1 The most recent cover of New York — “An Entire Issue With Nothing About Trump!” (July 8–21) — raised more than a few eyebrows, with HuffPost declaring, “Donald Trump Will Totally Hate the Latest Edition of New York Magazine.” The French newsmagazine L’Obs took notice as well and pointed out that it would be a nice break for readers: “Histoire, sans doute, d’accorder un peu de répit à ses lecteurs, à l’approche des vacances.” Noel Nichols agreed, telling us, “He injects himself in all my media sources. Time to exclude all distractions from summer joy.” Randy Bachman wrote, “I just purchased the current copy of New York Magazine. It is the first one that I have ever purchased. The promise of an entire magazine without anything Trump was simply too good to pass up. I gladly paid the cover price and a $4 shipping charge just to add my name to the list of others who cringe every time we see that name. I hope it is your best-selling issue ever.” On Instagram, it received almost 30,000 likes—and an unusual amount of comments, roughly split between enthusiastic and frustrated: @melrosko wrote, “What a breath of fresh air,” and @betsysingletonchoate added, “My blood pressure thanks you.” But @les.wonders pointed out, “Ma’am, it’s on the cover .” Reader Ted Hicks shared this sentiment: “Regardless of what’s not on the inside, that cover makes it still about Trump.”
2 Jessica Pressler’s story about the drama that ensued when Brooklyn’s oldest nursery school was dragged into the 21st century (“The Battle of Grace Church,” July 8–21) received much praise online. Rabia Chaudry called it “so satisfying in a gross but delicious way,” and Alix MacLean tweeted, “I loved this because I love messy rich folks, but also the writing is amazing?!” Others found the focus on the very rich to be obscene: “Do we really care about the problems of highly privileged people and their wannabe social-climbing director?” Maureen Thomas asked. Commenter pswade added, “As someone who has been in the NYC public-education field for 13 years, this nonsense also happens in all types of schools. Obviously less wealth but the same ole nonsense.” Meanwhile, the story’s comments section was filled with anonymous users gossiping about their own experiences at the school. Brownstoner19 wrote, “As a parent who has been involved with the school and church, I can say that, while this is sad and unfortunate, much of it is true. While there are elements of the school that I love, namely the teachers, the cattiness and favoritism are unreal.” Another user posted a response from school administrators that was sent to parents: “The School neither sought out nor desired this story to run. It is disappointing to all of us that this reporter chose to write a divisive article which does not reflect the true character of our beloved School community.” Commenter grace_church_school_mom wrote, “I can’t speak to some of the specific details as I’m not a board member, but as a parent who’s had children at Grace through the entire period described, in my opinion this article is incredibly accurate. I look forward to my child returning to a much saner school in the fall.” Inevitably, the story drew many comparisons to another depiction of well-heeled parents. Katie Rosman tweeted, “Season Three of Big Little Lies right here,” and Karen Schwartz wrote, “Ever wish Big Little Lies was a little less dark and a little more Tom Wolfe? Voilà.”
3 Despite hostile executives at Viacom and CBS, unsympathetic journalists, and the ire of her own father, Shari Redstone has emerged as the most powerful woman in media (“Last Woman Standing,” by Irin Carmon, July 8–21). “Gotta give her props on this,” Chuck Wilson responded. “She fought war after war to keep the family business in the family. Some will see it as personal greed and ambition, while others will see it as business heroism. Sometimes the rightful heir is the one willing to fight for it.” Gbradley680 didn’t view Redstone’s success in quite those heroic terms: “That story about the Redstones is like reading ancient Roman history. Money can buy a fool’s paradise.”
4 In the “Look Book” (July 8–21), which surveyed tourists disembarking from a harbor cruise, Nicole Whitney of Canada told us her first impression of the city was “a Mount Everest–size pile of garbage. It was really quite shocking.” She wrote us to emphasize all the good things she saw after the garbage pile: “I just want to clarify that I do not think New York is garbage. During my 11-minute conversation with New York Magazine, we covered at length the exciting experiences on my first-ever visit to the Big Apple, from joining a live taping of Stephen Colbert’s show (I am a huge fan) to sitting in front at a Broadway play (featuring the one and only Nathan Lane). It was a jam-packed, hair-blowin’-in-the-wind, excitement-crammed, once-in-a-lifetime travel event stuffed into a mere few days in NYC!”
*This article appears in the June 24, 2019, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!