Innholdsfortegnelse for 5/28-6/10/18 i New York Magazine

1 For New York’s latest cover story, Allison P. Davis met Henry, “a high-quality dildo attached to a fancy mannequin with a Bluetooth speaker” (“Are We Ready for Robot Sex?,” May 14–27). Daniel H. Wilson, author of Robopocalypse, wrote, “People clearly love sex in all its varieties, so it’s not a stretch to assume we will someday love having sex with robots—even to the point of mundanity. At least, that’s my sincere hope. Every interaction with lifelike technology is likely to affect our interactions with real people. This is why Amazon makes sure the junior version of Alexa requires kids to be polite.” Reader Michael J. Gorman reminded us that sexbots aren’t a new fantasy: “Anyone who has read Brave New Worldknows that sex with robots or sexual stimulation from…

ON THE TUESDAY after the Monday when Donald Trump officially moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, his daughter and son-in-law performing pseudo-diplomacy and wearing mannequin smiles as Israeli soldiers shot live ammunition into crowds of protesters in the Gaza Strip, killing 60 people, I arrived at the 16th-floor Park Avenue suite of the Jewish philanthropist Charles Bronfman. The previous week, in an address to Hebrew Union College, Bronfman had seemed to pick a fight with the government of Israel—a surprising and unprecedented act for a man who has spent his whole life and hundreds of millions of his own dollars investing in Israel, promoting it to Americans, and defending its right to defend itself. The co-founder of Birthright Israel, which sponsors free trips for young…

Think Small “One thing people get wrong about happiness is they focus on the extraordinary instead of the ordinary. We think that happiness comes from big or transformative experiences, but we neglect how we can spend moments in happier ways on a daily basis. All my research says that the best way people can be happier is to spend $40 on a time-saving service. Instead of fighting with your spouse over who should do the laundry, hire a laundry service. Forgo that time fighting to make a meal together or go for a walk with the person you love.”…

Be a Slow Samaritan Research shows that helping others makes us happy. But what prevents us from helping others? Researchers at Princeton studied three groups of seminary students on their way to a meeting who passed a needy person on the sidewalk. The first group had plenty of time, the second had a little time, and the third was in a rush. The finding: Seminarians in the unrushed group were far more likely to stop and help than the ones pressed for time. So next time you’re headed for the subway, leave ten minutes early.…

TWO YEARS AGO, the Supreme Court heard a case with bleak implications for the country’s labor movement. A California teacher named Rebecca Friedrichs decided she didn’t want to pay fees to the union that represented her because she didn’t want it funding liberal causes. So she sued. If the Court ruled in her favor, which no one doubted it would, public employees could choose to stop paying such fees, potentially triggering a vicious cycle of membership flight and financial ruin. But then Justice Antonin Scalia died in his sleep on a ranch in West Texas and the case ended in a 4-4 deadlock. The fees would remain; the unions were spared. At least for a while. In late February 2018, like stagehands striking and rebuilding a set, the Supreme Court…

ADDICTION PSYCHIATRY ERIC COLLINS Addiction/substance abuse; New Canaan; 203-801-2241 SILVER HILL HOSPITAL LISA GOLDFARB Addiction/substance abuse, psychotherapy; New York; 212-570-4052 NYU LANGONE FRANCES LEVIN Addiction/substance abuse, dual diagnosis, substance abuse, alcohol abuse; New York; 646-774-6137 NY PSYCHIATRIC JOHN MARIANI Addiction/substance abuse, alcohol abuse, opiate addiction; New York; 212-213-6088 NY PRES–COLUMBIA MARY PAIZIS Addiction/substance abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, dual diagnosis; New York; 212-759-1820 NYU LANGONE EDWARD PAUL Opiate addiction, alcohol abuse, smoking cessation, cocaine addiction; New York; 212-447-5712 NYU LANGONE CHARLES PERKEL Addiction/substance abuse; New York; 212-420-2008 MT SINAI BETH ISRAEL KENNETH ROSENBERG Addiction/substance abuse, sexual dysfunction, sex addiction, alcohol abuse–consultation; New York; 212-861-8807 NY PRES–WEILL CORNELL CAROL WEISS Drug abuse, alcohol abuse; New York; 212-988-1209 NY PRES–WEILL CORNELL JILL WILLIAMS Addiction/substance abuse, dual diagnosis, smoking cessation; Piscataway; 732-235-2123 RWJ…

THE GOAL: Find the next status hand soap. Now that Aesop is ubiquitous, what is its universally tasteful, mildly overpriced replacement? THE VERDICT: The most exciting new thing in suds is called, simply, Soap ($29 for four at supergoodthing.com). Jasper Morrison, a British industrial designer who’s exhibited at MoMA, designed this bar for the home-goods manufacturer Good Thing after the founder boldly Instagram-messaged Morrison asking to collaborate. Together, they developed the transparent glycerin-based cleanser, which comes in a set of four, molded together like a giant Hershey bar, each piece snapping off when it’s time for the next. The formula is pigment- and fragrance-free, which makes it ideal for people with sensitive skin or allergies. That lack of additives also means it’s all-purpose: safe in the kitchen on dishes as…

