Today is my first day as a staff writer at The Atlantic!! Please send any story ideas, wild tales, and people to profile my way! I'm thinking of my beat very broadly as "different people's attempts at the good life," whether through religion, wellness, etc. Excited to be here @theatlantic.com !

The Atlantic Communications@theatlanticpr.bsky.social · 3w ago

We are announcing four new roles and promotions at The Atlantic: Marc Novicoff, @nancywalecki.bsky.social, Michael Zelenko, and James Kirchick. More info here: www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...

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.

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 3w ago

“If you want to talk about bad air quality, ask the dinosaurs,” @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes. She reports on the smoky skies 66 million years ago:

We are announcing four new roles and promotions at The Atlantic: Marc Novicoff, @nancywalecki.bsky.social, Michael Zelenko, and James Kirchick. More info here: www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...

The Atlantic Announces Marc Novicoff and Nancy Walecki as Staff Writers, Michael Zelenko as Senior Editor, and James Kirchick as Contributing Writer

None

theatlantic.com

Really like this piece by @nancywalecki.bsky.social about resurrecting old tech—and I’ve also recently been wondering whether the AI-driven RAMpocalypse will drive more people to vintage tech, further assert the importance of repairability, etc.

The Newest Way to Go Analog

Digital devices from a less connected era are getting a second life.

theatlantic.com

The iPod and other devices from a less connected era are getting a second life, @nancywalecki.bsky.social reports. She explores why some Gen Zers are joining the recent “analog” movement:

The Newest Way to Go Analog

Digital devices from a less connected era are getting a second life.

bit.ly

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: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/u...

Efforts to Help Smokers Quit Stall Under Trump

nytimes.com

If the point of a perfume is not just to smell nice but also to project an identity, Brittany Aldean is selling the vision of a conservative woman who has it all, @nancywalecki.bsky.social argues—she reports on the influencer's new fragrance line:

A Perfume With a Whiff of MAGA

Brittany Aldean’s Vada perfume codes conservative because she herself does.

bit.ly

"By and large, Gaddini has found that young Christian women want to be a wife and a mother and have a high-powered job." Engaging and nuanced piece by @nancywalecki.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com today. Check it out here: www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

A Perfume With a Whiff of MAGA

Brittany Aldean’s Vada perfume codes conservative because she herself does.

theatlantic.com

More families who can afford it are hiring a “chief of staff for the home,” @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes. She reports on the rise of house-managing businesses, and why some people see the chance to free up their time as worth the money:

The Rise of the House Manager

More families who can afford it are hiring a “chief of staff for the home.”

bit.ly

John Mark Comer’s advice for lost, phone-addicted young Christians is to live, literally, more like Jesus. I spent six months profiling/interviewing Comer and trying out the practices for @theatlantic.com's May print issue www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life?

Pastor John Mark Comer has won a massive audience by encouraging his followers to free themselves from the gnawing sense that there is always more to do.

theatlantic.com

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.bsky.social spoke with the pastor and spent six months trying his practices.

Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life?

Pastor John Mark Comer has won a massive audience by encouraging his followers to free themselves from the gnawing sense that there is always more to do.

bit.ly

No one—NO ONE—writes like James Parker. This was such a treat to read. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Eighth Deadly Sin

Humankind has devised a new form of debasement.

theatlantic.com

Got to write about how Mk.gee is making the guitar sound new again, for @theatlantic.com -- featuring Joni Mitchell, my dad, and a weird guitar device from the 90s. Please read! I had so much fun writing this www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The Guitar Sounds New Again

The grungy, extraterrestrial “Mk.gee tone” is everywhere and depends on a decades-old device.

theatlantic.com

Dear New York City: I’m sorry for all the mean things I said to you this winter; spring is lovely.

I'm deep in some guitar-gear discussion threads right now for a piece I'm writing, and can I just say, I LOVE musicians. People who want to spend all their free time thinking about how to produce the most beautiful sounds possible?? My kind of folks!!!

