Tom Wright-Piersanti

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Tom Wright-Piersanti

Last May, my father-in-law showed up at my house with a child-size drum set in his trunk. That might make some parents shudder, but I was thrilled. I was a drummer when I was younger, with a set just like this one, and now my 7-year-old son could follow in my footsteps. I've learned two things in the year since. First, you can't force your kids to like the things you like; my son has probably played those drums for 15 minutes total. More important, though, I learned that I wasn't a former drummer.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Tom Wright-Piersanti |Patricia Mazzei

"The idea of an American pope was unimaginable for generations," Jason Horowitz, our Rome bureau chief, noted yesterday. Why would church leaders pick a pope from a global superpower that shapes world affairs? Yet the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel chose Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old Chicago native, as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He has adopted the papal name Leo XIV. He's the first American to hold the job.

Dec 19, 2024 | nytimes.com | Ashley Wu |Jon Huang |Sean Catangui |Tom Wright-Piersanti |Ian Philbrick |Lyna Bentahar | +6 more

Oct 17, 2023 | nytimes.com | Tom Wright-Piersanti

President Biden landed in Israel this morning as the world waited for evidence of whether a Hamas-linked group or Israel caused a devastating explosion yesterday at a hospital in Gaza City. The explosion, evidently from a missile, killed hundreds of people and injured hundreds more. ( This video, verified by Times journalists, shows the moment the blast destroyed the hospital.)Both Israeli and Palestinian officials blamed the other side for the carnage.

Jul 16, 2023 | nytimes.com | Tom Wright-Piersanti

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/briefing/remembering-the-dead.htmlYou’re reading The Morning newsletter.  Make sense of the day’s news and ideas. David Leonhardt and Times journalists guide you through what’s happening — and why it matters. Fans of the Grateful Dead are saying goodbye to the band this weekend. It’s not the first time. Since the band lost its frontman Jerry Garcia nearly three decades ago, it has re-formed several times, touring continuously and winning over new generations.