Twenty years ago, who had ever heard of a public library inside a shopping mall? Certainly not me. At 14 years old, I did a lot of socializing at the Westfield Annapolis Mall—shopping the teen fashions, hanging out in the food court with girlfriends and going to the movies to see romantic comedies starring Hugh Grant.      My 14-year-old self would be surprised to learn that in 2020 the spaces formerly occupied by American Eagle and Charlotte Russe are...

     World War II was one of the largest conflicts in military history, marked by a large number of casualties worldwide. The United States sent 16 million men and women into battle after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. By 1945, there were an estimated 400,000 American deaths and many more wounded. Many of those who sacrificed their lives have received very little individual recognition because of the sheer number of casualties.     National History Day, an organization...

     Have you ever walked outside barefoot  on a damp summer’s evening and felt slime in between your toes—only to realize with disgust that you stepped on a slug?       Or, have you waited for a strawberry to ripen on the vine and as you lift up that perfect fruit you find a gaping hole in its underside with a slime trail leading to it? I have done both.     Mollusks are soft-bodied animals that can live only in water or very moist...

     In 18th-century France, women’s options are limited. Marianne (Noémie Merlant: Curiosa) is lucky enough to have a vocation thanks to her father and has become a painter of some small renown. When she’s commissioned to create a wedding portrait for bride-to-be Héloïse (Adèle Haenel: Heroes Don’t Die), she assumes it will be just another society job. She’s taken by boat to an isolated cliffside estate, but not shown her subject. It turns out, there...