New York Magazine - USA (2019-12-09)

18 newyork| december9–22, 2019

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1 NewYork’s most recentissuelooked
backatthepast decadethroughthe
eyesofsixpeoplewhodefinedit (“Who
Were the 20 10s?,”November25–Decem-
ber 8 ). ThecoverfeaturedKimKardashian
West inaninterviewwithJonathanVan
Meteraboutfame,herhusband,andher
politicalactivism(“RealityTVAlteredReal-
ity,”November25–December 8 ). OnIn­
stagram,@payshhhwrote,“I thinkit’s hard
toarguethatanyonewasmore ubiquitous
thisdecadethanKimKandherfamily.
They shapedthedecadewhetherwe’d like
toadmitit ornot.”JournalistOliviaPetter
tweeted,“ThisKimKinterviewisasglori-
ousasyou’dexpect,buttheundisputed
highlightiswhenshecallsher‘mom’toask
whattotellthejournalistbeforeasking
thejournalistnottowritethatshedid
that.”Noteveryonewasconvincedshede­
servedtobeincluded:M.DeLynnWalker,
speakingformanyreaders,wrote,“Iam
confusedastowhyyouwouldhaveKim
Kardashianonthecoverofyourmagazine
asa groupmemberequivalenttoMargaret
Atwood.” ButtoKardashianWest’sdetrac­
tors,@MartineMontreal tweeted,“We
don’t havetolike ornotlike her. We created
a spacewhereshecouldthriveandprofit.
Goodonherfortakingadvantageofthat.
KimK is notatalltheworst problemofthe
2010s.Notevenbya mile.” And@susie­
kantarcohenwrote,“Idon’t care howshe
gothere, she’s here.Insteadofknockingher
down,weshouldapplaudtheworkshe’s
doingforcriminal-justicereform.I’mpret-
tysure thepeople’s sentencesshe’s helped
com rilledwithher. Give hera
brea

2 The five others New York spoke to were

author Margaret Atwood, BuzzFeed’s

JonahPeretti,Instagram’sco­founderKev­

inSystrom,authorTa­NehisiCoates,and

activist DeRay Mckesson.Commentingon

MaxRead’s conversation withPeretti

(“BuzzFeedMadetheWorlda Meme,”No-

vember25–December8”),TheAtlantic’s

BryanA. Daviswrote,“Whateverthenext

tenyearsbringtomedia,it’ s safetoassume

we’ll stillbebenchmarkingoff ofBuzzFeed

insomeway.” Right­wingfixture MikeCer­

novichcalledit an“unusuallycandiddis­

cussion of how the news really works.”Busi­

ness Insider’s Graham Starr wrote,“Thisis

a smart interview about social media,feed­

back loops, and how they affecttheway

media works. Peretti is this fascinatingex­

ample of how many mid­2000sopen­

internet, ‘internet will create democracy’

thinkers have ended up titans ofconsoli­

dated industries built on exploitedlabor.” Of

Zak Cheney­Rice’s interview withCoates

(“Race Defined the Decade,” November

25–December 8), Paul DeBenedettowrote,

“This is a very good interview withCoates,

and I think both interviewer andsubject

pushed back on one another ina healthy,

productive way that made the conversation

better.” Jalen Elrod added, “Coatesisprob-

ably the writer that has influencedmy

thinking and my perspective onAmerica

and my own community over thepastten

years. To see him recap our journeyfrom

the Age of Obama to the Age ofTrumpis

somewhat cathartic.” Others critiquedthe

series for its lineup, with @AsiaChloe­

Brown tweeting, “A ‘conversation’aboutthe

2010s with people who ‘defined thedecade’

a en are included ...No

B na. No Shonda Rhimes.

No Ava DuVernay. No Serena Williams.No

Tarana Burke. No Nikole Hannah­Jones.

No Janet Mock. No Isabel Wilkerson.”

3 NewYork’s Washington correspon­

dent,OliviaNuzzi, explicated Rudy

Giuliani’serratictexting habits (“ ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄,”

November25–December 8). Other re­

porterssharedtheir experiencesof com­

municatingwithhim. ABC News’ Tara

Palmeriwrote,“Giuliani is a manunhan-

dled.HeonceFaceTime butt-dialed me at

5 a.m.”CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski added,

“Heblockedmy cell on both his numbers

butstillrespondson email. His digital skills

are mysterious.” And the Washington Post’s

Dan Zak wrote, “I texted him last week and

he read the message but didn’t respond. :(”

And Charlie Warzel of the New York Times

wrote that the story “speaks to my theory

that right now one of the few ways to politi­

cal power is to never, ever stop making con­

tent ... and that means being incredibly,

almost pathologically accessible.” After the

story was published, Giuliani sent Nuzzi

the following text:

32 nw york | november 25 december 82019

Ta -Nehisi

Coates

Race defined the decade.BY ZAK CHENEYRICE

November 25December 8 2019

My

DecadeSix conversations

about the 2010s With

Margaret Atwood, TaNehisi Coates,

DeRay Mckesson,Kevin Systrom,

Jonah Peretti, and

Kim Kardashian West

A Special Issue ®