1.
“The Reddening of New York” November 18-December 1, 2024
For New York’s latest cover story, Simon van Zuylen-Wood tried to find out why the city has swung so hard toward Donald Trump. Ben Yelin, co-host of the Caveat podcast, called it “the best post-election read I’ve seen so far. Combination of compelling reporting and great analysis. And frankly, it’s a tough read.” Journalist Sonny Bunch noted, “One takeaway from this should be that people care about illegal immigration and vote accordingly.” Shari Tucker said, “the democrats are dead in the water because they’ve been in denial that most of their policies hurt workers and small business and have since Bill Clinton was in office. They only play to people like me.” Gary Hilborn argued, “I’m sensitive to those among us who need their voices raised, but empty promises and trigger warnings are only rhetoric. We have to address the needs of working-class Americans.” History professor Natalia Mehlman Petrzela said, “for months, ppl in every space I am—kids’ sports to Uber drivers to the family who works at the bodega, even some rich ex-liberals—showed more Trump support than I ever recall.” Lifelong New Yorker dnyc said, “That Democrats aren’t shouting from the rooftops about exploitative employers, maximal-profit housing, decreasing investment in what are ostensibly free services (schools, parks, etc.) is absolutely beyond me. I believe the message ‘You deserve better, and a rising tide raises all boats’ would be quite effective. Instead, they took the bait on social issues that impact a fraction of a fraction of voters (albeit on the right side of history).” Some readers disagreed. Wrote mtmaxwell1993, “Um … can ‘we should cave in to homophobia’ not be the lesson we take from this, please?” And ywinchell said, “i really hope you interview the exact same people in this article after 2-3 years of Trump … only please send a more insightful reporter who understands the conception of nuance.” On Bluesky, Brandon Diaz noted the story failed to mention the media’s role in the election outcome: “couldn’t be the right-wing industrial propaganda apparatus or anything,” while Alexander Russo suggested, “another four years of journalism spent focused on That Bad Man and the Bad Things He Says & Does wouldn’t address immigrant working-class voter concerns—or turn the political tide.”
2.
“Deli Meat Is Rotten”
Lane Brown delivered an unsettling story about contaminated cold cuts. Lindsay Goldwert called it “gross, fascinating, and alarming.” Commenter megmac said, “Pray your deli man is OCD when it comes to cleaning.” Beauganasm3pj4598 asked, “why do we not demand accountability from USDA? They literally sat there day after day and watched this happen.” Opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen wrote, “it is an extraordinary paradox of modern life that we have ended up in a country with both a huge amount of regulation and also very little actual enforcement and safety. You could not invent a system this flawed if you tried.” Whitney Pastorek had a “genuine question: what am i supposed to eat for lunch? I stopped eating cold cuts after the listeria outbreak and I haven’t had a decent midday meal since. Please help.” Rachel541 noted that since “Fresh Direct called me to tell me to throw out the organic baby carrots I had already eaten, this article’s insistence that deli meat is uniquely prone to pathogens is hard to square. Being vegan doesn’t help. Sticking to organic doesn’t help … Pass the liverwurst.”
3.
“Manic, Stoned, Full Throttle, No Brakes”
Jay Bulger wrote about artist and gallerist Jamian Juliano-Villani. Artist Andrew Kuo called it an “electric profile,” adding, “Jamian is as fun as she seems.” Reader2011 said, “I saw one of the most beautiful shows I’ve ever seen at her gallery. Donna Dennis. It was sublime. It’s hard to reconcile that show with this article.” Crookede said, “just reading this made me tired, but I’m interested in seeing what she does next, more as a curator than as an artist.” Kealoha said, “I wasn’t unimpressed by her paintings before hearing that they were all outsourced to Chinese fabricators. Show me a process video of her creating a competent painting. Until then, all this piece did was further convince me that the art world is one big con and, worse, everyone involved is an idiot.” Art writer Andrew Russeth, quoted in the story, said on X, “Art is alive in our fair city!”
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