The Magazine
June 21, 2021
Reporting
Onward and Upward with the Arts
The Musical Mysteries of Josquin
During the Renaissance, his crystalline choral works led him to be celebrated as the Michelangelo of music. But many works attributed to him may be those of gifted contemporaries.
Annals of Education
The Rise of Black Homeschooling
Often underserved by traditional schools, Black families are banding together to educate their children, sometimes with an unexpected funding source: the Koch family and other conservative donors.
A Reporter at Large
Learning to Ski in a Country of Beginners
As China prepares to host the Winter Olympics, its people get on skis.
Profiles
The Formidable Charm of Omar Sy
How the star of “Lupin” pulled off his greatest confidence trick.
The Critics
On Television
“Kevin Can F**K Himself” and “Feel Good” Rethink Relationship Comedy
Sending up sitcoms and self-righteousness on AMC and Netflix.
Books
The Deep Sea Is Filled with Treasure, but It Comes at a Price
We’ve barely explored the darkest realm of the ocean. With rare-metal mining on the rise, we’re already destroying it.
Books
Briefly Noted
“The Reason for the Darkness of the Night,” “Migratory Birds,” “You People,” and “The Trojan Women.”
A Critic at Large
When Graphs Are a Matter of Life and Death
Pie charts and scatter plots seem like ordinary tools, but they revolutionized the way we solve problems.
The Current Cinema
Harmony Rules in “In the Heights”
Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical presents an uplifting portrait of a Dominican neighborhood in New York where political strife rarely intrudes.
The Talk of the Town
Amy Davidson Sorkin on the origins of COVID; mayoral street smarts; Dawoud Bey’s Harlem return; influencing the influencers; Rose Byrne down under.
Mommy’s Little Helper
College, but for Influencers
Tina Meeks, who makes three hundred thousand dollars a year on social media, teaches classes that train the next generation of Insta-foodies and mommy bloggers.
Hustings Dept.
The Mayor’s Race Visits the Crips
At a summit in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a leader of a local branch of the gang, which has nurtured a peace, grilled candidates including Andrew Yang, Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, and Eric Adams on how they plan to reduce violence.
Dept. of Haunts
Touring Harlem, Then and Now, with Dawoud Bey
The photographer, who is the subject of a retrospective at the Whitney Museum, revisits the neighborhood that provided the backdrop for his early images, and where the old jazz clubs and theatres have been turned into banks and high-rises.
Comment
The Battle Over the Coronavirus Lab-Leak Theory
The debate about the origin of the pandemic has become loud, contentious, and infused with politics. We need to find real answers.
The Age of Spandex
Rose Byrne Channels Jane Fonda
From a café in Sydney, the Australian actress, who plays an aerobics guru on the Apple TV+ series “Physical,” discusses Vegemite, spandex, and her preference for Iyengar yoga.
Shouts & Murmurs
Shouts & Murmurs
A Lexicon for the Late Pandemic
Cartoons
1/14
“It’s not as much fun now that they’re starting to take us seriously.”
Cartoon by Mick Stevens
Fiction
Fiction
The Coast of New Zealand
Sketchbook
A Coney Island Father’s Day Memory
Recalling an outing with Dad, the most anxious person I’ve ever known.
Puzzles & Games Dept.
Poems
Goings On About Town
Tables for Two
Gourmet Food Shops of Today
Grocery and prepared-food delivery services such as Harvest Moon Supplies, Fresh Catskills, and Stocked, by Three Owls Market, are the modern-day successors to the Silver Palate and Barefoot Contessa.
Art
The Sculptures of Melvin Edwards, at City Hall Park
A fifty-year survey of the American artist, including the steel work “Song of the Broken Chains,” is on view in the park, part of the site of the African Burial Ground.
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