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The Magazine

May 31, 2021

“Happy Hours,” by Nina Chanel Abney.

Reporting

Annals of Espionage

Are U.S. Officials Under Silent

Attack?
The Havana Syndrome rst affected spies and diplomats in
Cuba. Now it has spread to the White House.

By Adam Entous

Brave N World Dept.

What Robots Can—and

Can’t—Do for the Old and
Lonely
For elderly Americans, social isolation is especially perilous.
Will machine companions ll the void?

By Katie Engelhart

American Chronicles

Are We Entering a New

Political Era?
The neoliberal order seems to be collapsing. A generation
of young activists is trying to insure that it’s replaced by
progressive populism, not by the fascist right.

By Andrew Marantz

A Reporter at Large

The Dark Side of Congo’s

Cobalt Rush
Cell phones and electric cars rely on the mineral, causing a
boom in demand. Locals are hunting for this buried
treasure—but are getting almost none of the pro t.

By Nicolas Niarchos

More Reporting

The Critics

On Tel ision

It’s Ryan Murphy’s World

—“Halston” Is Just Living in It
In the Net ix series, Murphy keeps such a tight rein on
Halston’s world that the designer is unable to breathe as a
subject.

By Naomi Fry

A Critic at Large

From Guns to Gay Marriage,

How Did Rights Take Over
Politics?
The N.R.A., the Supreme Court, and the forces driving the
country’s most intractable legal debates.

By Kelefa Sanneh

Books

Briefly Noted
“Albert and the Whale,” “There’s No Such Thing as an
Easy Job,” “Gold Diggers,” and “The Renunciations.”

Books

What the Bolinas Poets

Built
Along the coast of California, a vibrant literary community
came together, but its many styles could not be de ned
together.

By Dan Chiasson

Books

Why Did So Many Victorians

Try to Speak with the Dead?
Many explanations have been offered for Spiritualism, but
the movement was more than a fad.

By Casey Cep

More Criticism

The Talk of the Town

Steve Coll on the stakes of the crisis in Gaza; culture-war gladiators; Lucy Dacus kayaks;
wrestling crowds return; a dumpling dash.

Comment

In Gaza, an Impasse Cannot

Be Mistaken for Stability
Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank and its
harsh blockade of Gaza have undermined its constitutional
ideals and worsened internal fault lines that threaten its
future.

By Steve Coll

Rome Postcard

The Last Stand at Steve

Bannon’s “Gladiator
School”
The Academy for the Judeo-Christian West is trying to
stave off eviction from Trisulti, an eight-hundred-year-old
monastery outside Rome, where its founder hopes to offer
courses like “Cultural Marxism, Radical Jihad, and the
C.C.P.’s Global Information Warfare.”

By Ben Munster

The Musical Life

Floating on the Hudson

with Lucy Dacus
The singer-songwriter, who founded boygenius with
Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, and whose LP “Home
Video” comes out next month, takes a kayak trip off
Manhattan.

By Rachel Syme

Spandex Dept.

Reopening New York with

Frat Boy Farva and Masha
Slamovich
Driven underground by pandemic restrictions, the
professional wrestlers at a Staten Island strip mall can now
freely entertain audiences with body slams, face-spitting,
and head-bashing with metal trash cans.

By Dan Greene

Dept. of Automation

The Automat Returns,

Pushing Dumplings Into
American Stomachs
How the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop serves high-concept
fare, favored by Daniel Boulud, Patti LaBelle, and Fat Joe,
via an update on the old Horn & Hardart system.

By Henry Alford

More Talk of the Town

Shouts & Murmurs

Shouts & Murmurs

A Letter to My Future Child

Your would-be sperm-provider and I don’t make the
decision not to conceive you lightly: we’re living in a time
of melting permafrost. Also, what if, as a teen-ager, you ll
the bathroom with Axe body spray?

By Cora Frazier

More Shouts & Murmurs

Cartoons

Fiction

Fiction

“A, S, D, F”
“What I’m actually engaged in is a white-collar high-wire
act without a safety net, where each typo means I have to
start over.”

By Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

More Fiction

Puzzles & Games Dept.

Crossword

The Crossword: Friday, May

21, 2021
A lightly challenging puzzle.

By Robyn Weintraub

Poems

Poems

“Left Out of the Bible”

“What Adam said to Eve / As they lay in the dark.”

By Charles Simic

Poems

“In the Dream in Which I Am a

Widow”
“I have carried a portion of your ashes overseas / to the
Spanish statue of the falling angel.”

By Gabrielle Bates

More Poetry

Goings On About Town

Above & Beyond

Little Island, on the Hudson

The new public park, with its lush gardens and
amphitheatre overlooking the water, is now open for
exploring.

Tables for Two

Mexican Cafés Without

Meat
Xilonen, in Greenpoint, homes in on house-made masa,
purple potatoes, and guajillo chilies; Guevara’s, in Clinton
Hill, offers young-coconut “ceviche” and sturdy nachos
with black lentils and cashew crema.

By Hannah Goldfield

More Goings On About Town

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