In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

I am now three issues behind. I can't recall ever being that far behind.

I can recall being a presidential administration behind! 

I find it especially hard to keep up in "these times." I also feel sorry for the New Yorker staff -- by the time an issue comes out so much other stuff has happened that the content of that issue isn't as relevant. And much of it must take a long time to research and write. But when I saw the recent one I thought, oh, this is from the good old days when there were only two gigantic once-in-a-lifetime catastrophes.

[Front-Ranger]

I've experienced a similar thing.... Just when I get my thoughts together to say something about an issue, everything changes, morphs or mutates into something else!

I've started looking at TNY website sometimes to get the freshest news. But long-form journalism is still or more important than ever.

Have you noticed that the articles sometimes change, especially the titles? For instance, "Fungus Among Us" by Hua Hsu is listed as "What can fungus teach us?" in the table of contents and "The Secret Lives of Fungi" online. It's a good article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/the-secret-lives-of-fungi

[Jeff Wrangler]

Have you noticed that the articles sometimes change, especially the titles? For instance, "Fungus Among Us" by Hua Hsu is listed as "What can fungus teach us?" in the table of contents and "The Secret Lives of Fungi" online. It's a good article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/the-secret-lives-of-fungi

I read that yesterday, and I noticed conspicuously absent was any mention that some mushrooms can kill you, and you have to be careful when you forage for them.

Not a fan here, but I eat them when they are an ingredient in something (e.g., gravy). A county to the southwest of Philadelphia is a notable mushroom producing area. If I were to buy mushrooms, I'd buy them from there.

[Front-Ranger]

So, you would be one of those mycophobes mentioned in the article, right?

[Jeff Wrangler]

So, you would be one of those mycophobes mentioned in the article, right?

More or less, one of those who does not like the texture (or taste) of a mushroom when I have to eat it.

But if I didn't know better, my take-away from that article would be that all mushrooms are good, when that is not true.

[serious crayons]

The mycophagist community has a saying: There are old mushroom hunters, and there are bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old, bold mushroom hunters.

 

[Front-Ranger]

 

[Front-Ranger]

Today I read "White Noise" and "Pursuit as Happiness" in the latest (fiction) issue. It's interesting to compare them. One is about Harvey Weinstein and the other is about (and written by) Ernest Hemingway. Have hetero white males progressed over the years, or have they regressed?

[serious crayons]

Interesting! I’m reading “White Noise” as we speak. I was going to skip the Hemingway but now you’ve got me intrigued.

[Front-Ranger]

Both are well written and terse. I particularly liked how Emma Cline described a car as "popping along the gravel." That's exactly how it sounds!