Dana Milbank
@danamilbank.bsky.social
Searching for humanity. Columnist for @washingtonpost.com.
Pinned
Dana Milbank
@danamilbank.bsky.social
· Jul 25
Opinion | We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote.
The challenge of our time is to recover what we have lost: in nature, and in our communities.
wapo.st
We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote -- and I need your help. My column about my new @washingtonpost.com column. Gift link. wapo.st/472i9Gz
These ancient time travelers have answers to our 21st century problems. Newly discovered landscapes that are thousands of years old offer remedies to climate change and Earth's shrinking biodiversity. Gift link to my latest @washingtonpost.com column. wapo.st/49Rtfzu
These ancient time travelers have answers to our 21st century problems
Newly discovered patches of ancient landscape have somehow managed to survive without being turned into a farm, forest or subdivision.
wapo.st
November 14, 2025 at 11:08 AM
These ancient time travelers have answers to our 21st century problems. Newly discovered landscapes that are thousands of years old offer remedies to climate change and Earth's shrinking biodiversity. Gift link to my latest @washingtonpost.com column. wapo.st/49Rtfzu
At a time when only 31 percent of us feel engaged at work, we could all learn from Willie Shanks. He earns just $38k running the local dump. But he loves his work and has become a local celebrity for turning the dump into a community hub. Gift link. wapo.st/47L8iE0
Column | The guy who runs the dump knows the secret to finding meaning at work
Willie Shanks has turned a refuse and recycling center into a place where people come to hang out and laugh, even when they don’t have trash to drop off.
wapo.st
November 7, 2025 at 1:08 PM
At a time when only 31 percent of us feel engaged at work, we could all learn from Willie Shanks. He earns just $38k running the local dump. But he loves his work and has become a local celebrity for turning the dump into a community hub. Gift link. wapo.st/47L8iE0
I had feared forest bathing might be another goofy wellness fad like Tucker Carlson’s genital tanning. But evidence suggests time in the woods could prevent cancer, fight infection and protect against dementia. I went to investigate. Gift link to my latest @washingtonpost.com column. wapo.st/3Jzxq8x
Column | Forest bathing sounded silly. Then I did it with 8 Harvard doctors.
Doctors are looking to a remedy with ancient origins to treat modern stress and burnout. I joined them to see how it works.
wapo.st
October 31, 2025 at 11:32 AM
I had feared forest bathing might be another goofy wellness fad like Tucker Carlson’s genital tanning. But evidence suggests time in the woods could prevent cancer, fight infection and protect against dementia. I went to investigate. Gift link to my latest @washingtonpost.com column. wapo.st/3Jzxq8x
How can we stay happy in an age gone mad, when it feels as though all is unstable? Results from a new study suggest a practical way to keep ourselves on a meaningful path — a sort of happiness hack for our chaotic times. Gift link to my latest column. wapo.st/4nlKw7c
Column | A 6-year research project found a surprisingly simple route to happiness
We are living through highly uncertain times. But a study out of Cornell has identified a happiness hack that can lead you toward a life of purpose.
wapo.st
October 24, 2025 at 11:58 AM
How can we stay happy in an age gone mad, when it feels as though all is unstable? Results from a new study suggest a practical way to keep ourselves on a meaningful path — a sort of happiness hack for our chaotic times. Gift link to my latest column. wapo.st/4nlKw7c
Boy meets girl meets moth: a many-legged love triangle. My column on the very passionate community of iNaturalist, which is showing that social media and AI can be used to bring people together for a common good rather than tearing us apart.
Gift link.
wapo.st/4n7T2GI
Gift link.
wapo.st/4n7T2GI
Column | Boy meets girl meets moth: A many-legged love triangle
Their romance began with a shared fondness for counting bugs. Their story offers potential hope for the role that social media and AI could play in our lives.
wapo.st
October 17, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Boy meets girl meets moth: a many-legged love triangle. My column on the very passionate community of iNaturalist, which is showing that social media and AI can be used to bring people together for a common good rather than tearing us apart.
Gift link.
wapo.st/4n7T2GI
Gift link.
wapo.st/4n7T2GI
If you care about the future of our planet, one of the best things you can do is go fishing. Better still, take your child or grandchild. My latest column, on how to build a consensus to combat climate change: more "boots on the water." Gift link. wapo.st/4n1Umee
Column | Why you should go fishing, even if you think you’d be terrible at it
There are ecological and political reasons to try fly-fishing in the rivers of America.
wapo.st
October 10, 2025 at 11:44 AM
If you care about the future of our planet, one of the best things you can do is go fishing. Better still, take your child or grandchild. My latest column, on how to build a consensus to combat climate change: more "boots on the water." Gift link. wapo.st/4n1Umee
When I asked readers how they "rehumanize," more than 500 responded with deeply personal accounts. They pointed me to the one thing AI will never be able to do. Gift link to my latest column. wapo.st/4pYbpRk
Column | How can we be more human? I asked ChatGPT — and you.
