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Axios
a day ago
- General
- Axios
Time to go back to class
Lifelong learning is booming, with informal lectures, classes and discussion series quickly gaining popularity. Whether it's literature, film or the history of plastic surgery, the topics are abundant and the in-person attendance is strong, The Cut reports this week. Online learners are turning to Substack communities, Zoom classes or even AI chatbots that can generate personalized syllabi. The big picture: We're seeing the rise of AI doing the critical thinking for us, despite its often generic output. Plus, we know learning new things is one of the most effective tools we have to stave off dementia in an aging population. Spending an evening marking up a syllabus, going deep on a topic or discussing Vladimir Nabokov's "Speak, Memory" might be the ultimate antidote for the perpetually online condition of brain rot, Hope Corrigan notes in The Cut. Zoom in: Lectures on Tap, based in New York, presents 45-minute talks from academics on topics like "Why People Cheat?" and "Summer Solstice and the Science of the Sun." Profs and Pints, which started in D.C., hosts lectures in bars on "The Great American Road Trip" and "The Physics of Baseball." Both are expanding. Lectures on Tap is coming soon to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while Profs and Pints has expanded to multiple cities, including Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, Philadelphia and Richmond, according to its website. Bookstores can also double as sites for classes: I took a Details & Dialogue class earlier this year at D.C.'s Politics & Prose, which offers courses on history, writing, classics, poetry and more. You might even try a brewery: Common Roots Brewing Company in upstate New York has hosted lectures on topics like "Ticks and the Diseases They Carry" and "Wood Identification & Old House Myths." Washington Post journalist Karen Attiah's class at Columbia University on race and media was canceled last year. She has since created an independent version of the class and sought potential students via her newsletter and a Google Form with a sliding-scale payment system. "I hope that this can be a model for people to say, 'We can think outside of these structures, these institutions, that trade on prestige and are asking us to believe in their prestige, even as they're caving in on their own values that they use to market themselves," Attiah told Corrigan. Within 48 hours of posting, 500 people had reportedly signed up — with more than 2,000 on the waitlist.
Washington Post
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Who is government?
Seven writers go in search of the essential public servant The role of the federal government is at the center of the national conversation. But who really is our government? What is it made of? And what is at stake when politicians say they want to expand or dismantle it? To find out, we set seven stellar writers loose on the federal bureaucracy. Their only brief was to go where they wanted, talk with whomever they wanted, and return with a story from deep within the vast, complex system Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss and celebrate. Profiles The Canary The Sentinel The Searchers The Number The Cyber Sleuth The Equalizer The Rookie The Free-Living Bureaucrat Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Coming soon: 'Who Is Government', the book Publishing March 18, 2025 (Penguin Random House) Buy the book Upcoming events Washington, D.C. | Politics & Prose @ Sidwell, March 18 Michael Lewis and Casey Cep with David Shipley | Politics & Prose @ Sidwell, March 18 San Francisco | City Arts & Lectures, March 19 Michael Lewis, Sarah Vowell, Kamau Bell, Dave Eggers | City Arts & Lectures, March 19 New Orleans | New Orleans Book Festival, Michael Lewis and Sarah Vowell The Backstory Michael Lewis talks to the authors about their subjects Casey Cep on 'The Sentinel' Listen 13 min Settings Options Listen to Michael Lewis talk to Casey Cep about The Sentinel Dave Egger on 'The Searchers' Listen 11 min Settings Options Michael Lewis in conversation with Dave Eggers for The Searchers John Lanchester on 'The Numbers' Listen 9 min Settings Options John Lanchester in conversation with Michael Lewis about The Number Geraldine Brooks on 'The Cyber Sleuth' Listen 12 min Settings Options Michael Lewis and Geraldine Brooks in conversation about the IRS Sarah Vowell on 'The Equalizer' Listen 12 min Settings Options Listen to Michael Lewis in conversation with Sarah Vowell about the National Archives W. Kamau Bell on 'The Rookie' Listen 9 min Settings Options Michael Lewis and Kamau Bell in conversation Washington Post-Live conversation With W. Kamau Bell, Geraldine Brooks, Michael Lewis and David Shipley, Opinions editor Honoring Public Service: The Untold Stories 51:07 Michael Lewis, W. Kamau Bell and Geraldine Brooks join Washington Post Live on Tuesday, Sept. 10. (The Washington Post) Full transcript
