Who Said It: Marissa Mayer, or Odysseus?
A quiz inspired by one bewildering anecdote about AI and parenting
Alexandra Petri
Alexandra Petri is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Before joining The Atlantic in 2025, she wrote a humor column for The Washington Post. She won the 2025 Thurber Prize for American Humor for her book AP’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up). She is the author of two other books, Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why: Essays and A Field Guide to Awkward Silences. Her writing has also appeared in McSweeney’s, the New Yorker’s Daily Shouts and Murmurs, and elsewhere.
Latest
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: CSA Images / Getty; Getty. Vladimir Putin, the Humanitarian
Please update your dictionaries accordingly.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Peter Kovalev / Pool / AFP / Getty. Why Is Everyone Avoiding the Biggest Issue Facing Voters?
Please, I beg you, Mr. President, do not stop talking about the golf course.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Jim Watson / AFP / Getty. This Is Edgar Allan Poe, and I Am Begging Kelly Clarkson to Take My Bird
I eagerly await your response.
Illustration by Akshita Chandra / The Atlantic Hi, I’m Your New Press Secretary, and It’s My First Time Reading Words Out Loud
A very uncomfortable 14 minutes
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call / Getty. Some Revised Scenes From The Social Network
Making a whole new movie is not the best way to tell the continuing story of Mark Zuckerberg and Meta.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Merrick Morton / Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection. Something Like People
A poem
Illustration by Akshita Chandra / The Atlantic. Sources: Philippe Pache / Gamma-Rapho / Getty; Getty. The Kennedy Center Is the Most Terrifying Building in America
This place is much too dangerous.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. My Night at the Reindeer-Sausage Buffet
What I learned at a “Taste of the Arctic” dinner at the Danish ambassador’s residence
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Ryan McVay / Getty. Oh, Good, Trump’s Arch Will Store Military-Grade Weapons
Here are 13 other very normal places to store munitions.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post / Getty.
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