In Search of the Meaning of Life? Meet Me at the Monkey Bars.
The New York Times
Julian Shapiro-Barnum interviews kids for his social media sensation “Recess Therapy.”
Julian Shapiro-Barnum brims with creative energy, often scribbling ideas for new projects in his Moleskine the way others might add items to a shopping list. And though he graduated in 2021 from the B.F.A. acting program at Boston University, he said he’s never wanted fame.
“But I really like audiences,” he said at a cafe in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Though his energy levels belie it, he’s never had a cup of coffee; instead, he drank herbal tea.
“Recess Therapy,” which he created and hosts, has amassed more than a million Instagram followers since its start in 2021. In short video clips on that platform, and full-length YouTube episodes, he interviews New Yorkers aged 2 to 9 on topics ominous and frivolous: climate change, love, the economy, peeing your pants. The results are alternately — or sometimes simultaneously — profound, hysterical, saccharine, aphoristic, rhapsodic, loopy and unhinged, a kind of timeless-yet-woke Generation Alpha version of Charles Schulz’s “The Doctor Is In.”
The disgraced New York politician is considering a run for City Council. But even in an era of political comebacks, this might be pushing it.
Conservatives in Florida have moved from explosive politics to subtler tactics to uproot liberal “indoctrination” in higher education by removing classes like Sociology from core requirements.
A document prepared by federal investigators bolsters claims by women who say they were hired for sex by Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for attorney general, who denies wrongdoing.
Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with lying to investors about revenue and her customer base, which she claimed included some of the nation’s largest school districts, including New York City’s.
Ms. Tisch, a member of a prominent New York family who has held several positions in city government, will take over the nation’s largest police department.
The verdict followed a four-day bench trial in which prosecutors detailed a violent attack that became a flashpoint in the bitter national debate over immigration policy.
Now that New York City and surrounding counties are under a drought warning, officials are asking residents to save water and help prevent more wildfires.
The return to power of President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has vowed to confront China on tariffs, has created deep uncertainty about the U.S. role in avoiding global conflicts.
G.O.P. lawmakers whose leaders have pressed to roll back transgender rights around the country moved to bar Sarah McBride, the first transgender member of Congress, from women’s rooms on Capitol Hill.
The billionaire has rapidly transformed parts of the state, shocking even development-friendly officials: “It was like, ‘Voilà, Elon is here.’”
School districts serving more than two million elementary-school children would be able to adopt a curriculum that draws on the Bible.