Quarantine (Life and Culture)

Imitation is the best kind of flattery. All creative people, whether they be writers, artists, dancers, singers or actors, know that. Think about the performers on a TV show like “The Voice,” who sometimes perform the song of a judge they are targeting. Sometimes, it is imitation that gets them on the team of their…

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Last fall, when The New York Times Learning Network invited teenagers across the United States to tell us what living in a pandemic was like, we didn’t expect so many answers — nor did we expect…

If it feels as if you’ve already explored every last nook and cranny of your cramped lockdown life know this: Right under your nose, there’s a hidden world operating entirely out of view.That world is geocaching, a no-contact game of hide-and-seek between hundreds of thousands of strangers. Players hide caches — waterproof containers, usually small…

March 7, 2021The New York Times, through its Learning Network, asked the question, and more than 5,500 responses poured in.In words and images, audio and video, they reported that it was, in many ways, a generation-defining disaster. Being trapped inside — and missing the milestones that ordinarily mark coming of age in America — was…

Have you ever had the dream where you take a test that you haven’t studied for? Or the one where you’re caught in a public place in your underwear? Here’s another common one: You open a door in your home and discover a room you have never seen before. To make this one a reality,…

The past year has been difficult for many people. The pandemic, the politics, the job loss and the isolation — most Americans have had to find some new coping mechanisms to make it through. Here’s one: erasure poetry.Creativity can be healing in difficult times, but it’s not always easy to tap into those creative juices.…

This essay, by Aria Capelli, age 16, from The Athenian School in Danville, Calif., is one of the Top 11 winners of The Learning Network’s Ninth Annual Student Editorial Contest, for which we received 16,664 entries.We are publishing the work of all the winners and runners-up over the next week, and you can find them…

This week is the one-year anniversary of the At Home section, and what better way to celebrate than with a puzzle containing a hidden picture? Solve the clues and reveal the twist, with a mini shout-out to the section’s basket-weaving activity from August.Write the answers to the 16 clues in the blank spaces on each…

As students readjust to school after two years of pandemic learning, many are striving to rebuild their academic confidence. Some educators believe this is a crucial moment for teachers and parents to keep their distance when learning becomes difficult, and to be explicit about the fact that the challenges students may be facing can offer…

Here is a sampling of the week’s events and how to tune in (all times are Eastern). Note that events are subject to change after publication.MondayCelebrate Indigenous cuisine at the “Reclamation Feast,” a seminar hosted by the Museum of Food and Drink and the Greene Space. During the 90-minute event, participants will learn to make…