her satirical Sunday Review essay “It’s My Birthday! Is That O.K.?”, Alison Zeidman wonders if there is any room for a birthday get-together with friends in our increasingly informal, social-media-obsessed culture. Or is that asking for too much?
Hey everybody!
It’s that time of year again … my birthday! It would mean the world to me if you all could be there to celebrate. I know you’re all busy with your own lives though, so if you can’t, no pressure. Seriously — please do not feel obligated.
WHEN: I’m thinking Tuesday, March 22. That’s the actual date of my birthday, but more important, it’s a weekday. I know I can’t expect my birthday party to compete with anybody’s weekend, right? Or your Wednesdays. Or Thursdays. Or Fridays. Maybe Mondays, I guess. Hmm … should I switch it to a Monday? Never mind. Let’s just leave it on the 22nd — just in case I’m wrong and one of you is, like, the anti-Garfield and just loves Mondays!
As far as time, I’m thinking … 7:30? Right? I figure that’s late enough for everybody to get there after work, but not so late that you’ll start to resent me for keeping you out. LOL. (But not really LOL — I mean, I get it, you have to get home, watch some TV, scroll through Facebook on your phone, stay up for another two hours … I totally get it. Don’t worry.)
WHERE: I was thinking we could go to that place where Jen had her birthday dinner, the one with those amazing truffle fries. Remember the truffle fries?! I wasn’t invited, so I don’t — I’ve just heard a lot of people talking about them.
It’s in Williamsburg, which I also figured would be good because I know a lot of us are living in that general part of Brooklyn these days. Except for Tom. Tom, you just moved to Park Slope, right? That’s kind of out of the way for me, but would you be more likely to come if dinner were in your neighborhood? And everybody else — would you be more likely to come if Tom’s coming?
Students: Read the entire Opinion essay, then answer the questions below:
How do you celebrate your birthday?
Was your birthday a big deal when you were younger? Do you have a favorite party or celebration that you remember? Is it still a big deal for you?
Is celebrating our birthdays as we get older a fun way to bring our community of family and friends together? Is it just a good excuse for a party? Is it a healthy way to celebrate ourselves? Or is it a narcissistic exercise?
What do you think of Ms. Zeidman’s satirical piece? What do you think is her message? Does it ring true? In what ways?
Essay 68: Should the United States Celebrate Columbus Day?
Does your school recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday? What do you know about Christopher Columbus?
In “Columbus Day, or ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day’?” Jake Flanagin writes:
It’s a controversial day with a turbulent history. “This historically problematic holiday — Columbus never actually set foot on the continental U.S. — has made an increasing number of people wince, given the enslavement and genocide of Native American people that followed in the wake of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria,” writes Yvonne Zipp for The Christian Science Monitor. “The neighborhood wasn’t exactly empty when he arrived in 1492.”
Back in 1992 — 500 years after Columbus’s fateful landing in the Caribbean — Berkeley, Calif., was the first American city to repurpose his day in honor of Native America. “Talk of an alternative Columbus Day dates back to the 1970s,” writes Nolan Feeney for Time, “but the idea came to Berkeley after the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador, in 1990. That led to another conference among Northern Californian Native American groups.” Attendees brought the idea in front of the Berkeley City Council, after which they “appointed a task force to investigate the ideas and Columbus’ historical legacy.” Two years later, council members officially instated Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus by a unanimous vote.
The California state senator Lori Hancock, then the mayor of Berkeley, remembers encountering Italian-American pushback similar to that in Seattle. “We just had to keep reiterating that that was not the purpose,” she told Mr. Feeney. “The purpose was to really affirm the incredible legacy of the indigenous people who were in the North American continent long before Columbus.”
And it’s worth noting that not all Italian-Americans tote Christopher Columbus as a symbol of cultural pride. “Those supposed leaders in the Italian-American community who oppose Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day do not speak for all of us of Italian descent,” writes Margaret Viggiani of Seattle in a letter to The Seattle Times. “They certainly don’t speak for me. I, and many others, agree wholeheartedly with the long-overdue change and applaud the Seattle City Council for doing it.”
“Why should anyone take pride in honoring the life of a man who brought misery and degradation of the native peoples of this hemisphere?” she asks. “It’s time to give due to the important and overlooked accomplishments of the many indigenous people who inhabited this hemisphere long before it was named the Americas.”
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:
Why does the United States celebrate Columbus Day? In your opinion, is the holiday problematic?
What do you think of the argument for changing the name and focus of the holiday from Columbus to “indigenous peoples”? Does it dishonor the heritage of Italian-Americans, a group that has also faced discrimination? Or does it serve to recognize and affirm the overlooked history and contributions of Native Americans?
Do you think changing the name of the holiday can change the way indigenous peoples are treated and remembered in United States history? Or is this move largely symbolic?
Do you think the United States should continue to recognize Columbus Day as an official holiday? If so, why? If not, should we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead — or something else?
