The Magazine
January 23, 2023
Goings On
Dance
Ronald K. Brown Gets Political
In a show at the Joyce, the choreographer’s company, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, performs “The Equality of Night and Day,” which incorporates speeches by Angela Davis.
Tables for Two
SYKO’s Syrian and Korean Cuisines, Side by Side
In Windsor Terrace, the members of a blended family present dishes from both cultures, offering bulgogi as well as shawarma, along with the glorious Fatboy sandwich.
The Talk of the Town
Benjamin Wallace-Wells on G.O.P. chaos in the House; a Citi Biker gang; painting pots with Wet Leg; the opposite of vandalism; billionaires in space.
Sketchpad
Billionaires and Space: An Investigation
Why are the world’s richest men so intent on leaving the planet? Motives vary. For example, one just wants to rub his scent glands on the moon.
Two Wheels Dept.
The Daredevil Behind Citi Bike Boyz
Jerome Peel’s urban biking life requires an unusual set of supplies. Plywood ramp? Check. Box cutter? Check. Epsom salts? Check.
Plate Patrol
At Large with New York’s One-Man Crime Spree
Gersh Kuntzman, a vigilante who fixes up license plates that have been defaced in order to evade speeding-ticket cameras, confronts a potential perpetrator downtown.
The Musical Life
The Women of Wet Leg
How Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, two friends from the Isle of Wight, got a music career and five Grammy nominations by fixating on an old chaise longue.
Comment
Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans’ Rocky Road Ahead
With members of the House G.O.P. caucus still pulling in all directions, does anyone know where the Party is headed?
Reporting & Essays
Annals of Innovation
Can 3-D Printing Help Solve the Housing Crisis?
Standard construction can be slow, costly, and inefficient. Machines might do it better.
Letter from South Carolina
The Corrupt World Behind the Murdaugh Murders
In isolated, poor regions of South Carolina, coming from an élite family offered a feeling of impunity. Did this license lead Alex Murdaugh to commit fraud after fraud—and then kill his wife and son?
A Reporter at Large
The Getty Family’s Trust Issues
Heirs to an iconic fortune sought out a wealth manager who would assuage their progressive consciences. Now their dispute is exposing dynastic secrets.
Profiles
The Raucous Assault of Tala Madani’s Art
The Iranian American artist is a rarity: a wildly imaginative innovator with a gift for caricature and visual satire.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
Life Is Too Short
Fiction
Fiction
Wednesday’s Child
“ ‘Never argue’ was Rosalie’s motto; especially, never argue with the dead.”
The Critics
Books
Has Academia Ruined Literary Criticism?
Literature departments seem to provide a haven for studying books, but they may have painted themselves into a corner.
Books
Briefly Noted
“American Caliph,” “Dinner with Joseph Johnson,” “Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion,” and “Antagony.”
Books
The Victorian Reformers Who Defended Same-Sex Desire
Confronting severe legal and social sanction, they sought to change the culture. A scholar and a novelist return us to a hinge of history.
On Television
Road-Tripping Through a Post-Apocalyptic America in “The Last of Us”
The HBO drama, based on a video game, works best as a post-catastrophe travelogue, teasing out the ways survivors rebuild mini-societies with new alignments of power.
Books
The Haunting of Prince Harry
Electrified by outrage—and elevated by a gifted ghostwriter—the blockbuster memoir “Spare” exposes more than Harry’s enemies.
Poems
Poems
Baton Bleu
Poems
The Lovers
Cartoons
1/14
“I want a place that’s fireproof, floodproof, windproof, and close to a Trader Joe’s.”
Cartoon by Anne Fizzard
Cartoon Caption Contest
Puzzles & Games Dept.
The Mail
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.