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Among her lines written on letters, envelopes, and chocolate wrappers, Emily Dickinson’s incandescent thinking is everywhere on display. The poet was born on this day in 1830.http://nyer.cm/XZplVxT 

Though I was born in Columbus, Ohio, I have dual citizenship in Belize, where I received the keys to San Pedro Town in 2019. Who am I?http://nyer.cm/nNvWeXi 

Steven Spielberg’s version of “West Side Story” wants to fight dirtier than its famous predecessor ever did, but how much authenticity is possible?http://nyer.cm/13zqPSh 

Personal photographs posted on the Instagram account @nuevayorkinos offer a revealing portrait of New York City.http://nyer.cm/NdZSYsu 

Jeremy Strong does not find his “Succession” character, Kendall Roy, particularly funny, which is exactly why he was cast, Adam McKay said. “He’s not playing it like a comedy. He’s playing it like he’s Hamlet.”http://nyer.cm/Fo4f6vB 

“The U.S. birth rate is at its lowest level since 1979, and Future Taxpayers like yours are critical to our nation’s success. Also, better out than in, I always say. (I am a man.)”http://nyer.cm/9lqQbqu 

Most of the decisions that preceded the fall of the Western-backed government in Afghanistan were not made public. @SteveCollNY and @adamentous report on how the crisis unfolded—and why diplomatic efforts were plagued from the start.http://nyer.cm/6JIxT36 

.@Alex_Lily reviews two shows on Broadway that explore aging: the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” and the tender new musical “Kimberly Akimbo.”http://nyer.cm/wUcFCFN 

The style-and-design newsletter “Blackbird Spyplane” is obsessed with the nostalgic, perplexing, and beautiful garments and objects that exist outside the grid of e-commerce.http://nyer.cm/3TL1hCG 

The return to live music felt in some ways like the return of life itself, @alexrossmusic writes. See his picks for the year’s most notable performances and recordings.http://nyer.cm/lkb0V7s 

The framework Aaron Sorkin uses in “Being the Ricardos” to depict Lucille Ball’s imagination “is one of the delights in this year’s movies, and the most inspired movie thing that Sorkin has ever done,” @tnyfrontrow writes.http://nyer.cm/wzavkIv 

“When you’re thinking about how you don’t have enough money, distract yourself with another problem. That’s what we do.” Some ideas from moderate Democrats.http://nyer.cm/0yd20fF 

A feat of musical syncretism, “This Christmas” blends the spirit of belief with that of worldly ambition.http://nyer.cm/sX2vEG3 

Clients paying for the travel experience Get Lost, which starts at $15,000, have to find their way out of desolate situations—and they have no clue where in the world they are going, until the last minute.http://nyer.cm/Nva8NUq 

Virgil Abloh’s presence “caused, or forced, the fashion industry to accept the values it had dismissed as unserious: earnestness, excitement, credulity, love,” @dstfelix writes.http://nyer.cm/nBb4MBB 

Adrian Fisher frequently likens his role as a maze designer to that of a chess player faced with unusual constraints: “I have to let you win, and I have to let you win just before you’ve had enough,” he said. “I’m here to entertain.”http://nyer.cm/SJjmb4j 

In 1989, a group of parents in Northern California demanded that their children’s elementary school take Dr. Seuss’s book “The Lorax” off its list of required reading, decrying its environmentally conscious perspective. Today, the book-ban battle rages on.http://nyer.cm/TCDdTXu 

“It’s hard for most people to find a downside to ending legacy admissions,” Matt Feeney writes. “But I’ll give it a try.”http://nyer.cm/rMUSRTG 

The literary scholar and cultural theorist Lauren Berlant saw the American Dream as cruel optimism, a condition “when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your own flourishing.”http://nyer.cm/Qat7eQo 

Josephine Baker’s Panthéon induction was a political occasion, coming at a moment when French people of color are questioning the disjuncture between universalism and their experiences of racial discrimination.http://nyer.cm/SYoabh0