THE SOPHIST

I had a vision of an overworked, stressed-out Amazon order-picker blindly grabbing the larger box thinking it was the correct order.

You asked for help with your own particular rejection, and help is what you deserve.

Can you please tell me why it's OK for me to buy more books?

Dear The Sophist, My friend chose to “misread” our state’s vaccine requirements—on purpose, because supposedly “everyone else” was doing it at her K-8 school—and skipped the line ahead of people who are 70+ and healthcare workers/staff because it’s an honor system to sign up. Our group text told her she was wrong but she chose to […]

I am torn between the guilt of obligation to attend the funeral, and a powerful desire to continue to not speak to these people.

Dear The Sophist, It’s been painful to see a lack of sophistry in this space the last few weeks—it’s like no one is right about anything anymore. Fortunately, I’m right about something that popped up lately, and I’m hoping for some stylish confirmation of it.  A friend who recently got a dog says that he never […]

For our new readers at The Brick House: Dear The Sophist, I’ve had an idea for an advice column kicking around forever. I drafted up a whole debut version of it once—way back in the 20th century. But before we ever got around to putting it into print, the New York Times Magazine up and came out with its […]

The return shipping fee is $7. I don't want to keep a shirt I'll never wear, but also don't want to pay a return fee.