Author: Nola Jones

A heatwave has a peculiarly illuminating quality. When everything is reduced to the most basic elements—water, shade, and rest—the systems we take for granted begin to malfunction. Bin collection may not be the first thing that comes to mind when temperatures approach 40 degrees Celsius, but this week it has emerged as one of the most important logistical issues of the summer for refuse workers throughout the United Kingdom. A number of councils have rescheduled collection rounds to start as early as five in the morning, and some even earlier. Crews from Bristol Waste start working at five in the…

When the heat strikes more quickly than anyone anticipated, a certain kind of chaos ensues. By Tuesday morning, parents in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bristol, and the larger West Country were silently checking their phones for last-minute messages about early pickups and Wednesday closures, as well as texts from schools and emails from headteachers. In Somerset, over 60 schools had already closed or sent students home early. Then came over 40 in Gloucestershire. The number was rising into the hundreds by Wednesday throughout Wales and England. A red weather warning for extreme heat, not an amber or yellow one, was issued by…

In literary circles, there is a story from Radcliffe College that is passed around with a sort of delighted disbelief. It includes William James, an opera season, a final exam, and a note. It concludes in a way that raises the question of whether geniuses follow completely different rules than the rest of us. The 1890s were the time. Gertrude Stein was a student of William James, a psychologist and philosopher, at Radcliffe, Harvard’s women’s annex. According to all accounts, their relationship was unique—a truly fruitful union of two eccentric minds. Stein, who was lively and creative even at the…

High school students update their phones every July with a nervous energy that most adults have long since forgotten. It’s the same this year. For students who endured weeks of cramming, practice exams, and late-night study sessions, the results of the 2026 AP exam are being released. These scores can mean the difference between paying for a class they only partially completed and receiving college credit. These distributions are released gradually by the College Board, and the information that is currently available presents an intriguing picture. For example, 15% of students received a 5 in AP Chemistry, 31% received a…

There is a time, usually in the late summer, when parents slow down a little as they pass Holy Name School. Perhaps it’s the sight of a classroom window with a new bulletin board. Perhaps it’s a habit. For whatever reason, people are still drawn to a school like this because it is rooted, familiar, and leisurely. Holy Name School is not a single organization. From the streets of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, to Henderson, Kentucky, to a peaceful corner of the Outer Sunset in San Francisco, Catholic communities all over the nation bear this name. Every campus is unique. However, they…

The same scene can be seen in practically every school district office on a Monday morning: phones ringing, schedules being rearranged before the first bell, administrators rushing to cover teacher absences. The majority of people outside of education are unaware of this commonplace crisis, which occurs thousands of times every week. However, Kelly Education has centered its entire mission around that exact issue. The business has worked exclusively in the field of education staffing for more than 25 years. Although this field may seem simple, it is actually fraught with difficulties. Each state has its own regulations for certification. Each…

This same headline appears on school Facebook groups and parenting blogs every summer. The Planet Fitness High School Summer Pass for 2026 is already available, and there isn’t much time left to take advantage of it, so it’s worth paying attention this year. Teens between the ages of 14 and 19 can enter a Planet Fitness location and work out for free starting on June 1 and ending on August 31. Not a period of trial. Not a preview with restricted access. The student and family are not charged for full use of the facility, which includes stretching areas, cardio…

There’s a certain quiet frustration that’s difficult to miss when you walk into any public school in a mid-sized American city. Parents who wish their child could attend a different school — maybe one that moves at a different pace, or teaches differently — but simply can’t afford the alternative. For many years, there has been a slow-burning tension in American education due to the disparity between what families want and what they can access. It is being attempted to be closed by a new federal program that will have actual funding beginning in January 2027. Any U.S. taxpayer may…

A 29-year-old Jharkhand woman spent years preparing for her master’s degree in Rome. The admission is hers. She is partially funded. She did not anticipate seeing the rupee gradually decline, almost silently, until the loan she had calculated months earlier was no longer sufficient to cover the program’s actual costs. It kept her up at night, she recently told a reporter. Although it is a minor detail, it seems to be the most accurate description of the current situation facing Indian students. In 2025, more than a million Indian students were studying overseas. Even though that figure is impressive on…

Near the end of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, two women return to a room full of people who have looked down on them for years. They are dressed in bright, handmade outfits that most people would laugh at. They don’t express regret. They don’t get smaller. They dance. It’s a brief scene in a comedy about nothing very serious, but for some reason it lasts longer than you might anticipate. The 1997 movie, which was directed by David Mirkin from a script by Robin Schiff, centers on Romy White and Michele Weinberger, portrayed by Mira Sorvino and Lisa…