TO BE CLEAR: A migraine is not a headache, and people with migraines don’t like their condition to be called one. It’s not that headaches aren’t a part of a migraine: They are. But a headache is a single symptom of a multifaceted neurological disease—one that includes loss of vision, nausea, and sensitivity to light, sound, and smell. And those are just the common side effects. Some sufferers find themselves yawning compulsively, slurring their speech, and losing sensation on one side of their bodies. Some migraineurs (yes, that is the technically accurate moniker for migraine sufferers) start seeing big things as small—a side effect dubbed “Alice in Wonderland syndrome” by doctors. Nonetheless, for as long as they have existed, migraines have been trivialized as headaches, or dismissed altogether. Which is…

“I take 60 mg of the antidepressant nortriptyline in the morning and 360 mg of the blood-pressure medication verapamil at night. I do 200 mg of vitamin B2 twice a day and also take a daily pill of turmeric, which has anti-inflammatory properties.” —Grace Gold, chronic migraine “I self-inject sumatriptan—a version of triptansat home at the onset of my migraines. They hurt to inject, and the side effects are strange: a racy heart, a metallic taste in my mouth. But sumatriptan works fast and furious in this form.” —Kathlyn Edwards, migraine without aura “Once, during one of the worst migraines I’ve ever had, I took two Tylenols and shotgunned a freezing-cold Coke. I swear I felt 98 percent better in ten minutes. I was wide-awake after that, but since the…

“I STARTED THE TRIAL in 2014. I found out about it through a friend who is a research nurse. I’d been getting daily severe headaches essentially since I was 9 years old. They’re hereditary: My grandfather was actually trepanned, which means he had holes drilled in his skull. I’d just had to resign from my job at the Parks and Recreation Department, which I loved, because my migraines got too bad. I’d tried everything for them: I had a hysterectomy because my migraines were so severe around my period. I was going to the ER twice a month for an IV infusion for the pain and nausea. Then I did Botox, beta-blockers, antidepressants, all the anti-seizure medications—nothing worked. The triptans I took as needed did help reduce the migraines, but…

FOR A FEW SECONDS, Shawn Mendes is off the clock. It’s a sweltering afternoon in a Hollywood parking lot, and he’s slouched into the backseat of a 1965 Ford convertible, in which he’s just had his photo taken, with eyes closed. ¶ Today’s already been a marathon: Mendes, 19, woke up at six for an early workout and took a vocal lesson at eight, then sang in an SUV with James Corden for Carpool Karaoke before teaching the late-night host to ice-skate, all in preparation for the release of his new self-titled third album, the one he hopes will transform him from teen-pop heartthrob into serious adult artist. And if it requires some minor workaholism, he’s okay with that. “People would say it’s wrong to look at it that way,”…

TV 1. Watch Younger Is the con finally drawing to a close? TV Land, June 5. The fifth season of this addictive comedy returns with Sutton Foster as Liza, a bright 40-something rising in the publishing world by pretending to be a woman half her age. The premiere, which reckons with a #MeToo scandal, suggests that perhaps she will finally be exposed. That means this already delightful half-hour will be even harder to resist. POP 2. Listen to The Future and the Past Groove is in the heart. ATO Records, June 1. Richmond, Virginia, singer-songwriter Natalie Prass makes tender songs about love and companionship that are warm enough to net opening slots for folk and country artists like Fleet Foxes and Ryan Adams but funky enough to transform those shows…

Governors Ball June 1–3 Kick off your June with Halsey, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Eminem at this annual takeover of Randalls Island. pro tip: Rivaling actual food festivals, grub offerings here include La Newyorkina, Sweet Chick, and Ramen Burger. Northside Festival June 6–10 A mini-SXSW of music, art, film, and tech taking over North Brooklyn for five days. pro tip: Bedford Avenue turns into a public block party all weekend with pop-ups, sculptures, and interactive installations. Hot 97 Summer Jam June 10 This annual hip-hop tradition at MetLife Stadium sizzles this year with Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and Remy Ma. pro tip: The radio station donated $10,000 to the Justice League NYC, which was integral in Meek Mill’s release from prison in April. Chelsea Music Festival June 8–16 This…

☛ Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. Why we make bad decisions and how to make better ones; may be most-cited book on the syllabus. ☛ Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment, by Martin Seligman. A primer from the pioneer of positive psychology. ☛ The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, by Jonathan Haidt. An ethics professor from NYU explores how recent research intersects with religious traditions. ☛ Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, by William Deresiewicz. Argues that Ivy League schools instill the wrong values in students. ☛ Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, by Dr. Seuss. Children’s classic about boundless horizons; on the reading list for the final class.…