Related Teaching Idea: The Role of Monuments
A worker removing the red paint from the hand of a Christopher Columbus statue in Central Park on Tuesday. Statues of the 15th-century explorer have come under scrutiny amid a larger debate about monuments to controversial historical figures.
Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times
In an August 2017 piece, Trip Gabriel writes:
… since the violence in Charlottesville, Va., two weeks ago, the anger from the left over monuments and public images deemed racist, insensitive or inappropriate has quickly spread to statues of Christopher Columbus and the former Philadelphia tough cop mayor Frank Rizzo, Boston’s landmark Faneuil Hall, a popular Chicago thoroughfare and even Maryland’s state song. An Asian-American sportscaster named Robert Lee was pulled from broadcasting a University of Virginia football game.
The disputes over America’s racial past and public symbols have proliferated with dizzying speed, spreading to states far beyond the Confederacy and inspiring campaigns by minorities and political progressives across the country.
In September 2017, a statue of Columbus in New York City was defaced with red paint stained on his hands, symbolizing his role in the genocide of Native Americans. In August of 2017 in Baltimore, another statue of Columbus was graffitied with the words: “Racism: Tear it down.”
Where do you stand in the statue debate? Should all Christopher Columbus statues across the United States be taken down? Why or why not?
Some have argued that focusing on statues distracts people from the larger issues of social justice for historically marginalized populations, like Native Americans. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Visit this article to learn “Why People Have Protested Columbus Day Almost From Its Start,” and see the Christopher Columbus Times Topics page to find out more about the explorer and his legacy.
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Essay 69: Do You Ever Hang Out at the Mall?
For decades the mall was the cool place to hang out for millions of American teenagers. But have times changed?
Do you ever hang out at the mall? Is the shopping mall still an important part of teenage culture?
In “The Economics (and Nostalgia) of Dead Malls,” Nelson D. Schwartz writes:
Inside the gleaming mall here on the Sunday before Christmas, just one thing was missing: shoppers.
The upbeat music of “Jingle Bell Rock” bounced off the tiles, and the smell of teriyaki chicken drifted from the food court, but only a handful of stores were open at the sprawling enclosed shopping center. A few visitors walked down the long hallways and peered through locked metal gates into vacant spaces once home to retailers like H&M, Wet Seal and Kay Jewelers.
“It’s depressing,” Jill Kalata, 46, said as she tried on a few of the last sneakers for sale at the Athlete’s Foot, scheduled to close in a few weeks. “This place used to be packed. And Christmas, the lines were out the door. Now I’m surprised anything is still open.”
The Owings Mills Mall is poised to join a growing number of what real estate professionals, architects, urban planners and Internet enthusiasts term “dead malls.” Since 2010, more than two dozen enclosed shopping malls have been closed, and an additional 60 are on the brink, according to Green Street Advisors, which tracks the mall industry.
Premature obituaries for the shopping mall have been appearing since the late 1990s, but the reality today is more nuanced, reflecting broader trends remaking the American economy. With income inequality continuing to widen, high-end malls are thriving, even as stolid retail chains like Sears, Kmart and J. C. Penney falter, taking the middle- and working-class malls they anchored with them.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …
Do you ever hang out at the mall? Do teenagers still hang out at shopping malls? Where do teenagers and tweens hang out these days, if not the mall?
Is the mall still an important part of teenage culture? Or, has it lost its cool?
Is it sad that so many malls are dying, as reported in the article? Or will American society be better off with fewer malls? Why?
Essay 70: How Would You Make Over Your Mall?
What’s your favorite mall? Has it suffered during the recent economic crisis, with vacant areas replacing favorite stores? What would you do if you had the chance to “make over” a mall that has more space than tenants? Read a related article for ideas, then re-imagine how that space could be used while the economy recovers.
In “How About Gardening or Golfing at the Mall?” Stephanie Clifford writes:
Cleveland’s Galleria at Erieview, like many malls across the country, is suffering. Closed on weekends because there are so few visitors, it is down to eight retail stores, eight food-court vendors and a couple of businesses like the local bar association.
So part of the glass-covered mall is being converted into a vegetable garden.
“I look at it as space, I don’t look at it as retail,” said Vicky Poole, a Galleria executive. “You can’t anymore.”
Malls, over the last 50 years, have gone from the community center in some cities to a relic of the way people once wanted to shop. While malls have faced problems in the past, the Internet is now pulling even more sales away from them. And as retailers crawl out of the worst recession since the advent of malls, many are realizing they are overbuilt and are closing locations at a fast clip.
… Schools, medical clinics, call centers, government offices and even churches are now standard tenants in malls. By hanging a curtain to hide the food court, the Galleria in Cleveland, which opened in 1987 with about 70 retailers and restaurants, rents space for weddings and other events. Other malls have added aquariums, casinos and car showrooms.
Students: Tell us what you’d do with unused space at a mall in your community. What businesses, entertainment options or much-needed community amenities would you add? Or would you simply dismantle the whole structure to make room for housing, farms or park land? Why? What role do malls play in your life right now?
