Latest news with #OlgaKhazan
CBS News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
This week on "Sunday Morning" (May 18): By Design — A Weekend in New Orleans
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) Hosted by Jane Pauley COVER STORY: Welcome to New Orleans In the 1930s, it's said that playwright and longtime New Orleans resident Tennessee Williams counted the city among America's top three. "Everywhere else," his saying goes, "is Cleveland." Known as a thriving hub for art, culture and cuisine, New Orleans has also faced its share of challenges — fires, wars, diseases, hurricanes and, most recently, a terrorist attack — and survived. Correspondent Lee Cowan shines a light on the city's rich history, and the resilience of the people who live there. For more info: ARCHITECTURE: Longue Vue House Host Jane Pauley visits Longue Vue House, a 20th-century estate and architectural masterpiece designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman. BRAND NEW YOU: Can you redesign a personality? For years, journalist Olga Khazan hated much of her own personality. So, despite the common assumption that character traits are immutable once a person reaches a certain age, Khazan set out to change hers. Correspondent Susan Spencer explores the field of personality science, and hears from a professor at the University of Kentucky whose research in that area could be a game-changer for mental health treatments. For more info: FLOWER POWER: The ancient art of Hawaiian lei-making Hawaii is renowned for lei-making, an ancient tradition that's still popular on the island today. But the future of the craft could be in peril, as flower farms disappear and remaining land overheats due to the effects of climate change. Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti sits down with Meleana Estes, a Hawaiian native who learned the art of making leis from her grandmother. He also attends this year's annual Lei Day Festival, held annually in Waikiki since 1929, and meets Island Boy founder Andrew Mau, who's reinventing what a lei can be. EASY DOES IT: The French Quarter's historic ironwork, and the craftsmen who keep it alive A city known for its centuries-old ironwork needs an expert who can keep it looking like new. Correspondent Michelle Miller, the former first Lady of New Orleans, is our guide to some of its most iconic designs. She meets with Darryl Reeves, one of just a handful of restoration blacksmiths still working in New Orleans, where vintage, wrought iron pieces survive in the French Quarter. For more info: DESIGNING OUTSIDE: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor living continues to thrive Throughout history, the American backyard has greatly evolved. Even after the pandemic forced people to spend more time outside, outdoor living spaces have become a booming business, to the tune of about $10 billion a year. Correspondent David Pogue talks with "House Beautiful" editor-in-chief Joanna Saltz about the trends and visits a home with Foxterra Design cofounder Justin Fox to see just how some people are taking their interior design outside. HIDE AND SEEK: Secret passageways to history Correspondent Nancy Giles goes in search of hidden rooms, and finds some of them in the most unexpected places. Giles speaks to Steven Humble, the founder of Creating Home Engineering, which specializes in building secret passageway doors and high-security panic rooms. She also hears from April Tucholke, who researches hidden spaces and says the phenomena of secret rooms goes back centuries. BEYOND GUMBO: How childhood meals inspired two chefs' acclaimed menus New Orleans is known for its music, Mardi Gras and, especially, its food. Correspondent Mo Rocca visits with two award-winning chefs who created extraordinary menus by reaching back into their childhood memories of cooking and culture. Rocca speaks with Nina Compton and her husband, Larry Miller, about the impact of St. Lucia on the cooking at Compere Lapin, and with chef Serigne Mbaye and his business partner Dr. Effie Richardson, who bring a Senegalese flavor to the food at Dakar Nola. For more info: RIDE IN STYLE: New Orleans transit official says streetcars are integral to the city's identity — here's why By the 1960s, New Orleans had replaced nearly all of its streetcars with buses. But some continued on humming. Lona Edwards Hankins, the CEO of the New Orleans Transit Authority, tells correspondent Michelle Miller that as the city reintroduced contemporary streetcars in recent decades, it also maintained a few originals. Anthony Maggio, a seasoned machinist, shares how he and an army of craftsmen keep them running. For more info: NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Christian Bale is on a mission to keep foster siblings together Actor Christian Bale won praise for his titular performance in the "Batman" franchise, and now, he's on a mission to help kids who could use a real-life superhero. Bale is helping to build Together California, a foster care home designed to keep orphaned siblings from being separated. He talks to correspondent Tracy Smith about his inspiration for the project. ITALY: Prehistoric homes in Puglia Correspondent Seth Doane travels to southern Italy for a look at its magical peaked Trulli houses. SUITING