School Is (Whisper It) a Form of Child Care
And child care, at its best, fosters children’s development. So how did we come to treat them so differently?
This summer, as debate raged among lawmakers, school districts and
parents about whether it was safe to send kids back to school,
something strange happened in Howard County, Md.
The Howard County school system decided to remain remote for at
least the first semester. But to help parents deal with the lack of
in-person care for their children, the county offered elementary
school students a spot in parks and recreation programs, which
provide “support for virtual learning assignments” along with “work
sessions” and “crafts, physical activities, and games” — activities
not totally unlike, say, school.
Little mention was made of the adults who will supervise the
children during this child care. There was no hand-wringing about
classroom configurations or safety guidelines. The catch? Unlike
regular public school, which is guaranteed and free, the spots were
limited — and cost $219 each week for a full day.
Wildfires have ravaged Napa Valley. Will California’s wine
industry survive?
Wine regions in Northern California and beyond are reevaluating their future in a warmer, drier world.
IN LATE SUMMER, Napa Valley was forced to confront a harsh reality:
Harvest season in this world-famous wine region is now also fire
season.
The unprecedented fire events of 2020 have left little doubt that
California’s wine country has entered a new, dangerous era. First,
in August, came a lightning siege that sparked fires throughout the
state. One of the lightning strikes touched down in Napa. The
resulting fire would ultimately grow to over 360,000 acres,
resulting in five deaths.
Then, in late September, a separate blaze known as the Glass Fire
erupted in Napa Valley. It would soon become the most destructive
wildfire in the history of this valley—worse, even, than the
record-setting fires of 2017. This time, 1,235 buildings have been
destroyed, including nearly 300 homes.
These are the most haunted places in the United States
From abandoned asylums to ghost-ridden houses, discover these haunts' spine-chilling histories.
IN THE SPRING of 1692, hysteria descended upon the quiet town of
Salem, Massachusetts, snaking through the community like an
insidious virus. Over several months, a group of young girls
claiming to be possessed by the devil condemned a score of men and
women to the gallows in one of history’s most infamous witch hunts.
It’s said many of these troubled spirits still roam Salem
today—including Giles Corey, an 80-year-old farmer accused of
witchcraft and crushed to death after publicly questioning the
girls’ motives. Howard Street Cemetery, where Corey is buried, is
one of many sites across the United States believed to host the
paranormal.
(Related: Here are 24 spooky places to visit around the world.)
But what draws us to the supernatural? Margee Kerr, a sociologist
and the author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of
Fear, tells the Washington Post that feeling terror when we know
we’re safe can bring around a special kind of euphoria and
confidence. And some people see ghosts and spirits as proof that the
soul can survive the body’s death, psychologist Christopher French
explains in The Atlantic.
Whether or not you believe in ghosts, these seven spooky
destinations prove that haunting lore is often rooted in very real
and traumatizing histories.