Season Opener

Source: The New York Times

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Last night, at 10:42 p.m. Eastern, summer arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. With it, a major heat wave is affecting large swaths of the U.S. Keep yourself safe and stay cool however you can this weekend. If you can find your way to some water -- a pool, a lake or a river, the ocean, your trusty old bathtub -- do it.

Not only will you cool off, but you'll also get the benefit that my friend Lori pointed out to me recently: Swimming is one of the only activities in modern life during which it's nearly impossible to be on your phone. (Fine, it's possible in the bathtub. But why are you on your phone in the bathtub?) The ideal of summer, the one that plays in my imagination during the colder months, is totally tech-free. It's all real life, all sensation: sun on skin, sand between toes, picking the corn cob free of its waxy silk, always smelling something grilling somewhere. There's no phone in this film, no text message or push alert, nothing vibrating in anyone's pocket.

My colleagues on the Travel desk have a new story this morning about far-flung resorts where people pay up to $32,000 a night to get away from civilization, to unyoke themselves from the stranglehold of Wi-Fi. This seems extreme. But I still get nostalgic remembering the phone-free week I spent in the woods nearly two years ago, what a relief it was not to have that parallel life to tend to for a spell.

Last week, I wrote about how to find a middle ground between obsession and retreat in the face of what feels like an impossible-to-process volume of information. The solution, as with so many of our persistent complaints, is presence. The phone takes us out of the present like nothing else. I've been thinking about the moment when you return, after having been deep in your phone, oblivious to your surroundings. There's this feeling of dislocation, like waking up. You have been traveling, you've been elsewhere, totally disconnected from the world, your home. You have this second where you aren't sure where you were, as if you've lost your place.

You lose bits of your life when you're lost in your device. You know this, I know this, but somehow, in summer, it seems even more regrettable to miss out on the moment. It's finally warm enough to linger outside. There's enough daylight that, on a Saturday, you can get your chores done and still have time to lie in the grass with a book, to contemplate the leaves against the sky. On hot days in the city, you can see and smell the sun acting on the asphalt, refracting in blurry, mineral-y waves. The roses are almost obnoxious in their exuberance. Why would you want to miss a minute of this?

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian campus protester detained by the Trump administration, was released on bail, ending his three-month imprisonment.
A federal judge sided with Harvard and barred the Trump administration from rescinding the school's right to host international students. The university has restarted talks with the White House to potentially settle their acrimonious dispute.
The Trump administration laid off more than 600 workers from the federally funded news outlet Voice of America, leaving the broadcaster with fewer than 200 staffers.
On Juneteenth, Trump did not utter the name of the federal holiday. It's part of a broader playbook to minimize the Black experience in America, writes Erica Green, a White House correspondent.
This week, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law that prohibits some medical treatments for transgender youths. In the video below, Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court, describes the three factions within the 6-to-3 decision.

Iran-Israel War

A day of talks between the European Union and Iran yielded no significant breakthroughs. An Iranian official said there would be "no room for talking" until Israel stopped its attacks.
Israel and Iran traded fire for the ninth consecutive day after a European diplomatic effort -- dismissed by President Trump -- made little immediate progress in preventing the exchanges of fire from spiraling into a broader war.
In a fiery U.N. Security Council meeting, Israel and Iran blamed each other for the war, and their allies took familiar sides.
Trump says he wants to make a nuclear deal with Iran in two weeks. Veteran diplomats warn that his timeline may be too short for a notoriously slow process.

More International News

Microsoft recently suspended a European official's email account, under orders from the Trump administration. The move stoked fears abroad: Can Trump use U.S. tech dominance as a cudgel?
The crash of an Air India flight last week highlighted the danger of building busy airports within dense city neighborhoods.
Vladimir Putin's insistence on maintaining the Russian offensive in Ukraine has come at a diplomatic cost.

THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Film and TV

Flesh-shredding creatures are wandering, crawling and, most worryingly, running amok in "28 Years Later," the third installment in the zombie film series.
Three directors are credited on Pixar's "Elio," about an orphaned boy who dreams of being abducted by aliens. But they're not all listed onscreen at the same time.
Times critics put together a list of the best TV shows of 2025 so far, including the animated conspiracy thriller "Common Side Effects."
In an era of skepticism around live-action remakes, Universal believed a new "How to Train Your Dragon" would draw audiences.

More Culture

Many modern video games take inspiration from Studio Ghibli, the famed Japanese animation studio.
FIFA, soccer's governing body, unveiled a luxury fashion line at a starry party in L.A.
New York City restaurants won three of the six major awards at the James Beard Restaurant awards this week, including outstanding chef and outstanding hospitality.
After a ban last year, Joey Chestnut will return to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Leonard Lauder, the visionary executive behind Estée Lauder who died last week at 92, was the original beauty influencer.

CULTURE CALENDAR

🎬 "F1: The Movie" (Friday): The ascent of Formula 1 racing in the U.S. continues with this glossy summer blockbuster, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Joseph Kosinski ("Top Gun: Maverick"). The cars look sleek; the racing looks flashy; the stars (Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem) look handsome. And Lewis Hamilton—the sport's biggest star—helped produce the film; so racing fans can expect it to be at least somewhat authentic.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

By Melissa Clark

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

It's the first official weekend of summer, which is as good an excuse as any to bake a big, pink layer cake. And you can't do better Yossy Arefi's sweet, tangy strawberry lemonade cake. Yossy adds freeze-dried strawberries to the icing, which tints it a deep rose, while fresh strawberries on top enhance the rosy glow. It's stunning, uncomplicated and may be just the thing for any celebration calling for a cake.

REAL ESTATE

The Hunt: A couple searched northern Manhattan for a sunny two-bedroom apartment that cost less than $800,000. Which home did they choose? Play our game.
Hunts, revisited: The Times spoke with five first-time buyers previously featured in The Hunt to find out how things were going in their homes.
What you get for $1.3 million: A farmhouse in London, Ky.; a 1906 bungalow in Seattle; or a 1900 Queen Anne Revival house in Somerville, Mass.

LIVING

Vacations: Seth and Josh Meyers think family trips -- even bad ones -- are worth it.
Look of the week: A stylish mash-up of baggy and groovy.
Making time: Rolex and other luxury brands strive to increase the accuracy of mechanical watches.
Wait to renovate? When it comes to home transformations, patience is most practical virtue.
Ask Well: "Perimenopause is ruining my sleep. What can I do?"

ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER

Extend your appliances' life spans

My outdated fridge and stove are ugly. But after spending nearly six months investigating why appliances seem to break so much faster than they used to, I now know that's a good thing. In my reporting, I found out what's causing shorter life spans for modern stoves, dishwashers, dryers and more. I also learned ways to make appliances last longer. Start by skipping features you can live without -- they often make appliances more susceptible to breaking. It's also a good idea to invest in extended warranty and maintenance plans. And make sure you actually sit down and read that manual: Simple maintenance, like vacuuming dust and pet hair from behind a fridge, can prevent a host of problems.

-- Rachel Wharton

GAME OF THE WEEK

Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, N.B.A. finals: For the first time in almost a decade, the N.B.A. finals are going to a decisive Game 7. The Thunder have been the oddsmakers' favorites in all seven games; that hasn't seemed to bother the Pacers, who crushed the Thunder in Game 6. This series doesn't have big-city teams or celebrity stars (though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on his way). It does, however,have great basketball: The Pacers' offense moves at warp speed; while the Thunder's pestering defense seems to steal the ball every other possession.

Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC

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