May 28, 2012 Issue
Cover Story
A Life Worth Ending
“What I feel most intensely when I sit by my mother’s bed is a crushing sense
of guilt for keeping her alive.” Modern medicine’s obsession with longevity has
created a uniquely horrifying new stage of aging, as far from life as it is from death. One son’s dispatch from the no-exit state. By Michael Wolff
On the Cover: The
author’s mother, Van Wolff, circa 1942.
Features
Post-Racial Farce
Electing the first black president was supposed to show that Americans had evolved on the issue of race. Bruce Norris’s stunning play Clybourne Park acknowledges that we have—but not in a way that’s likely to make anyone proud. By Frank Rich
Out for Blood
Add a freakishly balmy winter to a sewer system full of standing water and you very well might get the prime conditions for out-of-control mosquito breeding. This summer, consider packing a little extra DEET. By Robert Sullivan
George Romney for President, 1968
When the Michigan governor ran for the Republican nomination, he believed that his deep faith in the institutions of American life would be enough to beat back his party’s radical wing. He was badly mistaken. By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
Intelligencer
The States of Jeter's Swing
Obsessive blogger and coach Chris O’Leary breaks down the evolution.
A Hole in the Polls
Dubious horse-race numbers point to real problems for Dems.
Risk and the City
How London bankers learned to gamble.
The Neighborhood News
Our roundup of news from around the city.
Barefaced Boldfacers
Preempting the paparazzi.
73 Minutes With Miuccia Prada
Talking the politics of style at teatime with the designer, fashion magnate, and new Costume Institute honoree.
Strategist
Best Bets
Modular planters, a three-in-one bike, and more new stuff in New York stores.
The Look Book
“I think in life you kind of attract what you are, so I have a pretty amazing practice full of awesome people.”
Beach Sweaters
Open-weave knits are a surfer thing, but they’re also very helpful in a spring that can’t make up its mind.
The Restaurant Review
Alex Raij and Eder Montero bring Manhattan-style tapas to Cobble Hill.
In Season
However you classify rhubarb, it’s a much-loved ingredient in the fruit fool.
Please Don’t Be Seated
Mile End Sandwich asks its customers to stand up while chowing down.
Go Ahead, Have Another
A real-time assessment of the local drinking universe.
Culture
Aubrey Plaza’s Perfect Game
From bowling-alley waitress to romantic lead in the roll of an eye.
The Secret Life of Rockefeller Center
Ben Stiller, “Walter Mitty,” and a Sunday in New York.
The Movie Review
Wes Anderson returns with Moonrise Kingdom, his most stylized diorama yet.
Broadway Songwriting Is in Critical Condition. Again.
A diagnosis and, just maybe, a treatment.
The Classical Music Review
City Opera may have secured its immediate future. But does it matter?
Agenda
Regal Return
Potlikker is devoted to decidedly American fare, often with what Liza Queen calls “rural and working-class roots.”
Departments
Comments: Week of May 28, 2012
Readers sound off on TV upfronts, Patrice O’Neal, and more.
The Approval Matrix: Week of May 28, 2012
Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies.
Write a Letter to the Editor
Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Please include a daytime phone number.
- Mail to
-
- New York Media
- 75 Varick Street
- New York, NY 10013
- NYletters@newyorkmag.com