Author: NY TIMES

Lynn Conway, a pioneering computer scientist who was fired by IBM in the 1960s after telling managers that she was transgender, despite her significant technological innovations — and who received a rare formal apology from the company 52 years later — died on June 9 in Jackson, Mich. She was 86.Her husband, Charles Rogers, said she died in a hospital from complications of two recent heart attacks.In 1968, after leaving IBM, Ms. Conway was among the earliest Americans to undergo gender reassignment surgery. But she kept it a secret, living in what she called “stealth” mode for 31 years out…

Kim Short waited in the doctor’s exam room on an icy day in February, exhausted from the first trimester of pregnancy and trembling in withdrawal from methamphetamine, alcohol, Xanax and Klonopin.She stared at the floor, her black hair curtaining face tattoos of a dagger and stitches, memorials to friends dead from overdose. Inky wings of eyeliner rimmed her eyes.This was Kim’s second pregnancy with the Great Moms clinic at the Corewell Health Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the rare programs for a population of patients who are among the most reviled in society: pregnant women and new…

“The Outsiders,” a muscular stage adaptation of the classic young adult novel about class conflict between a pair of high school gangs, won the coveted Tony Award for best musical on Sunday.The show, which has been gaining steam at the box office, is set in Tulsa, Okla., in 1967, and is based not only on the best-selling 1967 novel by S.E. Hinton, but also on Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film adaptation.The musical is gritty, bloody and relentlessly youthful — the creative team eliminated virtually all adult characters, and the show features some of the most effectively vivid violence seen on…

After eight devastating months of war, Muslims in Gaza on Sunday will mark a somber Eid al-Adha, a major religious holiday usually celebrated by sharing meat among friends, family and the needy.Adha means sacrifice, and the ritual killing of a sheep, goat or cow on the day is meant as a symbol of the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. But this year, nearly everyone in Gaza is needy. Hunger has gripped the Palestinian territory as Israel has unleashed an eight-month military offensive on the enclave and severely restricted what is allowed to enter, including humanitarian aid.Many do not…

A core member of the anti-art movement Fluxus, he died by suicide hours after the death of his wife of 60 years. Source link

Sarah Paulson, Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne and Rachel McAdams are a few of the celebrities nominated this year fueling the excitement for the 2024 Tony Awards. For the third time, Ariana DeBose, who herself has appeared in six Broadway shows, hosts the Tonys, which are being held for the first time at New York’s Lincoln Center. The broadcast promises to be a busy one, with performances from all five contenders for best new musical, as well as the anticipated performances from “Cabaret” (which stars Mr. Redmayne) and “Merrily We Roll Along” (starring Mr. Radcliffe). But before the curtains were raised,…

When The Washington Post staff gathered in the newsroom in early May to celebrate winning three Pulitzer Prizes, one person was conspicuously absent: Will Lewis, the company’s publisher and chief executive.That’s because Mr. Lewis was in New York meeting with Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and owner of The Post, who was in the city to attend the Met Gala, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting.The pair had been discussing a reorganization aimed at helping The Post turn around its business. That included creating a “third newsroom” inside The Post to focus on new editorial…

Republican lawmakers questioned a senior Microsoft executive on Thursday about the company’s presence in China, about a year after Chinese hackers used the tech giant’s systems to launch a devastating hack of federal government networks.Several members of the House Committee on Homeland Security asked Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, in an hourslong hearing how a critical contractor for the U.S. government like Microsoft could maintain a commercial business in China, which Mr. Smith said accounted for about 1.4 or 1.5 percent of the company’s sales.“Is it really worth it?” asked Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Republican from Florida.Mr. Smith argued that Microsoft’s…

The Met says that it saw healthy evidence of new ticket buyers for these works, and overall sales are up from last season. But the programming pivot has not been a home run.The problem isn’t just the new.That said, contemporary opera isn’t single-handedly dragging the company down. In general, the Met’s days of regular sellouts were gone with the turn of the 21st century. The season’s top seller, its grating family-friendly, holiday-season “Magic Flute,” sold 87 percent, excellent only by comparison with the rest; next was “Carmen,” which was almost 20 percent empty.Some of the weakest-selling operas were revivals of…

Sharing the stage with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at a sprawling seaside resort in Italy, President Biden was looking forward to talking about a security pact he had just signed to provide continued support to Ukraine in its battle with Russia.Having skipped a dinner to attend the ceremonial signing of the pact and to answer reporters’ questions, he seemed flustered when, after a few questions about Ukraine, he was asked about a topic that has been less rewarding recently: the war in Gaza. “I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit,” Mr. Biden snapped when…