In an age in which machines have intellectual capacities superior to our own, we no longer have the market cornered on thinking. Feeling, though, is a different story.
wapo.st
October 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
When I asked readers how they "rehumanize," more than 500 responded with deeply personal accounts. They pointed me to the one thing AI will never be able to do. Gift link to my latest column. wapo.st/4pYbpRk
The animal most in need of "rewilding" is us. I spent some time tracking mountain lions in the Pacific Northwest, getting close to these frightening but magical apex predators. Here's why bringing them back to the East would be good for us. Gift link. wapo.st/3KksTqC
Column | I got nose-to-nose with a mountain lion. It was scary – and magical.
Restoring these big cats to their historical range in the United States could help the environment and us.
wapo.st
September 26, 2025 at 12:32 PM
The animal most in need of "rewilding" is us. I spent some time tracking mountain lions in the Pacific Northwest, getting close to these frightening but magical apex predators. Here's why bringing them back to the East would be good for us. Gift link. wapo.st/3KksTqC
As America points fingers, these MAGA faithful link arms with liberals. My latest column, on a kaffeeklatsch in rural Virginia that has found an alternative to our toxic politics-- and an antidote to the epidemic of loneliness. Gift link. wapo.st/4gAmDHg
Column | Together, these MAGA fans and liberals fight a common foe: Loneliness
A daily meetup at this rural coffee shop has helped create a sense of belonging and connection, even among people who are political opposites.
wapo.st
September 19, 2025 at 12:39 PM
As America points fingers, these MAGA faithful link arms with liberals. My latest column, on a kaffeeklatsch in rural Virginia that has found an alternative to our toxic politics-- and an antidote to the epidemic of loneliness. Gift link. wapo.st/4gAmDHg
In ugly times, we need to seek beauty in tiny things. The first of my new column on how we rehumanize focuses on the sublime beauty in grass flowers and other ordinary things -- as long as we pause to look. Gift link. wapo.st/4pm7wVU
Column | In ugly times, we need to seek beauty. Here’s how to find it.
The first installment of a new weekly column about reclaiming our humanity, restoring our connections and reviving our sense of awe.
wapo.st
September 12, 2025 at 11:45 AM
In ugly times, we need to seek beauty in tiny things. The first of my new column on how we rehumanize focuses on the sublime beauty in grass flowers and other ordinary things -- as long as we pause to look. Gift link. wapo.st/4pm7wVU
We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote -- and I need your help. My column about my new @washingtonpost.com column. Gift link. wapo.st/472i9Gz
Opinion | We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote.
The challenge of our time is to recover what we have lost: in nature, and in our communities.
wapo.st
July 25, 2025 at 11:57 AM
We are losing our humanity. I am searching for an antidote -- and I need your help. My column about my new @washingtonpost.com column. Gift link. wapo.st/472i9Gz
My @washingtonpost.com column will be moving later this summer to Futures, a new Post section devoted to grappling with the forces shaping the 21st century.
July 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
My @washingtonpost.com column will be moving later this summer to Futures, a new Post section devoted to grappling with the forces shaping the 21st century.
My night in the forest with the Heebie-Jeebie, the Big Dipper, the July Comet, the Spring 4-Flasher, the Creekside Tree Blinker and other fireflies. Insects could hold the secret to human survival -- if we allow them to survive. Gift link to my latest column:
wapo.st/46yYuh9
wapo.st/46yYuh9
Opinion | On a dark night in the forest, I met the goddess of youth
With firefly scientists, I watched a fireworks show more intricate than any human-made pyrotechnics.
wapo.st
July 11, 2025 at 12:17 PM
My night in the forest with the Heebie-Jeebie, the Big Dipper, the July Comet, the Spring 4-Flasher, the Creekside Tree Blinker and other fireflies. Insects could hold the secret to human survival -- if we allow them to survive. Gift link to my latest column:
wapo.st/46yYuh9
wapo.st/46yYuh9
This wasn’t just another routine cave-in by conservatives. This was probably the last chance to make a dent in the trajectory of the federal government’s finances — and they surrendered utterly. Gift link to my latest column. wapo.st/4kpBmFc
Opinion | The last gasp of small-government conservatism
As the GOP budget bill rushed toward passage, one so-called principled objector after another lost their nerve.
wapo.st
July 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
This wasn’t just another routine cave-in by conservatives. This was probably the last chance to make a dent in the trajectory of the federal government’s finances — and they surrendered utterly. Gift link to my latest column. wapo.st/4kpBmFc
Oslo: Give Trump the %@$&)! Nobel Peace Prize already — or he’s sending the B-2s. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4ekP76G
Opinion | Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize odds are bombing
Has there ever been a more belligerent peacemaker than the American president?
wapo.st
June 27, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Oslo: Give Trump the %@$&)! Nobel Peace Prize already — or he’s sending the B-2s. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4ekP76G
Oslo: Give Trump the %@$&)! Nobel Peace Prize already — or he’s sending the B-2s. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4ekP76G
Opinion | Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize odds are bombing
Has there ever been a more belligerent peacemaker than the American president?
wapo.st
June 27, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Oslo: Give Trump the %@$&)! Nobel Peace Prize already — or he’s sending the B-2s. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4ekP76G
Will America go to war against Iran? Let us ask Donald Trump, human Magic 8 Ball. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/3I6CakI
Opinion | War with Iran? Let’s run it up the flagpole!
