April 8, 2016 Our Daily Correspondent Crying in Public By Sadie Stein From a 1897 German cartoon. Whenever someone talks about how they never meet any native New Yorkers—this is an odd cliché people are given to—I want to tell them, just go to Fairway Market on a Saturday with no makeup on. You’ll see everyone I went to high school with, and their parents. Read More
April 7, 2016 Our Daily Correspondent Passing Strange By Sadie Stein Photo: Alan Light Earlier today, the New York City Council voted to restrict the antics of the various costumed characters in Times Square. As the New York Times delicately put it, “After an uproar last summer over nudity and aggressive tip-seeking in Times Square, city officials said they were aiming to restore order to the plazas. The rules could go into effect by the beginning of the summer.” Read More
April 6, 2016 Our Daily Correspondent Happy Tartan Day By Sadie Stein April 6 marks Tartan Day: on this day in 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was signed, asserting Scottish independence. As the BBC describes, Read More
April 5, 2016 Our Daily Correspondent Tacit By Sadie Stein Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Maskenball, 1911. It recently occurred to me that there is one aspect of parties I actively dread. It’s not the socializing. It’s not the dressing up—although it’s true I am not burdened by talent in the hair or makeup department, and begrudge the expense. What makes my heart sink is the thought of all that obligatory mutual admiration: “You look beautiful.” “You look great.” Hoping to be the first to get it in; not wanting to sound forced, yet absolutely compelled to join in the ritual. Read More
April 4, 2016 Our Daily Correspondent Feel-Good Candle By Sadie Stein Henri Rousseau, The Pink Candle, 1910. The other day, our Southern editor, John Jeremiah Sullivan, drew our attention to a really interesting recent episode of the BBC’s History Hour. It was a program dedicated in part to the death of Virginia Woolf, who took her own life on March 28, 1941. Now, here in the northeast, it’s a particularly dreary day: damp and drizzly, and—after a brief tease of spring—cold. It’s also a Monday. And perhaps, you’re thinking, listening to a discussion of someone drowning herself is not precisely what you need. Read More
April 1, 2016 Our Daily Correspondent Brief Encounter By Sadie Stein “Polite New Yorker” Guess who I ran into this morning? Three guesses. And if you guessed Jacob, my neighborhood friend, you’re right! I was enjoying a toasted, buttered bialy, a coffee-cart small, and a newspaper on a traffic island, when who should sit down on the bench opposite but my old comrade-in-arms! He was looking very natty in a bright green fedora and tweed jacket. On his lapel was a button that read POLITE NEW YORKER. Read More