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Dec 6, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
In 2008, Robbert de Klerk, an attorney practicing family law in Los Angeles, was looking to change jobs when he learned of a tantalizing opportunity: Humphrey Bogart’s estate was hiring a CEO. Bogart’s son had been managing his late father’s affairs, but he wanted to bring on a lawyer to protect—and promote—the actor’s name. By 2009, de Klerk had landed the gig.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
Alexza, a Midwest native, struggled with credit-card debt for 10 years, working multiple jobs—as a nanny, bartender, and distillery tour guide—just to meet the minimum payments. Collection agencies called her constantly. She stopped answering, but that wasn’t enough to escape her financial anxiety. She entered an inpatient therapy program in large part because of the stress, which compounded her debts further.
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Jul 26, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
This week, 11 million tourists will join more than 10,000 athletes from 206 countries for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Fifty-nine percent of American adults say they plan to tune in to the Games. This is a level of attention that the founders of the modern Olympics could only have dreamed of achieving.
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Jun 13, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
Fifty years ago, you couldn’t watch a live televised event without the possibility that a nude person might beeline past the camera. Streaking burst onto the scene in the 1970s, when media outlets began writing about college fraternities embracing the practice, and it quickly grew into a cultural phenomenon. Streakers crashed the Oscars, the Olympics, Wimbledon, a handful of rugby games, a Pan Am flight, and a plaza on Wall Street.
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Jun 13, 2024 | 
centerforfiction.org | Myriam Lacroix |Daniel Lefferts |Michael Waters |Thomas Grattan
Thursday, 6:00 pm EDTJune 13, 2024 The Center for Fiction& LivestreamedThis Pride Month, The Center for Fiction is back with our annual celebration of LGBTQ+ literature. Amidst increased book bans and censorship, we’re giving you the school book fair you always wished for, championing queer stories and LGBTQ+ authors.
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Jun 10, 2024 | 
history.com | Michael Waters
In December 1935, the Czech track star Zdeněk Koubek announced that he was going to be living as a man. To sports fans, the news seemed hard to believe: Koubek had been assigned female at birth, and he had competed, and set a world record, in the women’s 800-meter dash. But after years of expressing an affinity for masculinity, Koubek decided the category no longer fit him. He was going to undergo a series of operations in his home country of Czechoslovakia, he told the press.
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May 15, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
If you walked into an office building during the second half of the 20th century, you could probably figure out who had power with a single glance: Just look for the person in the corner office. The corner offices of yore were big, with large windows offering city views and constant streams of light, plus unbeatable levels of privacy. Everyone wanted them, but only those at the top got them. Land in one, and you’d know you’d made it.
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Mar 28, 2024 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
In 2011, demographic researchers across America realized something surprising: Census forms had a lot of spots left blank. When one person fills it out for the whole household, they might skip certain sections—especially the middle-name column. Sixty percent of people left out the middle names of their extended family members, and nearly 80 percent omitted those of roommates they weren’t related to. Respondents weren’t trying to keep secrets.
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Dec 18, 2023 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
The next time you’re at the airport or checking into a hotel, you might notice a traveling group that looks, at least at first glance, a little unwieldy: young kids, their parents, and their grandparents, all vacationing together regardless of age or mobility limits.
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Oct 20, 2023 | 
theatlantic.com | Michael Waters
In 1925, a new, highly desirable trait was invented. Press reports hailed a new Hollywood star: Count Ludwig von Salm-Hoogstraeten, an Austrian noble and tennis champion, who was rumored to be appearing in a film from the megaproducer Samuel Goldwyn. What made the 39-year-old Hollywood material? “He is photogenic,” Goldwyn told a reporter. Newspapers quickly credited the producer with coining a new word.
