Ansel Augustine with the Golden Blades Tribe at the Mardi Gras Ball in Washington, D.C., in 2025. Credit: (Courtesy of Ansel Augustine) My hometown of New Orleans is known for many things: food, jazz, ...

Like a lot of language that is tied to mental health, “masking” has become a bit of a buzzword—but what is it, exactly? And why do people do it? At its core, masking is the habit of consciously or ...

Imagine going through your day constantly monitoring your every move and carefully choosing your words. All so you can blend in, avoid judgment, or just get through the moment. That’s what masking ...

Autism masking involves consciously or unconsciously suppressing natural autistic traits, often to avoid stigma or fit in socially. While masking may provide short-term benefits in certain social ...

LED face masks have gone from dermatologist-only devices to one of the most viral beauty tools on the internet. Every time I open TikTok, someone is wearing a glowing robot helmet claiming it erased ...

“Masking” is part of life, especially for those with autism or A.D.H.D. But hiding your true self comes with a cost. Credit...Vanessa Saba Supported by By Christina Caron When Amara Brook was training ...

The long, strange story of masking and law enforcement. Credit...Photo illustration by Alex Merto Supported by By Sabrina Tavernise One of the defining images of President Trump’s second term so far ...

When return-to-office mandates started to rise post-pandemic, many workers who had become accustomed to getting tasks done remotely at home (and at their own pace) were presented with a new problem.

Essentially, Gen-Z workers sometimes work very hard at looking very busy when there’s actually little work to do. It’s so prevalent that it’s become part of the ongoing conversation about work, and ...

Masking is a strategy that some autistic folks use to appear non-autistic and be more accepted in society. Researchers are just now beginning to explore masking in autism, so it is hard to say how ...

Has your COVID-era mask been a constant companion or is it collecting dust? Americans' relationship with masking has been fraught (and politicized) since the beginning of the pandemic, a time when ...