James Parker

Everything, as Charles Péguy said, begins in mysticism and ends in politics. Except if you’re Bob Dylan. If you’re Bob Dylan, you start political and go mystical. You start as an apprentice hobo scuffing out songs of change; you become, […]

How do I get over feeling excluded? Illustration by Miguel Porlan December 17, 2024, 1 PM ET Editor’s Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers’ questions.

Editor’s Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers’ questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@theatlantic.com. Don’t want to miss a single column?

Editor’s Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers’ questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@theatlantic.com. Don’t want to miss a single column?

Why can’t I get anything done? Illustration by Miguel Porlan November 26, 2024, 1 PM ET Editor’s Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers’ questions. Tell

Editor’s Note: Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles a reader’s existential worry. He wants to hear about what’s ailing, torturing, or nagging you. Submit your lifelong or in-the-moment problems to dearjames@theatlantic.com. Don’t want to miss a single column? Sign up to

My job consumes and torments me. There has to be a better way. Illustration by Miguel Porlan November 12, 2024, 1 PM ET Editor’s Note: Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles a reader’s existential worry. He wants to hear about what’s

Dear James, Do you ever feel like you know how you’re going to die? I’m 38 years old, have no health conditions, take no medication, and work a low-risk job with manageable stress. The way I see it, I’m Teflon,

I’m not sleeping and neither are you. Illustration by The Atlantic November 4, 2024, 4:46 PM ET A twist in the guts, a shift in the tide,there are cartons of eggs getting broken worldwide.   I’m not sleeping and neither are you.Boo-hoo.In

Dear James, I find myself growing irritable at one thing in my life, and one thing alone. I work with an older woman who repeats herself constantly. She has the same three jokes and says them daily, and expects us