In a letter to the editor of The Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Arneberg remarked that Trump has “treated tariffs like a toddler playing with a light switch.” (Julie Edwards, Chicago)
In The Times, David Brooks explained many Republicans’ affinity for Vladimir Putin: “One of the reasons MAGA conservatives admire Putin is that they see him as an ally against their ultimate enemy — the ethnic studies program at Columbia.” (Jenny O’Farrell, Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Jessica Fitch, Corpus Christi, Texas, among many others)
Also in The Times, Sam Anderson described a long trek past changing scenery: “I felt relieved to be living in reality again, following the small rhythm of my legs over the big rhythm of the landscape, noticing the world, the houses under the clouds. Block by block, mile by mile, I felt my soul begin to unclench — like one of those mattresses that are shipped, supercompressed, in a tiny box.” (Betty Luman, The Woodlands, Texas)
And Michael Kimmelman reflected on one painting’s jarring temporary home in the former Whitney Museum while its permanent residence, the Frick Collection, was being refurbished: “Seeing Bellini’s ‘St. Francis in the Desert’ in a Brutalist building felt like coming across your high school chemistry teacher on spring break in Cocoa Beach.” (Andres Valdespino, Amenia, N.Y., and Stuart Sipkin, Golden, Colo., among many others)
In The Boston Globe, Beth Teitell scaled the pampering heights of a luxury high-rise: “It was frigid out, and so icy that all over town pedestrians were tumbling. But on the 35th floor of the Millennium Residences at Winthrop Center, life felt as easy as a summer afternoon, and Richard Baumert was marveling at the lap pool: 75 feet long, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows, its water a bewitching shade of … let’s call it concierge blue.” (Emily Andreano, Swampscott, Mass.)