Culture Writing

USA TODAY • 28th January 2025

Years ago, I watched my hometown burn. This song gave me hope.

I, like many, share in the delusion that the place I grew up is unlike any other.

Even now if you told me that the suburban magic of Santa Rosa was easily replicable across the American landscape I wouldn’t believe you.

USA TODAY • 15th January 2025

How long can an accuser be unnamed? Inside legal debate over Diplo, Diddy and anonymity

Celebrity legal proceedings may sometimes seem lopsided − with a well-known, A-lister on one end and a lesser-recognized name on the other.Sometimes, the other side has no name at all.

Opting instead for the common pseudonyms Jane or John Doe, anonymous accusers can further intensify that dynamic and are at the center of some of the largest legal stories of the past year.

USA TODAY • 3rd October 2024

How sugar became sexual and 'sinful' − and why you shouldn't skip dessert

Some say sugar is a cheap high, but for me, it’s a life force − and a mechanism for rebellion.

USA TODAY • 4th August 2024

It's my party, and I'll take it seriously if I want to: How Partiful revived the evite

In 2024, the party is so back. Block party, birthday party, bris – you name it, people are throwing it.

USA TODAY • 6th May 2024

What happens inside The Met Gala? An up-close look at the art celebs see

The line between high fashion and nature is blurred throughout the Metropolitan Museum of Art's newest exhibit "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." The exhibition is the centerpiece of this year's Met Gala, an event that has become so eclipsed by celebrity it can be hard to remember it's actually a fundraiser for the museum's Costume Institute.

USA TODAY • 4th April 2024

Decoding the sky: A solar eclipse diagram for kids (adults also welcome)

Look up in the sky: It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's the moon covering the sun.

USA TODAY • 26th March 2024

'The Bachelor's' surprising revelation about the science of finding a soulmate

The ‘Bachelor’ is a reality television institution. Long before Netflix threw its hat in the ring with hits like “Love is Blind” and “The Ultimatum,” the ABC franchise was selling audiences on the prospect of televised marriage.

USA TODAY • 23rd February 2024

Frog and Toad are everywhere. How 50-year-old children's characters became Gen Z icons

What makes a great love story? Maybe it’s chemistry, or devotion, or music swelling at the right moment. Or maybe it’s writing a letter just so the other person has a reason to check the mail.

USA TODAY • 12th December 2023

Fashionable and utilitarian, the fanny pack rises again. What's behind the renaissance?

Correction & Clarification: A previous version of this article misspelled Anush Mirbegian's name

Dad-core may be having a comeback. Adam Sandler is the newest fashion icon and "it-girls" are donning chunky new-balance sneakers, oversized sweatshirts, and wait … is that … a fanny pack?

From street style to concert couture, young people are bringing a classic bag back from oblivion where it was chucked presumably sometime post-90s. After a brief heyday, the fanny pack became inextricably bound t

USA TODAY • 5th August 2023

Suddenly repulsed by your partner? You may have gotten 'the ick.' Here's what that means.

Suddenly repulsed by your partner? You may have gotten 'the ick.' Here's what that means.

Have you ever dreamed up your perfect partner? He's soft-spoken, romantic and …. wait, he's into live-action role-play? Ick! (Or ... maybe not?)

Fostering a fledgling love affair can be exciting but also precarious. What if you learn something new about them that makes you cringe? Worry not, modern dating lingo has a term for that: "the ick."

It's a catchall for turnoffs large and small, and a difficult

USA TODAY • 29th June 2023

D'arcy Drollinger, first-ever drag laureate in US, wants everyone to be more fabulous

D'arcy Drollinger, first-ever drag laureate in US, wants everyone to be more fabulous

It is a Saturday morning and D’Arcy Drollinger is mid gloss application, her lips puckered and ready for a fresh sheen. Her hair is styled in a brassy blonde bouffant and her neon pink outfit is accented by heavy costume jewelry.

She has a packed schedule for the day: first, a "Pink Triangle" ceremony honoring the symbol of resistance forced on LGBTQ people in Nazi prison camps, later a fundraiser, and then r

USA TODAY • 22nd June 2023

Cheer up, buttercup. Here's how to be happy (according to people who study it.)

In the past 12 months, just over 27,000 people a month have searched the phrase "how to be happy," according to Conductor Searchlight.

A spoiler alert before you read this article: We don't have the answer. Good news for us, no one else does either. The truth is that happiness requires a highly individualized recipe and any attempt to deliver some definitive and universal answer would be foolish. You'd have better luck consulting a Magic 8 Ball, or some other source with a false sense of confid

USA TODAY • 17th May 2023

'The love that's in the atmosphere is just palpable': Drag Story Hour dazzles its audience

Correction & Clarification: A previous version of this article misspelled the names of Amy Hamberry and Letitia James.

On an unseasonably warm winter Sunday in Manhattan’s West Village, a bashful 8-year-old mixed with a crowd of brightly adorned adults.

“It’s fun … and you get to see people who are beautifully dressed,” Fox McGinnis said, describing why he likes Drag Story Hour so much.

Fox formed part of a gaggle of other children, parents and a smattering of New York dignitaries for the eve

USA TODAY • 8th January 2023

What it's like to spend a day with the San Francisco 49ers' mascot, Sourdough Sam

What it's like to spend a day with the San Francisco 49ers' mascot, Sourdough Sam

It’s 60 and sunny when I cross the county line into Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m headed to Levi’s Stadium to watch the 49ers face off against the Washington Commanders.

Well, really I’m there to spend some quality time with Sourdough Sam, the 49ers' beloved but elusive mascot, who has invited me to watch him work.

By the time I park, the tailgate is already in full sw

San Francisco Chronicle • 26th May 2022

Texas school shooting shows us that teachers do far more than educate, they are our children’s protectors

To be an educator is to stretch your capacity for family wider than most of us will ever understand. Teachers also do the impossible math of divvying up the fierce protectiveness of a parent so there’s enough for each of their students without ever diminishing its potency.