The Magazine
June 16, 2025
Goings On
Goings On
The Heartrending Movies of John Cazale
Also: Sister Nancy’s eternal party, the acoustic sculptures of Jennie C. Jones on the Met roof, American Ballet Theatre’s season at the Met, and more.
Photo Booth
How American Photography Came Into Its Own
A sprawling exhibit at the Met charts the medium’s era of busy development.
The Talk of the Town
Michael Luo on Trump’s Chinese-student crackdown; general Naomi-hood; Jacinda Ardern at a stroll; life with an astronaut; a meatpacker’s fond farewell.
Comment
The Victims of the Trump Administration’s China-Bashing
A Cold War-era report is a reminder of how long suspicion has trailed people of Chinese descent in the U.S.
Meetup
How Many Naomis Does It Take to Deconstruct “Doppelganger�
Inspired by Naomi Klein’s best-seller about the headache of being confused with Naomi Wolf, Naomi Becker decided to have a Prospect Park picnic for her fellow-Naomis.
Visiting Dignitary
Jacinda Ardern’s Overseas Experience
New Zealand’s ex-Prime Minister, an anti-Trump icon during COVID, revisited her impoverished New York days, when she slept on a couch and loitered at the Strand.
Trailblazer Dept.
A First Kiss from America’s First Woman in Space
Tam O’Shaughnessy came out as Sally Ride’s partner of twenty-seven years when she wrote of the relationship in Ride’s obituary.
Endangered Species
The Meatpacking District Packs It In
As the market prepares to vacate the West Village, a veteran meatpacker recalls the area in the days of fat-slicked cobblestones, before the Whitney and the High Line.
Reporting & Essays
Annals of Hollywood
How I Learned to Become an Intimacy Coördinator
At a sex-choreography workshop, a writer learned about Instant Chemistry exercises, penis pouches, and nudity riders to train for Hollywood’s most controversial job.
American Chronicles
The Forgotten Inventor of the Sitcom
Gertrude Berg’s “The Goldbergs†was a bold, beloved portrait of a Jewish family. Then the blacklist obliterated her legacy.
Letter from Israel
A Palestinian Doctor in Israel Helps People on Both Sides
Lina Qasem Hassan treated victims of October 7th. She also publicly condemned the war in Gaza—a stance that imperilled her job.
Profiles
Jenny Saville, the Body Artist
The British painter has dedicated her career to depicting human flesh, especially that of women, with deep empathy.
Takes
Takes
Ina Garten on Calvin Tomkins’s Profile of Julia Child
The outlines of her biography—the cookbooks, the TV stardom—are familiar to many of us. Tomkins captures what set her apart.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
Redditors: Immigrants Keep Kidnapping My Wife!!
​What to do about the human-trafficking illegal who absconds with my wife once a week and then drops her at home at dawn? Help!
Fiction
Fiction
“The Queen of Bad Influencesâ€
It is possible I’m too flexible for virtue and too virtuous for villainy.
The Critics
Books
What Did the Pop Culture of the Two-Thousands Do to Millennial Women?
“Girl on Girl,†by the critic Sophie Gilbert, is the latest and most ambitious in a series of consciousness-raising-style reappraisals of the decade’s formative texts.
Books
Briefly Noted
“Apocalypse,†“The End Is the Beginning,†“The Book of Records,†and “The River Is Waiting.â€
Books
The Wizard Behind Hollywood’s Golden Age
How Irving Thalberg helped turn M-G-M into the world’s most famous movie studio—and gave the film business a new sense of artistry and scale.
The Current Cinema
“Materialists†Is a Thoughtful Romantic Drama That Doesn’t Quite Add Up
In Celine Song’s follow-up to “Past Lives,†Dakota Johnson plays a New York City matchmaker caught between a designer Mr. Right and an impoverished ex-boyfriend.
Poems
Poems
“The Terminalâ€
“They stand next to him, in a posture of awkward confession, carefully giving him the words.â€
Cartoons
Puzzles & Games
The Mail
Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that owing to the volume of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.