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First Person

First Person

First-person essays and interviews with unique perspectives on complicated issues.

Meet the voters who switched parties in 2020

From vote-switchers to first-time voters, here are a few of the new converts to both the left and right this election.

By Brianna Provenzano

I paid off all my student loans. I still support student loan forgiveness.

By David Goldstein November 16

Love, delayed

As the pandemic rages on, single people are feeling the anxiety of missed opportunities.

By Elizabeth Segran November 13

A Pennsylvania poll worker explains the painstaking process of counting votes

By Kyle Brashear November 12

The best $475 I ever spent: A kayak that made me appreciate where I come from

By Max Ufberg November 10

Why so many people have started journaling during the pandemic

By Mithila Phadke November 9

How ballots are actually counted, explained by 3 election officials

By Karen Turner November 3

Money Talks: The father and son running a coffeehouse together

By Nicole Dieker October 30

Support for Trump is tearing apart Vietnamese American families

By Terry Nguyen October 30

3 small-business owners on life after shutting down

By Rachel Ramirez October 29

During the worst summer of our lives, I didn’t have internet. It was the best.

By Rani Molla October 28

The best (or worst) $20,000 I ever spent: The money to start a small business

By Jeanna Kadlec October 27

What it’s like to be enrolled in a Covid-19 vaccine trial with your entire family

By Jackie Hajdenberg October 26

Why one small-business owner shut down her shop for a month

By Mitchell Kuga October 22

A millennial moved back in with her parents. Her mom maybe wants her to stay forever.

By Julie Vadnal October 21

The 6 types of tidy people: A comic

By Kaye Rishad October 21

The great hypocrisy of California using Indigenous practices to curb wildfires

By Rory Taylor October 19

The often-overlooked reasons why young people don’t vote

By Karen Turner October 15

Here’s what it’s like to vote from inside prison

By Anonymous October 14

Money Talks: The small-business owners who just started another one

By Nicole Dieker October 12

“I can’t sit this one out”: 6 expats on why voting from abroad is so important this year

By Tiffanie Drayton and Nikisia Drayton October 9

I’m a contact tracer. Trump’s advice not to fear Covid-19 is dangerous.

By Jahnavi Curlin October 8

My family had the same virus as Trump, but not the same privilege

By Shanita Hubbard October 6

The best $96 I ever spent: A Keurig to show my mom I love her

By Katherine Oung October 6

How Trump’s attempted WeChat ban would devastate Chinese American families like mine

By Rita Wenxin Wang October 1

“I don’t want to be a nurse, a purse, or worse”: 5 seniors on dating online

By Julie Vadnal September 24

The hell that is remote learning, explained in a comic

By Aubrey Hirsch September 22

The best $40 I ever spent: A not-quite-tarot deck

By Mike McClelland September 22

From BTS fandom to video games: How 4 new friendships formed during lockdown

By Rachel Ramirez September 17

Meet the students thriving in remote learning

By Luke Winkie September 14

I did Shop With a Cop as a kid. Now I realize it was police propaganda.

By Arriel Vinson September 10

The best $141 I ever spent: A skateboard

By Steve Rousseau September 8

The NBA strike is a big moment for athlete activism — and the labor movement in America

By Paul Frymer and Jacob M. Grumbach September 4

What it’s like working at the polls in the middle of a pandemic

By Benton Graham September 1

1 in 3 Black Americans knows someone who died of Covid-19. These stories capture the toll taken by the disease.

By Tiffanie Drayton August 26

“I miss my friends a lot”: 5 students on the uncertainty of school openings

By Karen Turner and Isabella Simonetti August 25

“For the first time in my life, I had money in my savings”: Workers on the relief of the $600 weekly benefit

By Michael Waters August 19

The unexpected joy of the worst summer of our lives

By Christine Mi August 19

The best 80 cents I ever spent: A pen I use to write to my friends

By Vivian Lee August 18

3 renters on getting screwed over by landlords during the Covid-19 housing crisis

By Luke Winkie August 17

A police officer killed my father 27 years ago and went unpunished. It changed my life forever.

By Montinique Monroe August 14