Women Who Travel Podcast: Emma Roberts on New Orleans and Her Vintage Books Obsession

“As far back as I can remember, I knew I was different,” says Alexander Smalls. Growing up in a Gullah Geechee household in Spartanburg, North Carolina, the chef says he recognized the implication of those differences—in appearance, history, and cuisine. “I discovered early that my friends did not eat any of the foods that I ate. My foods were more akin to West Africa, you know, and very much pronounced in that way,” he says. It wan't until he moved to New York as an adult, that he assimilated the value of that diasporic connective tissue. “Food was a big part of cultural expression and identity of the African diaspora,” he says.

In 2014, when the artist Dan McCarthy moved from Brooklyn into a converted schoolhouse in upstate New York, he decided the grand hall would be a future gathering spot for his many Facepots: large, wonky vessels decorated with a spectrum of grins and grimaces. The earliest ones, about a decade old, recall a time of emotional swings. “I hadn’t even found the clay that worked,” McCarthy says of that experimental phase, “so a lot of the pots were breaking in the kiln.” He learned to relinquish control, repairing the salvageable works using the Japanese technique known as kintsugi, in which mended seams are accented in silver or gold. The Facepots brought a new openness to McCarthy’s practice, as did the Hudson Valley. Absent the city’s pressures, he explains, “I was like a kid — on my hands and knees, lost in making a thing.” “Freedom,”a new monograph of McCarthy’s work, charts that arc, with nods to his Southern California upbringing, seen in rainbow-colored paintings of surfers and songbirds perched on guitars. Birds also animate new ceramic works in his solo exhibition at the Tokyo gallery Kosaku Kanechika, on view through Nov. 16. For McCarthy, these first faceless pots offer a shift in narrative. “Instead of a vessel, maybe it’s a nest,” he says, describing a fascination with his neighborhood birds. Kintsugi-like detailing appears on these pieces, too: Silver-leafed slabs camouflage the occasional split, while shiny rectangles evoke the little mirrors tucked inside birdcages. For the artist, fresh off his first flight to Japan, it’s a time of possibility. “I’m 62, which is old and not,” McCarthy says. “I think I’ve got another act in me. It should be an adventure.”

The world has never seen anything quite like Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

Amtrak currently operates 39 routes, with trains criss-crossing the country to service 500 destinations in 46 states. Starting November 10, 2024, however, the number of Amtrak routes will go down one notch to reach a total of 38. Amtrak is cancelling two routes and launching a brand new one between Chicago and Miami called The Floridian.

Oct 15, 2024 • 5 min read

Point Panama offers one of the best views of the Central American capital from its impressive viewpoint. (Photo Credit: Valentín Fuentes)

One of the challenges of living in a prominent transit hub like New York City can be navigating your way to and from its airports.

After a failed attempt in London, the company behind the Las Vegas Sphere may be heading to the Middle East, based on a review of public trademark filings by Skift.

Oct 11, 2024 • 9 min read

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Helene Sula, an American travel blogger and author of "Two O'Clock on a Tuesday at Trevi Fountain: A Search for an Unconventional Life Abroad." It has been edited for length and clarity.

American Airlines is making a slew of changes to its domestic network.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cherie Luo, a content creator and entrepreneur. Luo spent 5 years working in tech in Silicon Valley. She graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business in June. Business Insider has verified her employment and education history. The following has been edited for length and clarity.