Author: Editor

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nikita Chernetskii, a medical school student at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. It has been edited for length and clarity.I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was a little boy. In Moldova, where I was born and raised, you apply to medical school right after finishing high school. As I was applying for medical schools, my parents won the green card lottery, giving our family the chance to come to the US.Suddenly, I had a huge choice in front of me. Do I take the chance to go…

Sarah Bundy has been in and out of default on her student loans for nearly three decades.She borrowed for college in the mid-1990s, but dropped out as her loan balance became unaffordable. At the time, it was $39,000. Now, it’s $60,000.The 55-year-old is hoping a “blue wave” will pave the way for Democratic legislation to shield borrowers at risk of default.”At my age, I can never get ahead of this,” Bundy said. “So I’m just trying to scooch under the wire as long as I can.”Roughly one of every six adult Americans has federal student loan debt, according to Federal…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matthew Kelson, now 43, who was transferred by Netflix from Los Angeles to Tokyo and is now the founder of CineYama, an independent cinema in Uenohara, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. His words have been edited for length and clarity.Japan isn’t new to me. In middle school, I spent two weeks living with a host family as part of an exchange program. I returned a couple of times as an adult.I was working at Netflix in Los Angeles when the company relocated me to Japan in 2020. I was based in Tokyo for…

Though regular Americans are paying more at the pump, US oil companies are striking it rich, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.Speaking at a rally in Georgia, Trump said that oil prices are “temporarily high,” but added that the throttling of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed oil buyers to American companies with operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.”The United States oil and gas business is making hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “I don’t give a damn, I’m going to say it — we’re making a freaking fortune.”Indeed, a Q2 report this year from the Oil & Gas…

One of the world’s largest investment firms says that only tech companies are getting a share of the AI pie.In an economic analysis published on Saturday, Apollo Global Management said that while the Magnificent Seven — a group of established tech companies that includes Nvidia and Meta — are seeing revenue growth during the AI boom, this growth isn’t being shared by other industries.”Mainstream corporate America is pulling back and starting to view token spending not as a source of growth but as a cost center that weighs on margins,” Torsten Slok, a partner and chief economist at Apollo, said…

Open any shelter magazine, and you will likely see open shelving as a prominent kitchen feature.Open shelving is beautiful, often breaking up a wall of cabinetry, making a kitchen feel lighter and more open while creating a place to display dishes, glassware, cookbooks, or other collected personal effects.Although I, too, am drawn to open shelves, I question whether it’s the right choice for every client. Those beautifully styled shelves require you to decide what stays visible, keep some degree of order, and deal with more dust and kitchen grime.For some people, that’s no problem — or even enjoyable. For others,…

After living as digital nomads for nearly two years, my husband and I decided to move from the US to the Netherlands.We’d visited several times and fell in love with the walkability and bike culture. Plus, I have a connection to the country, since my great-grandparents were Dutch.With the help of a real-estate agent, we found an apartment remotely from the US, signing a yearlong lease in the city of Utrecht before ever setting foot in the home.We encountered some surprises while looking for an apartment Since we couldn’t physically be in the Netherlands, our real-estate agent went to walkthroughs…

Less than a decade after its founding, food startup Wonder has seen its footprint and valuation soar. Still, the company has even more ambitious plans ahead, like a subscription program to let diners run their own “restaurants,” an aggressive expansion in Texas and a potential initial public offering.Created by serial entrepreneur Marc Lore in 2018, Wonder advertises itself as “the best restaurants from across the country, all in one place.” Diners can place takeout or delivery orders from its food hall-style locations on the Wonder-branded app or third-party platforms, including Grubhub, which Wonder now owns. As Lore described it to…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hayley and Mo Molina, 30 and 49, a married couple who live on a 400-acre ranch in Claremore, Oklahoma. Hayley’s parents bought the ranch in 2021, and now four generations of family live there. The following has been edited for length and clarity.Hayley: I was born in Bluffton, Indiana. Then my family moved to Oklahoma when I was three.We always lived in town, and my family knew nothing about ranching. They were golfers; I didn’t listen to country music until I was in high school — we were city people. But…

Cristian Barcenas is getting ready to cut out date nights, food delivery, and Starbucks.He graduated from the University of California, Fresno, in 2013 with a student-loan balance of about $65,000. Barcenas took out additional loans to pursue a master’s degree, but left early to care for his father, who had cancer. His balance now stands at $127,000.Barcenas, who works full time in sales in California, was making $105 monthly payments under the Biden-era SAVE repayment plan. President Donald Trump eliminated SAVE, and in November, Barcenas’ payments are expected to spike to $815 per month.”When I saw how much the payment…