The Trouble With Angels
This week's writing
I moved to New York City in June 1996. I’d just finished college, but I didn’t actually attend my graduation because the University of Georgia was still on the quarter system, which meant classes ended in mid-June, almost a month after schools on the semester system. I had an internship at Spy Magazine that started just days after my final exams. So, off I went to New York, where I’d always wanted to live, ever since seeing the 1987 opening to Late Night with David Letterman. (Watch below.)
My mother was afraid that if I moved to New York, I’d end up naked in Times Square by the end of the year. Fortunately, I only ended up half naked in Times Square by the end of summer. It was a Spy Magazine shoot for an “Angels in New York” comedy feature. My colleagues Dan Bova, Jonathan Yevin, and I had assumed we’d wear more modest robes, but the art designer had other ideas. On the upside, I got a free pair of Chuck Taylors and learned that jockey shorts are quite comfortable. Prior to the evening’s Times Square shoot, we’d crossed the Brooklyn Bridge in our angel wear and noticed women in an office building crowding by the window, waving and shouting “Hey, angels!” at us. It was an interesting summer.
I left New York at the end of July 2011. I’d lived through 9/11 and the 2003 blackout. There might have been a blizzard or two in there. I also survived the pommes frites craze. (Watch below.)
The 15 years I lived in New York feels longer than the 15 years since I left, but that’s middle age for you. When we left New York, my wife and I spent a month in New England and then a few months in Europe before landing in the Pacific Northwest. We had to leave Vermont early because Hurricane Irene was coming, and we didn’t want to risk missing our flight out of Newark. I recall sitting in the airport and reading a New York Times article about Irene’s impact, and this guy from Tribeca complained that his fancy brunch spot was closed. He considered it an overreaction because the roads were clear in Manhattan. He didn’t understand that the people who worked at his overpriced trendy brunch spot lived outside the city, which had been hit hard, and they literally couldn’t make it into Manhattan if they wanted. When I finished the article, I realized it was probably the right time for me to leave Manhattan.
This week, I wrote about the Republicans’ shameless persecution of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who played a heroic role during the first year of the Covid pandemic, which is exactly why Republicans hate him so much.
John Fetterman has predictably flipped on the filibuster. He’s now officially Joe Manchin but without dignity or access to a sober tailor. Meanwhile, even Jonathan Chait agrees that the Senate is not the ideal pro-democracy institution.
Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons Netflix TV series had a Covid flashback episode that depicts the illness, pre-vaccine, as just a bad cold.
The Michigan Democratic Senate primary is finally over … well, the voting part at least. The internal party tension will continue.
That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.
Hubba hubba, SER!