In little more than a decade, the term “ultra-processed foods” (UPFs) has risen from an obscure academic coinage to one of the most potent ideas in the American food imagination. It has saturated media coverage of diet and disease, spawned a profusion of guides teaching shoppers how to spot UPFs at the supermarket, and animated […]

David Simon and Ed Burns imagine a world where Charles Lindbergh becomes president and fascism rises in America.

America’s 250th anniversary has arrived, and, at a national level, the narrative is set: Presdient Donald Trump has made the semi-quincentennial into his personal party.  The White House has rolled out a series of headline-grabbing events, from a UFC fight on the South Lawn to a failed concert series eventually replaced with — what else? […]

Baldur's Gate 3 has been praised for its writing, but the excess of choices and alternate paths undermine the storytelling

America’s 250th birthday celebration feels like a child’s birthday party ruined by fighting between two soon-to-be-divorced parents. What should be a benign celebration of shared, if slightly boring, values has become a fully partisan affair.  In part, this is due to the president’s determination to make it all about himself. But the agita surrounding America […]