An inherent problem arises at the end of the year, for my purposes at least: there's a glut of data detailing the 12 months that have just transpired — often accompanied by visualizations of what unfolded. So what choice did I have, humble reader? What choice did I have
I am pleased to report that we have reached, as of writing, the 361st day of 2025, a year that includes only 365 days despite feeling as though it has included 36,500. This has been the longest year since 2020, in a figurative and non-complimentary sense. So I'
Last week, I promised you something quick for this week's edition of the newsletter, as we downshift into 2026. And then the president decided to make some charts and, well, here we are. Chapter 1(a) The administration charts the same way it does everything else On Wednesday
Last week, this newsletter was refreshingly apolitical. Well, that was then. Chapter 1 What they want you to believe about immigrants You don't need to travel too far up the branches of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's family tree to find immigrants. As
Look, I'm not happy about that joke either. But sometimes the creative process floats one over the plate and you just have to take a swing at it, earning a bloop single. Anyway, this week's theme is snow, which doesn't have anything to do
I'm mixing it up a bit this week, presenting charts and data visualizations and maps and so on but with a contrived theme: Things for which I am thankful. See, on Thursday it was Thanksgiving, a holiday when people give thanks for things? So what I'm
In this week's newsletter, we have some music — specifically, the innovative way in which Tracklib illustrates the art of sampling. I also look at new data on ICE detentions (sigh) and the gold rush on naming generations that occurred a few decades ago. There is also a photo
This week's newsletter looks at how we use maps. I review a new book on the subject, interview a mapmaker and show how maps can reshape our assumptions about borders. It's all topped off with what I think is maybe the most effective visualization I'
Chapter 1 It's (almost) all about TV There was an election this week, I assume you heard, one in which the people who were unhappy last year became happy and vice versa. If you're one of the current happy ones, congratulations. If you're not
Chapter 1 What is it that happens when first we practice to deceive? I forget. If you are anything like me, you tuned into cable news coverage of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 and thought to yourself, "Hmm, this is bad." Well, that's just
Chapter 1 A geography of American worship The story of the Tower of Babel, you will recall, involves God stymieing the construction of a heavens-destined building by fragmenting human language into all of its current iterations. Hard to build a tower when the foreman speaks French and the workers speak
Prologue About that picture As you are likely aware, this newsletter is the resurrection of one that I wrote for years while I was at The Washington Post. That means that I am adjusting my muscle memory slightly, adapting how I did it to how I am doing it. The