New York Magazine - USA (2019-09-16)

8 new york | september 16–29, 2019

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Comments

1 ForthecoverofNewYork’s“FallPre-
view”issue,JonathanVanMeterpro-
filedRenéeZellweger(“RenéeZellwe-
ger’sLostDecade,”September2–15),
whoissoontostarasJudyGarlandinthe
biopicJudy.OnInstagram,huntlodge
commented,“Goodforher!Hollywood
usespeopleupanddiscardsthem.She
steppedasideandprioritizedherlife...
thencamebackstrong,lookingbetterthan
ever!”Andpietrofhnycwrote,“Sheseems
soun–JudyGarland–likethatI can’twait
toseeherplaytherole.ButI hopeshe
capturestheinnatehumorJudyhad
alongwiththepathosandinsecurity.”
Butunger_xxchafedattheheadline:
“Iwouldn’tcallita‘lost’decade.Timeoff
canbeextremelyfruitful.Noteverything
ofvalueinlifeispublic.”Addedsophiegru-
etzner,“Lostdecade?BridgetJones’sBaby
wasjustthreeyearsago.”@__adamwhite
commented,“Thisisaremarkableprofile
thatfullyburrowsintothatfascinating
blurofstrength,vulnerability,andmadec-
centricitythathasalwaysmadeZellweger
suchabrilliantmoviestar.”WillKellogg
wrotethestorymadehim“excitedforJudy
inawaythetrailerdidnot.”Zellweger’s
performanceinJudy,whichpremieredat
theTorontoInternationalFilmFestival,
inspiredastandingovation,prompting
onecritictowrite,“In 15 yearsat#TIFF
I haveneverseena standingovationlike
theoneforRenéeZellweger...itonly
stoppedbecauseshemadeus.”

2 In “How to Major in Unicorn” (Sep-
tember 2–15), Max Read and Andrew
Granato assembled a cynic’s guide to excel-
ling at Stanford University. Cécile Alduy, a
French-literature professor at the school,

wrote,“Thisarticleisonlyaboutcomputer-

sciencestudents.ButI’vehadsomeinmy

...classesthathadentirelydifferent,hu-

manisticattitudes.Andthemajorityof

StanfordstudentsdonotmajorinCS.

Whatarelief.”Twohumanitiesmajors

wrotearebuttalpostonMedium—“AnOp-

timist’sGuidetoFindingMeaningatStan-

ford”—arguingthattheguideperpetuates

themyths“thatitisnotonlyfullof‘techies’

butthatthosetechiesonlycareaboutself-

enrichment,networking,andpersonalsuc-

cess.”Otheralumssawglimpsesoftheir

timeattheschool.NaotakeMurayama

wrote,“There’ssometruth,someuseful

tips,andlotsofrequiredreadingbetween

thelines.”@richjarotweeted,“Tostories

aboutathleticsscandals,academiccheat-

ing,andcampusassault,youcanaddthis

tothelistofthingsyouneverwanttosee

writtenaboutyouralmamater.”

3 “The world’s five most powerful mil-

lennials now, and maybe for the rest of

our lives, are Jared Kushner, Kim Jong-un,

Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Miller, and

Mohammed bin Salman,” Noreen Malone

argued in “The Five Millennials Changing

the World” (September 2–15). Commenter

almost.literature wrote, “The idea that

Miller and Kushner are being portrayed in

this piece as serious long-term power bro-

kers in the United States—let alone inter-

nationally—is just ludicrous. Neither has

enough credibility in their appointed fields

to provide even a hint of gravitas.” Heidi N.

Moore disagreed. “The next time millenni-

als say they inherited a messed-up world,

remind them that, like all generations, they

also have a significant hand in making it

worse ... Kushner, Miller, and Zuckerberg

alone have enabled a level of authoritarian

cynicism and genocide that makes any

Boomerlooklikeanamateur.”

4 In an essay for the Cut, Natalie Beach

reflected on her years-long relation-

ship ghostwriting for the infamous Insta-

gram influencer Caroline Calloway (“I Was

Caroline Calloway,” September 10).

Within 24 hours, the story had been read

by half a million people and prompted the

New York Times to write “Who Is Caroline

Calloway? An Explainer” and a BuzzFeed

quiz, “Are You a Caroline or a Natalie?”

Zing Tsjeng called the essay “a real-life

Elena Ferrante story for the Instagram

generation.” The novelist Curtis Sitten-

feld asked, “Was this essay written for my

personal delight?” Amanda Fortini wrote,

“The main takeaway from this Caroline

Calloway piece (other than Natalie being a

fantastically sharp writer) is how abso-

lutely shitty and miserable your twenties

are.” Others, though, questioned the writ-

er’s motivations, with Mother Jones’s Clara

Jeffery tweeting, “Maybe if I’d ever heard

about Caroline before today I’d read this

as something other than essentially be-

coming and betraying the thing you

feel betrayed by.” Hadley Freeman wrote,

“This a great piece of writing about a

friendship that is morally complicated on

both sides.” The journalist Peter Sterne

added, “I thought this would be an expo-

sé of an Instagram scammer, but it’s actu-

ally a compelling reflection on toxic

friendship and the experience of being a

young woman in the early 2010s. I hope

Natalie writes a memoir.”