UP: For many, the seersucker suit is a New Orleans staple Southern gentlemen know all about the beauty and coolness of the seersucker suit, and its connection to New Orleans. Correspondent Jamie Wax, a Louisiana native, takes viewers on a trip through the sartorial side of the city — from a historic men's clothing store to an iconic suit maker and, finally, to a fashionable New Orleans party. For more info: HEART AND SOLE: Forty years of Air Jordan The Air Jordan sneaker turns 40 this year. "Sunday Morning" celebrates the design of the iconic shoe with correspondent Luke Burbank, who traces its origins back to NBA legend Michael Jordan's first meeting with Nike, then a relatively small sneaker company in Oregon. CULTURE CELEBRATION: "Beadmaster of New Orleans" pays homage to Mardi Gras' history with his art In Michelle Miller's final look this week at pillars of New Orleans' style, the correspondent delves into the centuries-old Carnival tradition of Black Masking. Acclaimed contemporary artist Demond Melancon's work has been shown all over the world, but it is deeply rooted in elaborate beaded suits he creates as the Big Chief of the Young Seminole Hunters Black Masking Tribe. For more info: NATURE: Black-bellied whistling ducks in New Orleans We leave you this Sunday morning with Black-bellied whistling ducks, basking in the sun at the Audubon Park and Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison. DVR Alert! Find out when "Sunday Morning" airs in your city "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) Full episodes of "Sunday Morning" are now available to watch on demand on and Paramount+, including via Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV/FireTV stick and Xbox. Follow us on Twitter/X; Facebook; Instagram; YouTube; TikTok; Bluesky; and at You can also download the free "Sunday Morning" audio podcast at iTunes and at Now you'll never miss the trumpet!
Boston Globe
28-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- Boston Globe
Shy at dinner parties? Afraid to surf? Here's how to change your personality in five steps.
That's what Atlantic reporter (and new mom) Olga Khazan set out to determine in her new book, 'Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change.' Khazan, a self-confessed neurotic who's sometimes shy, wanted to see if she could modify her persona based on five key personality traits: extroversion (do you organize block parties or hide from your neighbors at Target?); conscientiousness (are you self-disciplined or do you eat all the Thin Mints in one sitting?); agreeableness (are you warm and empathetic?); openness (If a friend asked you to join a line-dancing class, would you say yes?); and neuroticism (Do you tend toward depression or anxiety?). Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Khazan used Advertisement Sign up for Parenting Unfiltered. Globe staff #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Subscribe * indicates required E-mail * What made you want to set out to write a book like this? Were you striving to be someone else? I was at a crossroads in life. I was feeling undermined by my reactions to situations. Often, something would happen, and I would react disproportionately to how bad it was. The intro of the book is about me getting a bad haircut with photos taken and then having this huge meltdown. After that happened, I was like: Was it really that bad, or do I have a tendency to suck the good out of things and dwell on the bad stuff? Advertisement At the same time, I was trying to decide whether I wanted to have a baby. I felt like a lot of my approaches to the world, or outlook on life, was not ideal for being a mom. I was anxious and stressed all the time, and I also had a tendency to kind of see the worst in people. I was looking at the lives of moms that I knew, who were being playful and empathetic — and having to roll with the punches a little bit. And I didn't currently have those skills. What overrode your concerns and helped you decide to have a baby? I was sitting by our community pool one day, and there were a bunch of kids playing, having so much fun. They were having way more fun than you or I do doing basically anything. I think it was just this epiphany, a realization that life is about sharing these fun experiences with other people. I think other people have this realization much, much earlier than I did. But I was like: There's not a vacation that you can go on that will compare with what it's like to have and take care of a child. Let's talk about each trait that you tried to change. Extroversion seems straightforward. Did you just reach out to more people? Try new things? I would really recommend signing up for something that recurs regularly and that involves the same group of people over and over again, and that you can't back out of very easily. Advertisement If you're just like: 'I'm going to get drinks more with my friends,' you'll end up in scheduling hell and never actually do anything. In this day and age, what I found most effective is just to commit to an activity and show up. I did improv! And I started to realize that, when I'm feeling out of sorts, or just sad or withdrawn, the answer for me is often not to spend more time alone — but to connect with other people. It's something