Trump says no one knows whether the U.S. will attack Iran. Apparently, neither does he.
wapo.st
June 20, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Will America go to war against Iran? Let us ask Donald Trump, human Magic 8 Ball. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/3I6CakI
How nature improves our cognition, our mood and much else. Lessons from the Appalachian Trail — and from scientists studying nature’s impact on our wellbeing. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4kJERXT
Opinion | We know time in nature fixes our brains. Here’s why.
Experimental science is proving what humanity has known, intuitively, for generations.
wapo.st
June 18, 2025 at 1:04 PM
How nature improves our cognition, our mood and much else. Lessons from the Appalachian Trail — and from scientists studying nature’s impact on our wellbeing. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4kJERXT
The spectacular Musk blowup is just another day in Trump's reign of error. My latest @postopinions.bsky.social column finds there is no sanctuary from this administration's buffoonery. Gift link: wapo.st/43vKwe9
Opinion | They are not good at this
Nearly five months into Trump’s new reign of error, his administration’s mistakes are multiplying.
wapo.st
June 6, 2025 at 12:14 PM
The spectacular Musk blowup is just another day in Trump's reign of error. My latest @postopinions.bsky.social column finds there is no sanctuary from this administration's buffoonery. Gift link: wapo.st/43vKwe9
Here are the 3,515 things the Democratic Party must do -- immediately! Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column: wapo.st/4kt1JuR
Opinion | Let us count the 3,515 ways in which Democrats are lame
With all this free advice, the Democratic Party’s to-do list is getting exceedingly long.
wapo.st
June 4, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Here are the 3,515 things the Democratic Party must do -- immediately! Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column: wapo.st/4kt1JuR
The targets of Trump’s bullying rarely win him over with obeisance. The better course is to follow (metaphorically speaking) Elon Musk's advice: “If I had punched them hard in the nose, they wouldn’t come after me again.” Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column: wapo.st/3ZItCqe
Opinion | The bully gets punched in the nose
More and more Americans are summoning the courage to fight back against President Donald Trump.
wapo.st
May 30, 2025 at 12:40 PM
The targets of Trump’s bullying rarely win him over with obeisance. The better course is to follow (metaphorically speaking) Elon Musk's advice: “If I had punched them hard in the nose, they wouldn’t come after me again.” Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column: wapo.st/3ZItCqe
I cringe for my country when I look back on all the Trump administration’s embarrassing episodes over the last week. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4kuCrfh
Opinion | This is just embarrassing
Everywhere I looked this week, I cringed for my country.
wapo.st
May 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I cringe for my country when I look back on all the Trump administration’s embarrassing episodes over the last week. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column. wapo.st/4kuCrfh
Uncovering the secret lives of turtles, we also discover ourselves. A @postopinions.bsky.social column on my time in the fields and streams of Virginia, tracking box turtles, river herring and American kestrels. Gift link. wapo.st/4moW1LV
Opinion | Uncovering the secret lives of turtles, we also discover ourselves
Breakthroughs in tracking animals’ movements through GPS, radio frequency and acoustics have exploded.
wapo.st
May 21, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Uncovering the secret lives of turtles, we also discover ourselves. A @postopinions.bsky.social column on my time in the fields and streams of Virginia, tracking box turtles, river herring and American kestrels. Gift link. wapo.st/4moW1LV
This is what happens when we have a morally lost president. My latest @postopinions.bsky.social column, on the Trump administration invoking eugenics, taking Medicaid and food stamps from the poor, celebrating Jamaal Khashoggi's killer and more. Gift link. wapo.st/3EVWAfp
Opinion | Trump will never understand that America is great because it is good
What’s needed more than anything at this moment is to make the country moral again.
wapo.st
May 16, 2025 at 12:37 PM
This is what happens when we have a morally lost president. My latest @postopinions.bsky.social column, on the Trump administration invoking eugenics, taking Medicaid and food stamps from the poor, celebrating Jamaal Khashoggi's killer and more. Gift link. wapo.st/3EVWAfp
Trump needs that Qatari 747 — for all his evasive maneuvers. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column, on Trump’s reversals on tariffs, China, Iran, Israel and more.
wapo.st/4khCvz3
wapo.st/4khCvz3
Opinion | Trump needs that Qatari 747 — for all his evasive maneuvers
Trump said Monday that he invented a new word that is very old. But it is the best word for him.
wapo.st
May 13, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Trump needs that Qatari 747 — for all his evasive maneuvers. Gift link to my latest @postopinions.bsky.social column, on Trump’s reversals on tariffs, China, Iran, Israel and more.
wapo.st/4khCvz3
wapo.st/4khCvz3