No snow yet this fall
but the gardens are just dirt now,
nothing left to eat except
invisible parsnips lurking below.

The snowbirds are fleeing South    
to endless summer, Florida,
Arizona, Mexico, the Caribbean.
Some of us actually like winter.
It’s quiet and offers its own beauty,
chiaroscuro or blazing white.
The real birds flock to feeders,    
competing with squirrels.
In summer, flowers give color;
in winter, birds. Flashes of red
on woodpecker heads, bellies.

Updated at 2:08 p.m. ET on January 12, 2025
In 2016, I was hired to teach skiing at the Park City resort, in Utah. The ultimate fun job: For one winter, I would get paid to do and share my favorite activity.
But I soon realized that although the piste conditions might be great, the working conditions were poor. An early clue was a training video that Vail Resorts, Park City’s owner, showed to employees. It bragged about how the company’s charity organization was helping local residents.

Ever wonder what would happen if the police just stopped enforcing traffic laws? New Jersey State Police ran a sort of experiment along those lines, beginning in summer 2023—about a week after the release of a report documenting racial disparities in traffic enforcement. From July of that year to March 2024, the number of tickets issued by troopers for speeding, drunk driving, and other serious violations fell by 61 percent.

It started as a friendship of convenience. Kira and Nino, a husband and wife, had lived in the same building as my husband and me for years. We interacted occasionally, as congenial acquaintances do. Then the pandemic hit, and well, you know: We had time; we had proximity. We exchanged food and drinks and books and laughs, and one day I looked up and we were all honest-to-God genuine friends, the kind who water each other’s plants and know each other’s Sichuan-takeout requests.

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition.
Few things are more satisfying than watching a show pull off a clever and high-octane episode.

Over the past week, fires have ravaged greater Los Angeles, killing at least 10 people, destroying more than 10,000 buildings, scorching more than 35,000 acres, and forcing the evacuation of at least 180,000 residents. The dry Santa Ana winds continue to blow, threatening to spread the destruction further. As I write this, a backpack stuffed with mementos, documents, and a water bottle sits next to the front door of my West Los Angeles apartment.

Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings or watch full episodes here.
Some of Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks will appear before the Senate next week. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss the tough questions that Democrats are promising.

The debate over immigration in America has taken a strange turn recently. Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s wealthiest backer and a prolific spreader of dehumanizing anti-immigrant conspiracy theories, finds himself defending an immigrant-visa program against his fellow right-wingers. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders, perhaps the most prominent leftist in the country, has taken to harshly criticizing the same program for undermining American workers.

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
In The Atlantic’s latest cover story, my colleague Derek Thompson explores how Americans turned anti-social. Many young people are actively choosing the solitary life, spending time at home in front of screens instead of out with other people, he explains.