that I've really tried to do more of, especially as a new mom. I'm in a new mom's group, and now I really try to reach out to other new moms in order to even text each other: Is poop supposed to be this color? The answer to that question is yes, it's supposed to be all the colors. What did you learn about conscientiousness? I was already pretty conscientious. I never really drank too much, but I did drink a glass of wine every day, pretty much. I stopped drinking when I didn't feel like it. Often, I would drink when I was in a social situation and felt uncomfortable. I learned to let the uncomfortable feeling kind of hang there, or be someone else's problem. I don't know that it required a change for me, but this is something that conscientious people do. I also normally drink during movies that I don't like. Instead, I said, 'No, I'm not going to watch this.' And I went upstairs. I decided that, if I don't want to be doing something, if I don't want to be talking to someone, if a situation is awkward, that I wasn't going to drink to fix it. Advertisement Author Olga Khazan Handout As I've gotten older, drinking is less worth it. I sound like an old lady, but nothing beats a good night's sleep. Next up: agreeableness. I did a variety of things that were all aimed at helping me understand people better. I tried to have more empathy for people who make me angry. I think I subconsciously was going through life thinking that people had it out for me, or just were not considerate, or were thinking about themselves. This is called inflammatory labeling in psychology: deciding someone has the worst intentions possible. What I learned is that most people are just kind of bumbling through life. I ended up having a lot more empathy in particular for my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, which has really come in handy for new parenthood and the stresses of that. There are a lot of times when it's like: 'OK, who put the diapers in the freezer?' We're both so tired and we're both grinding so hard in the trenches that I don't really get as mad at him anymore, because I completely know what it's like to be so tired that you put the diapers in the freezer or the ice cream in the fridge. It happens to the best of us. What about openness? Is that change sustainable? One thing that seems to really help people cultivate openness is having what's called a peak experience: running a marathon, climbing up a big mountain that's been a dream of yours for a long time, surfing. Giving birth was not a peak experience for me, but for a lot of people it is. Advertisement So I decided to learn how to surf. Honestly, it was very mind-blowing. I would recommend doing an activity or some kind of challenge that feels very unusual to you or unique. The last one is neuroticism. That's my biggie. Did you overcome it? Did you embrace it? I learned how to live with it, if that makes sense. I think I turned down the anxiety a little bit, and I think I turned down the depression a lot. I had to internalize that a lot of things that happen are out of our control, and I think that was really hard for me to admit or acknowledge or live by. I'm really careful, and I work hard, and I balance my checkbook. I thought that, if I worked hard enough and was a straight-A student, bad things wouldn't happen to me, or I could make everything go exactly my way. What I learned, especially about Buddhism, in a meditation class and through my adventuring, is that [expletive] happens to all of us. I [needed] to be a little bit kinder to myself when it does happen and when I've done everything within my power to prevent it. What's the takeaway? Do people like you more now? Do you like yourself? I think probably people will like you better if you do this, at least some people. But I think a more important reason is that it will make you happier. High levels of most of these traits, other than neuroticism, are associated with well-being, health and happiness. It's just more beneficial for you to be less anxious or to socially connect more, or to have less angry or less difficult relationships in your life. If you're really uncomfortable with 'changing yourself,' you could see this as tools that you're going to use in order to cope better with various situations. I was going to say: There's such a movement now when, if a friend disappoints you, just break up with them. Everyone is over-scheduled, so be an introvert and bed rot. This book is a nice counterpoint, actually. Do you feel now that you're a changed person? I think in some ways, my mind was changed about a few things. I do think that the trend toward just getting away from everyone, everyone is toxic, has gone too far. I think you do have to have some relationships in your life, and I think these strategies can help you manage those relationships better. It's kind of like diet and exercise: You end up having to eat the salmon and the broccoli regularly for the rest of your life. And that's true of a lot of these personality change techniques. It's a new set of habits and behaviors, if you want to keep up the changes. Interview has been excerpted and condensed. Kara Baskin can be reached at
Bloomberg
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Can You Really Change Your Personality as an Adult?
