The shuttered entrance of Harry’s Bar and Family Restaurant, once a longtime street-level fixture of the historic Hotel Harrington in downtown Washington, D.C. Harry’s opened in 1993 and became part of the hotel’s complicated local lore: a dive bar, tourist stop, neighborhood oddity, and, in its later years, a nationally noticed gathering place during the political unrest surrounding the 2020…
World No. 10 Taylor Fritz locks his eyes onto the ball just a split-second before string bed contact during his opening round match at the 2026 DC Open. Fritz, seeded No. 3 in the tournament, kicked off his campaign on July 27, 2026, with a sharp, straight-sets victory over Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, taking the match 6-3, 6-4 on Rock Creek Park’s Stadium Court.
Emma Navarro returns a backhand during her first-round match against Sofia Kenin at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 2026. Seeded No. 8 in the tournament, Navarro won the match 6-0, 7-5.
The centerpiece of the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C., the Great Hall was designed by the esteemed architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and dedicated in April 1924. This stunning interior dome is the hall’s signature feature, intended to evoke the grandeur of a classical Byzantine cathedral repurposed for the exploration of the natural world. The intricate art in…
Standing outside the Historic Courthouse (now the D.C. Court of Appeals) in Judiciary Square, this marble figure of Abraham Lincoln is the nation’s oldest extant public monument dedicated to the 16th president. Unveiled on April 15, 1868—the third anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination—it predates Daniel Chester French’s famous seated statue at the Lincoln Memorial by 54 years. The sculptor,…
Looking up through the circular ceiling of the newly opened National Geographic Museum of Exploration in Washington, D.C.
There is a disconnect between the sheer volume of writing published online and who actually sees it. If you have ever felt like your personal blog is a quiet, isolated corner of the internet, the data shows you are in very good company. Across the estimated 600 million blogs that exist globally, industry tracking indicates that fewer than 10% of all blogs generate consistent organic traffic . We…
This post gets at something I’ve never quite been able to say: When I think about what I wish to accomplish if I knew I was going to die, apart from spending time with my loved ones I think only writing is left. It is a way of emptying myself I guess, a way of sublimating my sad existence. I wouldn’t pretend that my writing is useful, but at least it will be a window into an interior…
Alan Jacobs : Blogs don’t have the important place on the internet today that they once had; I know that perfectly well, and I don’t care. Those who are genuinely interested in what I have to say can find me here on the open web.
I put this list together for myself over the years, as a place to keep track of the archives, timelines, and books I trust most. As the child of Holocaust survivors, I’ve spent a lot of time looking for source material I can rely on, and I’m sharing it here in case it’s useful to someone else doing the same. As the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum explains, the Holocaust…
I grew up eating Mineo’s pizza in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. About once a week my father brought home a fresh pie—a real treat, and a legend at Taylor Allderdice. The story behind it is pure Pittsburgh. Giovanni Mineo arrived from Sicily in 1954, the year before I was born, where he’d worked as a baker. Riding a streetcar down Murray Avenue one day, he spotted an empty storefront at…
I wish I had learned this long ago . . .
Edinburgh Castle dominates the skyline above Scotland’s capital. This view from Calton Hill includes the clock tower of the Balmoral Hotel and the dense collection of Victorian and Georgian buildings that characterize central Edinburgh. Photographed at sunset in April 2026.
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Berlin twice. The first time was in the early 1980s and the second time in 2018. The transformation was dramatic. Berlin Before the Fall of the Wall I visited Berlin in the early 1980s. Berlin was then a divided city. I stayed in the Western zone near the Kurfurstendamm , which at the time was the heart of Berlin. I took a one day bus tour to the East. We crossed…
Om on big publishing platforms: No matter how often this happens, we don’t learn our lessons — we continue to till other people’s proverbial land and keep using their social spaces. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Medium, we get trapped in the big platforms because they dangle the one big carrot in front of our eyes: the reach, the audience, and the influence. And we keep doing…
The Art Dealer (L’antiquaire) is a beautiful 2015 French film about a young Parisian woman portrayed by Anna Sigalevitch. She’s searching for paintings stolen from her Jewish family during WWII. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing who is in the hit French series Spiral does a nice job portraying the woman’s husband. The cinema-photography is excellent and the slow uncovering of unflattering facts reveals…
Sophia Efthimiatou , head of writer relations at Substack, explains that it’s ok to start writing with a small audience: You would think known writers with large audiences have it easy here, but the pressure to succeed is felt more among them. The stakes are low if you are not at all known. There is no audience to lose, only one to gain. And gain you will. Perhaps when you start your only…
Ben Werdmuller on what you should write about on your blog: Whatever you want to share. That’s the long answer and the short answer. What you shouldn’t worry about is whether what you’re sharing is valuable. If you want to share it, it’s inherently valuable: a reflection of who you are and how you think about the world. If you want to use it to build a business, then do that. If you want to share…
JungleDragon is a social wildlife community for fans of nature. It’s mission is to facilitate the creation of the largest resource of nature imagery on the planet. The site offers an engaging, social and friendly way to find and contribute images and other content. The site was created by Ferdy Christant , a talented photographer. The site is free to use. I am a member and am enjoying it. If…
If you’re interested in Pittsburgh, the blog Father Pitt offers a wide-ranging collection of photographs of my hometown. The author remains anonymous, but the site is maintained with care and updated regularly. Each photo is accompanied by thoughtful descriptions, and the entire collection is released to the public domain under a CC0 dedication—making it both a visual resource and a gift to the…
Toulouse doesn’t shout. It doesn’t need to. France’s fourth-largest city has a way of revealing itself slowly—through the glow of its pink brick at sunset, the hum of its cafés, the youthfulness of its streets, and the golden light that pours across the Garonne River as if the whole city has turned its face toward the sun. I had the privilege of visiting Toulouse as part of a group organized and…
Singer Helen Reddy , born in Melbourne, Australia in 1941, died in Los Angeles on September 29, 2020, at the age of 78. Her first hit came in 1971 with a cover of “ I Don’t Know How to Love Him ” from Jesus Christ Superstar . It remains my absolute favorite of her songs — tender, emotional, and beautifully sung. A year later, she released what would become her signature anthem: “ I Am Woman .” It…
The 240-year-old Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has officially been saved from a scheduled shutdown, passing into the hands of the nonprofit Venetoulis Institute, according to the official announcement . While the sale prevents total extinction, it underscores a harsh reality. Thirty-four years after the Pittsburgh Press ceased operations in 1992, the city was once again staring down the terrifying…