Julie Beck
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WENJIA TANG An Anthem for Everyone Who’s Ever Googled Their Name
“At first, I was indiscriminately adding other Paul O’Sullivans on Facebook. It was like a joke. Then I realized, ‘Hey, wait a minute, we’re all musicians.’”
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WENJIA TANG How Two Young Hippie Friends Grew Up to Live Very Different Lives
“I’ll complain to her about how I couldn’t find a parking spot at the Nordstrom sale, while she’s complaining to me about how her goats have hoof rot.”
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Inara Prusakova / Shutterstock / Katie Martin / ... Naming a Kid for a Fictional Character Is High Stakes
The Jolenes and Daeneryses of the world have some baggage to contend with.
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WENJIA TANG What Are RAs’ Social Lives Like?
“I was always in a fishbowl. I felt like I was not just Alex, but Alex the RA.”
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WENJIA TANG How Two Candidates Became Friends, and Ran a Joint Campaign
“Maybe there should’ve been some animosity, but we’re both naturally not drawn to unnecessary conflict.”
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Shutterstock / The Atlantic The Most Memorable Family and Education Interviews of the Year
Our reporters reflect on the words and ideas that resonated with them in 2019.
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WENJIA TANG A Harebrained Scheme to Sell Christmas Trees on the Streets of New York
“People were in the right place at the right time. That’s its own small Christmas miracle, I guess.”
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Robbie Goodall / Getty / The Atlantic Why People Pretend to Talk as Their Pets
And babies, and stuffed animals …
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WENJIA TANG The Case for Buying a House With Friends
“Looking around our culture, I think a lot of people are starting to experience the limits of individualism.”
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Wenjia Tang These Friends’ Collaborative Playlist Has Strict, Elaborate Rules
“Technology nowadays allows people to have music that’s personalized to them … but it also allows people to collaborate in ways that we weren’t able to before.”
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WENJIA TANG Navigating the ‘Old Boys’ Club’ of Science, With a Friend
“It allows me to do my science better when I feel like I have a community.”
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U.S. Forest Service / AP How Many People Have to Die Before We’re Done With Gender Reveals?
Sadly, this is not a hypothetical question.
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WENJIA TANG How Friendship Changes at the End of Life
“People become frightened at the end of life. Sometimes I see them moving away from friends as they get sicker.”
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WENJIA TANG On Being Happy for and Jealous of a Friend at the Same Time
“It can be hard to be really close to someone who’s trying to do the same thing that you do.”
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Wenjia Tang A Teen-Run Book Charity and the Friendship It Built
“To know that there were people in my school doing things that I had dreamed about doing was really crazy to me.”
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Carlina Teteris / Getty What Fan Fiction Teaches That the Classroom Doesn’t
Everyone leaves feedback and reviews for one another, leading to a sprawling, communal learning environment.
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WENJIA TANG Whom Would You Trust If You Were Trapped in the Airport During a Coup?
“We were strong for each other. I don’t think I could have been as clever or as grounded had it been just me by myself.”
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WENJIA TANG Befriending the Queen of Chess
“These idols I’ve had, they were just like real human beings, not some distant star that wouldn’t even talk to you.”
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WENJIA TANG The Unique Friendship Between Astronauts
“Spaceflight makes you try to be a little bit more understanding, a little bit nicer, and try to see other points of view. Because all of humanity is right down there and you’re looking at it.”
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Wenjia Tang They Met in an Elevator; Now They Travel the World Together
“Our motto is: ‘Follow soccer, see the world.’”
