12/12/20

 

The Weekender: Barack Obama, Koalas, Uggs

nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/11/briefing/the-weekender.html

December 11, 2020

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Times editors have handpicked 11 stories for you to enjoy. Welcome to The Weekender.

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In a year of tragedy and isolation, the best screen actors gave us more than just diversion. These are the great performers of 2020.

By Wesley Morris & A.O. Scott

The festive season fell between two deadly waves of the influenza outbreak. Families still gathered, often with empty chairs at the table.

A.J. Chavar/The New York Times

Barack Obama spoke to Michiko Kakutani about his voice as a writer, the power of storytelling and his best-selling memoir.

By Michiko Kakutani

California’s redwoods, sequoias and Joshua trees define the American West and nature’s resilience through the ages. Wildfires this year were their deadliest test.

The pandemic delayed a Golden Days committee vote that could have finally put Allen, who died on Monday, in Cooperstown.

Carl Lentz was a charismatic pastor who helped build a megachurch favored by star athletes and entertainers. But some temptations became too much to resist.

The marsupials are not easy to find or count accurately, so officials will deploy new methods, including drones and dogs.

The government’s conservative social policies, closely tied to the Catholic Church, have met with a backlash from women hoping to change a political culture that developed after Communism fell.

At 94, the author of a North Dakota restaurant review that went viral is still at work. In the pandemic, she’s had to make a few changes.

Making a Home in the Swedish Hinterlands

By Gabriel Leigh

Thanks for reading

This edition of The Weekender was edited by Jillian Rayfield.

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