In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

Maybe I deliberately skipped it because of that title, "Beyond the Waters of Death," but I probably just overlooked it and put the magazine out for the trash at my dad's place.

 

Yeah, it's not the most appealing title. They probably realized that themselves and changed it online, too late to change it for the print edition. We do that at the newspaper all the time. Usually with outright errors, but sometimes with bad headlines.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I recommend Arthur Krystal on the literature of old age in the Nov. 4 issue.

[serious crayons]

I recommend Arthur Krystal on the literature of old age in the Nov. 4 issue.

I read that last night. Well done, but depressing.

Here's a good one Tad Friend wrote two years ago. I had just written a piece about ageism using the exact same sources. My story had to be kind of upbeat, and this one is less so. But that's part of what makes it good, and thought provoking. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/20/why-ageism-never-gets-old

And finally, here's one by Adam Gopnik from just this past May. I missed it then, but it's probably on my dining room table somewhere.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/can-we-live-longer-but-stay-younger

[Jeff Wrangler]

Even if you don't give a fig about Brexit, I highly recommend the article about it in the Nov. 4 issue. I'm finding it highly entertaining and in places quite funny. Even if you don't read the whole article, read the section beginning in the middle column of page 20, where the author describes a chap called Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is described as "preternaturally posh." He has six children, the sixth named Sixtus, and he has a sister called Annunziata Rees-Mogg--how can you even say that name and keep a poker face? (From this article I learned that David Beckham, Stephen Hawking, and J.K. Rowling all opposed Brexit.)

[serious crayons]

I'm losing steam on the Emmanuel Macron profile. (I've been reading other stuff along the way.) He seems like an interesting guy and he's another one of those "better looking than Trump" world leaders, which pretty much includes everyone except arguably Kim Jong Un.

But my interest in French politics only goes so far. My main interest in Macron is that he's been with his wife since he was a 15-year-old student and she was his 39-year-old teacher. That's a pretty big age difference even if the genders were reversed and almost unheard of when the man is younger AND more successful.

If it happened in this country, the 39-year-old (man or woman) would probably have wound up in jail instead of French First Lady.

[serious crayons]

I was just about to settle down with the new issue last night.I had barely looked through its table of contents. Then I remembered to go get the mail and what do I find but an even newer new issue! I can't keep up.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I was just about to settle down with the new issue last night.I had barely looked through its table of contents. Then I remembered to go get the mail and what do I find but an even newer new issue! I can't keep up.

Welcome to my New Yorker world.

[serious crayons]

Welcome to my New Yorker world.

Thanks!    It's probably everybody's New Yorker world.

I wrote a column for the books page of the paper once about having way too much to read. I mentioned the many things on my computer, Kindle, bedside table, etc., as well as my New Yorker pile. The column invited readers to share their experiences with information overload. One wrote something reasonably friendly but she said she thought my mentioning the New Yorker was snooty.

I can see her point. I've been annoyed, at times, by a friend who sometimes writes things like, "I was reading the New Yorker when there was a knock on the door ... [goes into story that has nothing to do with the New Yorker.]"

But in this case, I wasn't including it to brag. I was including it because it comes every f'in week.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I realized this morning I did want to read that profile of Adam Driver. It seems at least I still have that issue.

[serious crayons]

I realized this morning I did want to read that profile of Adam Driver. It seems at least I still have that issue.

Report back if you can figure out why he warranted such a long profile!