For decades, the New York Times editorial page has featured some of the dullest prose in American journalism. Elsewhere in the paper, one typically finds vivid and fluent writing. The ideological biases can be insufferable, but the writing is mostly superb. Except on the editorial page—and particularly in the paper’s unsigned editorials. Nearly every day, on otherwise riveting topics, the typical Times editorial seems perfectly calculated to make a reader stop reading after the second or third paragraph.

It’s understandable, therefore, that Times’ editorial-page editor, James Bennet, would try to hire a writer capable of expressing edgy, abrasive opinions—someone who could give those sleepy editorials a bit of life. What they came up with was Sarah Jeong, a 30-year-old technology writer for the Verge.