Little Big Things

Travels in the land of Gen Z

To become a professor to Gen Z today is to take a disorienting journey to an exotic land. First of two parts.

Little Big Things

The app life

Living in China, where all of life's needs have been telescoped into the mobile phone, feels like the future the rest of the world is queuing for.

Little Big Things

Of cats and writers

After 19 years, a beloved cat leaves behind more than memories: he survives in a family’s lore, two novels, and the peculiar bond between writers and their feline muses.

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A fair national exam is radical politics

When India's medical entrance scandal drove students into the streets, a writer watching from Beijing asked what exam systems are really protecting.

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Here, there, everywhere: The geography of belonging

For children raised across borders, the relationship between place and identity can become complicated, raising new questions about roots, privilege and belonging.

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The art of war and peace, at home

After more than two decades of marriage and countless arguments, an unconventional lesson on how to disagree deeply, fight with passion, and still choose one another.

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You can't argue a child into loving books

Instead of fighting screens, a mother learned to wrap books in rituals her son would come to love and anticipate with joy.

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Non-transactional kindness: What schools should teach in the age of AI

If AI can increasingly handle memory (delete recall) and even analysis, schools must ask a deeper question: what remains uniquely human?

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Make way for the Al-Raj

Corrupt, self-serving and increasingly despised — what if politicians were simply replaced by AI?

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The need for generosity of listening

We spend a lot of time learning how not to offend. A cross-cultural communication expert argues we should spend more time learning how not to be offended.