When I was in middle school, I was so quiet that I secretly looked forward to exams: At least no one would expect me to talk. I dreaded recess and found relief in ballet class, where silence was the rule. Two decades later, the necessity of spending hours alone is my least favorite thing about being a writer. But I have occasionally wondered: Is my 12-year-old persona the 'real' one? Am I somehow faking my enjoyment of parties? I found some consolation in Olga Khazan's new book Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change (Simon & Schuster, March 11), which argues that our personalities evolve over the course of our lives — whether through concerted effort or just through growing up. When we meet Khazan, she is 36 years old and lucky in both love and work: She has a patient, doting boyfriend and a creatively fulfilling job. Yet she struggles to enjoy her bounty, and crumbles in the face of minor setbacks. When an unflattering haircut and a bout of rush hour traffic leave her weeping into a glass of wine, decrying her life as 'nonstop stress and torture,' she resolves to tackle her self-defeating tendencies.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The War Over Daylight Saving Time
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning It's that time of the year, when clocks become the subject of unusually heated debate. As far as hours go, the extra one that daylight saving time provides is a controversial one. At least a few Americans are such die-hard fans of DST that they choose to live on it all year round. Others are 'standard-time stans,' as my colleague Katherine J. Wu calls herself. Whether you're thrilled about getting more evening sun or wish this whole tradition would disappear, the below reading list has something for you. On Daylight Saving Rejoice in the End of Daylight Saving Time By Katherine J. Wu It's the most wonderful day of the year! Read the article. The Family That Always Lives on Daylight Saving Time By Olga Khazan A new bill proposes making daylight saving time permanent. But for one family, it already is. Read the article. Overthrow the Tyranny of Morning People By Tom Nichols Leave the clocks alone. Read the article. Still Curious? Changing clocks is annoying. The alternatives are too. In 2022, Joe Pinsker asked: Is making daylight saving time permanent the best option? Daylight saving is a trap: When people say they like the time change, what they really mean is that they like summer, Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright wrote in 2022. Other Diversions The ultimate German philosophy for a happier life The nicest swamp on the internet Coaching is the new 'asking your friends for help.' P.S. I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. 'I live in a small village in the Burgundy region of France not far from the vineyards but nestled in a geologic fissure in the calcite plateau that is responsible for all those great wines,' Rachel F. writes. 'Winter is a magical time of year.' I'll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks. — Isabel Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
08-03-2025
- General
- Atlantic
The War Over Daylight Saving Time
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning It's that time of the year, when clocks become the subject of unusually heated debate. As far as hours go, the extra one that daylight saving time provides is a controversial one. At least a few Americans are such die-hard fans of DST that they choose to live on it all year round. Others are 'standard-time stans,' as my colleague Katherine J. Wu calls herself. Whether you're thrilled about getting more evening sun or wish this whole tradition would disappear, the below reading list has something for you. On Daylight Saving Rejoice in the End of Daylight Saving Time By Katherine J. Wu It's the most wonderful day of the year! Read the article. The Family That Always Lives on Daylight Saving Time By Olga Khazan A new bill proposes making daylight saving time permanent. But for one family, it already is. Read the article. Overthrow the Tyranny of Morning People By Tom Nichols Leave the clocks alone. Still Curious? Changing clocks is annoying. The alternatives are too. In 2022, Joe Pinsker asked: Is making daylight saving time permanent the best option? Daylight saving is a trap: When people say they like the time change, what they really mean is that they like summer, Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright wrote in 2022. Other Diversions The ultimate German philosophy for a happier life The nicest swamp on the internet Coaching is the new 'asking your friends for help.' P.S. I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. 'I live in a small village in the Burgundy region of France not far from the vineyards but nestled in a geologic fissure in the calcite plateau that is responsible for all those great wines,' Rachel F. writes. 'Winter is a magical time of year.'
