When Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, and other 1970s music legends needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad, Fred Walecki, was there. My love song to him in @TheAtlantic September issue theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

Conservative women have their own 1990s Howard Stern: Alex Clark, a TPUSA podcaster and MAHA activist. I profiled her to see where conservative women may go next. It was a wild ride that involved a taxidermied possum, raw milk, and the 19th Amendment: theatlantic.com/health/2026/10…

Alex Clark is a successful podcaster for Turning Point USA, a bridge between MAHA and Trump, and now a wife. @nancywalecki spoke with her, her family, and her critics to understand her influence and what might come next: theatlantic.com/health/2026/10…

"I swear that I have seen a sentence before, and I know where one stops and. Starts. And whether? To speak. With a rising inflection?"

Read the whole thing, from @petridishes:
theatlantic.com/newsletters/20…

Americans are in desperate need of in-person connection—and some people are making a career out of providing them with just that, @nancywalecki writes. She reports on the new business of “community builders”: theatlantic.com/health/2026/10…

My latest, about the Latter-day Saints and how some of their distinctiveness may be slipping away. (I'm not LDS, but I will always fondly remember dancing awkwardly to One Direction and Bruno Mars at church dances with my LDS friend.) theatlantic.com/health/2026/10…

Fewer young people are sticking with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than did in previous generations—and some of the religion's most distinctive characteristics may be slipping away, too, @nancywalecki reports. theatlantic.com/health/2026/10…

"In the popular imagination, religious faith and a thriving sex life don’t tend to go together. Movies, books, and TV shows depict religious couples as sexually inhibited or dysfunctional. But the data tell a different story." @TheAtlantic theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/… @FamStudies

If you want to know what this fire season has been like, talk to the ranchers spending 36 straight hours on military surplus dozers from the Vietnam War... so I did! Best part of reporting this story was trying to get ranchers to brag about themselves :) theatlantic.com/science/2026/0…

People are sick of influencers, they're sick of AI, and now they're apparently getting sick of obvious dental veneers and immobile foreheads and pristine white marble kitchens. The optimization backlash in on: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Airplane WiFi is starting to get super good. Here is my lil ode to bad airplane wifi and why we might miss our last bastion of unreachability: theatlantic.com/health/2026/08…

Flying was once a rare, bounded period of time untethered from the world below—but good plane Wi-Fi is taking that luxury away, @nancywalecki writes. theatlantic.com/health/2026/08…

I start my new gig as a staff writer @TheAtlantic tomorrow!! Send your story ideas, strange tales, and interesting people to profile my way! I’m thinking of my beat broadly as “different people’s approaches to the good life,” whether through religion, wellness, etc.

If the "good life" sounds extremely vague, as several have helpfully pointed out, how about: "mental and spiritual health in America." Still vague? Welp, you'll just have to read my articles to learn more I guess!

Definitely one of the goofiest assignments I’ve gotten and a total delight to report. Thank you to the paleontologists who spent this smoky summer Friday chatting with me about the smoky skies 66 million years ago! And let’s all be grateful we aren’t dinosaurs.

Convenient, but not connected. I'm seeing more iPods, point-and-shoot cameras, flip phones, and CD players than I have in years.

This isn't nostalgia. It's a reaction to a world of endless notifications and unlimited choice.

When we built the iPod, the goal was simple: make listening to music effortless. The best technology disappears into the experience. It doesn't constantly interrupt it.

The next wave of innovation won't be about doing more. It will be about helping people focus on what matters most.

Great read from Nancy Walecki in @TheAtlantic

theatlantic.com/health/2026/07…

The iPod and other devices from a less connected era are getting a second life, @nancywalecki reports. She explores why some Gen Zers are joining the recent “analog” movement: theatlantic.com/health/2026/07…

This is a real shame these ads are getting taken off air. My dad was featured in the most recent CDC Tips from a Former Smoker campaign, sharing what smoking and his laryngectomy took from him and my family. Namely, his voice: nytimes.com/2026/07/06/us/…

People don’t go to mass to show others how great they’re doing. They go to mass because all these years in they’re still a mess and they need to grab hold of the rope.

Haven’t gotten to the bread part yet, but this months issue is lit, starting off really great with @nancywalecki’s piece on Mark Comer our relationship w tech and faith

John Mark Comer’s advice for lost, phone-addicted young Christians might sound like that of any viral wellness personality—but he has a unique framing: the practices of Jesus. @nancywalecki spoke with the pastor and spent six months trying his practices. theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/…