A Brooklyn rabbi on what it’s like to officiate a funeral over Zoom. Two weeks ago, Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, New York (where I am a member), performed her first virtual burial service. A member of her congregation had died at home of COVID-19, and because they were quarantined, his immediate family members — his […]
Our Way of Holding You Read More
An emergency-room doctor struggles to keep it together — and find supplies. In the middle of the night, Emily Wolfe slipped away from her patients and into the break room. She was aching to get out of her mask. The virus was probably everywhere in the break room, all over everything — on the locker Wolfe shared with two other
Two Hours Daily to Sanitize, Two Hours to Cry Read More
This morning I walked the dog. I didn’t sleep much last night (who’s sleeping?) and at 2 a.m. was on the couch texting with a friend about earthquakes and World War II and our sudden mutual alienation from our regular lives that seem, in retrospect, almost silly in their prettiness, but then 8 a.m. rolled around and the dog needed
Walking the Dog Is the Only Time I Feel Sane Read More
Every generation, a crime tells a new story about New York. The murder of Tessa Majors is ours. At the 26th precinct, the baby-faced boy had to empty his pockets and hand over his backpack. He was holding $6 in cash. In the backpack, he had a small collection of school notebooks, all blank —“You don’t take notes, man?” Officer
The Stabbing in Morningside Park Read More
Andrew Yang, tech entrepreneur and political newbie, has always been a long-shot Democratic presidential nominee. Yet, against all odds, he has outlasted 17 other candidates and is headed to the New Hampshire primary with money in the bank and a coveted spot on the most recent debate stage under his belt. He has garnered attention for his big ideas —
Would Andrew Yang’s UBI Plan Actually Help Women? Read More
The Cut on Tuesdays A weekly podcast from the Cut and Gimlet Media, with host Molly Fischer. Old emails are a fossil record of our lives. The constant everyday boring things, the big dramatic once-in-a-lifetime things — they’re all in there, trapped like ammonites in the sediment of your inbox. The thing is, it’s so easy to hit send, and
When You Hit Send Even Though You Know You Shouldn’t Read More
I think a lot, in retrospect, on the value I have always placed on toughness. Why has it mattered so much that I come across, at all times, as resilient, tireless, unfazed, game? One of my closest friends from college was called “Fiercy” as a child: When I met her, she was walking around the frozen midwestern tundra without a
Disarming Myself: My toughness was my everything, until I fell in love. Read More
When did Elinor Carucci enter my apartment and take photos of my life? This was exactly how I felt looking at her new book, Midlife, a gorgeous documentary account of domesticity, 20 years in. There is the messy kitchen counter, unpicturesque. There is the couple (at the same counter) paying bills and unpacking groceries, each frame a frozen section of time, implying decades of repetition of household chores.
A Joyful Testament to Middle Age Read More
If you’re female, the machines may not recognize you as human. They may not see you if you’re trans or a person of color, nor, possibly, if you have poor dental hygiene or carry a cane or are diminutive in stature or extraordinarily tall. The machines understand the world based on the information they’ve been given, and if you aren’t
In 2029, AI Will Make Prejudice Much Worse Read More
Aja Newman went to the emergency room for shoulder pain. Her doctor was a superstar. What’s the worst that could happen? Sometime after 2 a.m. on January 12, 2016, Aja Newman roused herself from her hospital gurney and made her way down the long hallway to the bathroom. She had checked in at Mount Sinai’s Emergency Department more than four
One Night at Mount Sinai Read More