The rise of automation and artificial intelligence is fueling human alienation. — A few months ago, I was trying to get in touch with the Maryland Comptroller’s Office, in order to set up a payment arrangement for my tax bill. I tried e-mailing — like many millennials, I’ve developed an aversion to using the phone — and, when that didn’t work, I…

Though men have traditionally been centered in histories of ancient Rome, a number of recent historians have shone much-needed light on the lives of Roman imperial women. — If you’ve been reading the news at all lately, you’re probably under the impression that men are really fascinated by ancient Rome. What began as a funny little meme on social media telling women that the men in their lives thought about Rome a lot soon became a thing, as…

No matter what commentators say, I remain enthusiastic about the Vice President as part of the Biden ticket. — Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 3 years, you’re no doubt aware that the American political media is fixated on Vice President Harris. From the moment that Biden announced that she was going to be his running mate, we’ve been subjected to hit piece after hit…

The wife of Septimius Severus is an example of how much power women could wield in the Roman Empire. — For quite a while now I’ve been fascinated by the women of the Severan Dynasty. They are the last group of imperial women to have ruled before the period of instability known as the Crisis of the Third Century, and they are a truly remarkable group, starting with the first…

His opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden is yet another example of his utter ineptitude as Speaker. — A few weeks ago, I wrote a column excoriating the utter fecklessness of Kevin McCarthy, a man who, even before he managed to take control of the Speaker’s gavel, had already made clear that he was going to be one of the weakest and most ineffective people to have wielded…

A small museum exhibit in Lewes, Delaware is a timely reminder of why local queer histories matter. — This past weekend my partner and I were out for one of our weekend drives, and we ended up in a little town called Lewes, Delaware which, if you’re not familiar, is on the eastern shore of the state, right next to the beach. It’s a fun little town for…

The crisis roiling the flagship institution of West Virginia is a fearsome harbinger of things to come. — For quite a while now I’ve had a complicated relationship with my home state of West Virginia. While I love those mountains and the people who live in them, I don’t always love the people that they vote for, nor do I always like the direction that the state’s legislature…

An increasingly fragmented cultural sphere has helped exacerbate deeper societal divisions. — In a recent interview with Deadline, Richard Linklater asks one of the most pressing questions facing Hollywood today: “What place does film have in our fractured culture right now?” He then uses this as a jumping-off point to talk about broader trends in America today. “To me, that’s the deeper…

The third wife of the emperor Claudius was infamous for her sexual depravity, but beneath the ancient rumors there are traces of a woman who was as much of a political operator as any other member of her family. — Of all the women of antiquity, it is arguably Messalina who has the most damning reputation. As the third wife of the emperor Claudius — he would go on to have a fourth, his own niece Agrippina — she was for a time the most powerful woman in the Empire…