I needed the world to know that Polymarket has an X account for its female traders called @PolyBaddies. My latest for @theatlantic.com : www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

It’s Not Gambling, It’s ‘Girl Math’

Prediction markets are trying to woo women through matcha memes and #girlboss ads.

theatlantic.com

Best part of writing this was interviewing a 9-year-old who’s already 10x funnier than I’ll ever be

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 5mo ago

Toddlers don’t need boutique skin care products—but the wellness industry is marketing to them anyway, @nancywalecki.bsky.social reports.

Oh thank God, Nancy Meyers has returned to save the American rom com 💪

The Hollywood Reporter@thr.com · 6mo ago

New Nancy Meyers Movie Enlists Penélope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Jude Law, Emma Mackey and Owen Wilson

A year ago today, Arthur, a loved one of mine, died in the Palisades Fire. Thinking extra today about what a wonderful and bizarre and special person he was. Here's a tribute I wrote to him last Jan: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

The Place Where I Grew Up Is Gone

And so is the man who made it magical

theatlantic.com

There are many “For Sale” signs in the Palisades—as well as ones instead promising, “This home will rise again.” @nancywalecki.bsky.social reports on how long a year can feel after a fire:

The View From the Palisades

A year is only the beginning of recovery from disaster.

bit.ly

In the Palisades burn scar, I saw many banners and signs the community had placed where their homes and businesses used to be. I keep thinking about one on an elementary school: "Returning January 2028." My report on what my hometown looks like, one year later: www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

The View From the Palisades

A year is only the beginning of recovery from disaster.

theatlantic.com

I had a blast with this piece, interviewing such talented jingle writers—including the man who is literally the reason Blue Öyster Cult put more cowbell on “Don’t Fear the Reaper” www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

ChatGPT Needs More Cowbell

AI struggles to write a good jingle.

theatlantic.com

There is something ineffably human about commercial jingles that AI doesn’t seem able to replicate; people just seem to know the difference somehow. Fascinating and fun piece by @nancywalecki.bsky.social

ChatGPT Needs More Cowbell

AI struggles to write a good jingle.

theatlantic.com

Happy Milo & the Nativity play season to all who celebrate. Has to be one of my favorite videos on the Internet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhB6...

Milo gets his Nativity part!

YouTube video by Harley Walton

youtube.com

All that stucco, molding, and wood from the East Wing of the White House had to go somewhere. So @nancywalecki.bsky.social tried to find it.

My Quest to Find the East Wing Rubble

An entire part of the White House can’t just disappear.

bit.ly

I went on a quest to find the East Wing remnants and turns out some of it may be being turned into a new hole at a golf course?? Enjoy my misadventures for @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

My Quest to Find the East Wing Rubble

An entire part of the White House can’t just disappear.

theatlantic.com

About to hit subscribe to this substack with every corpuscle of my being

Read Elias Wachtel's debut in @theatlantic.com--nuanced + delightful piece about Gen Z switching to dumbphones that somehow also contains a beautiful meditation on the process of religious conversion ?! BRAVO! www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Can Gen Z Get Rid of Its iPhones?

My dumbphone does what an app could never do.

theatlantic.com

L.A. announced that it has arrested a suspected arsonist for January's Palisades Fire. But that's changed little for residents, and it hasn't changed how much I miss my loved one who died in the fire. My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...

L.A. Might Finally Know Who Started the Palisades Fire

But it still doesn’t feel like closure.

theatlantic.com

What a beautiful man, what a beautiful story, an oasis in the dark, and I still have three pages to go. A big thank you for the telling. At one point, it felt like your father was that man in the wizarding world, matching wands to upcoming magicians, except this is music, and utterly more magical

Nancy Kathryn Walecki@nancywalecki.bsky.social · 12mo ago

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.com September issue: bit.ly/45eZIfa