As Charles Duhigg explains in The Power of Habit, MIT researchers discovered a behavioral “loop” at the core of our habits. The loop is cue, routine, reward. The cue might be “hunger,” the routine might be “go to the vending machine,” and the reward might be “Doritos.” One of today’s most common loops goes like this: cue = boredom, routine = pull out smartphone, reward = a few moments of empty stimulation. So try this: Next time you feel the boredom cue, leave your phone where it is and consciously choose a reward that contributes to well-being. Two of the best rewards, happiness-wise: starting a conversation with a stranger or being more present in the moment.…

Who picks the doctors? A New York City research and information company, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., publishes an annual database, Top Doctors: New York Metro Area, which lists those whom Castle Connolly has determined to be in the top 10 percent of the region’s physicians—nearly 6,000 in all. For the past 20 years, Castle Connolly has been providing New York Magazine with a shorter version of this list for the magazine’s “Best Doctors” issue. Space prohibits New York Magazine from publishing the full list; this year, the doctors on our list number 1,390. How does Castle Connolly decide which doctors are the best? The firm conducts a peer-review survey. The idea is that medical professionals are best qualified to judge other medical professionals, and if one recommendation is good (think…

Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd. provides Top Doctors lists for many regional publications throughout the country, including New York magazine’s “Best Doctors” issue. SPORTS MEDICINE Jonathan L. Glashow, MD Shoulder, Knee, Arthroscopic Surgery 737 Park Ave., New York, NY 212-794-5096 GlashowMD.com FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY Dilip D. Madnani, MD 30 Central Park South New York, NY 212-203-8591 DrMadnani.com CosmeticHG.com NEUROSURGERY Ezriel E. Kornel, MD Minimally Invasive Brain & Spine Surgery 903 Park Ave., New York, NY 646-751-7295 TopSpineSurgeonNYC.com HAND SURGERY Mark E. Pruzansky, MD Hand, Wrist & Elbow Surgery, Sports Injuries 975 Park Ave., New York, NY 212-249-8700 HandSport.us DERMATOLOGY Michele S. Green, MD Cosmetic and Medical Dermatology 156 East 79th Street New York, NY 212-535-3088 MicheleGreenMD.com UROLOGY David B. Samadi, MD Robotic Prostate Surgery 485 Madison Avenue New York, NY 212-365-5000…

… WHEN I’M AT WORK SOMETIMES I’M TYPING an email and half my computer screen disappears—just like that, in a split second. There’s a protocol to follow: I reach for an Axert pill in my change purse and swallow it. Then I walk to my office’s wellness room, which has a recliner chair. I set a timer for 45 minutes, shut off the lights, and try to will myself to sleep. My right temple begins to pang, and I’m struck with nausea. I won’t open my eyes. If I do, the whole room will be flooded with bubbling, zigzagging shapes. The aura peaks at 30 minutes and by 45 is usually gone. When I step out of the dark room, the light is blinding. I get on the uptown 1…

“IN THE EARLY ’90S, I was doing one of the first clinical trials on Botox for wrinkles. Many of the women in the trial told me, ‘Bill, my headaches are gone.’ My intellectual curiosity kicked in; in 1992, I decided to do a small trial in my office with migraine sufferers to test the theory. I couldn’t believe the results: 55 patients over two years all had reduced migraine days. No side effects. In 1997, I presented my data to Allergan, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Botox, and a couple of big-time neurologists, who thought it was ridiculous. But you couldn’t argue with the results. Now the drug is approved in over 40 countries. But even today, lots of neurologists feel disenfranchised because a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon discovered a…

HEREDITARY is in theaters June 8. IN HEREDITARY, Toni Collette conveys the spectrum of human emotion over two terrifying hours as a woman who discovers that her family’s secrets are darker than she’d ever imagined. “I had said to my agent, ‘Don’t even think about sending me anything heavy,’” Collette says. “He called me, sheepishly: ‘I think you should be in this.’ He was right. I fucking love it, and I hate him for sending it.” GUILT Giving a eulogy “I’m an optimistic person, and I think I have a certain amount of warmth. So it took me a minute to wrap my head around the fact that my character disliked her mother.” SHOCK Seeing a ghost “I love that you don’t know if she’s losing her mind or finding…

“mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. These are nice,” begins an scene in Tom Wolfe’s “Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny’s,” published in New York Magazine’s issue of June 8, 1970. He was talking about the Roquefort hors d’oeuvre rolled in nuts, which were indeed nice, but what was going on that night was flat-out spectacular. Wolfe had crashed a fund-raiser at Leonard and Felicia Bernstein’s apartment, and there he found the cream of New York’s cultural elite making small talk with, and donating to, the Black Panthers. Within days, the party became notorious; weeks later, after many, many drafts, Wolfe published his 25,000-word, high-proof social comedy about the collision of cultures. The party chatter, which Wolfe took down in shorthand rather than with a tape recorder, constitutes a large portion of the story. Which…

Choose the description that best applies to you: 1  (a) I feel like a failure. (b) I do not feel like a winner. (c) I feel like I have succeeded more than most people. (d) As I look back on my life, all I see are victories. (e) I feel I am extraordinarily successful. 2  (a) My life does not have any purpose or meaning. (b) I do not know my purpose or meaning in life. (c) I have a hint about the purpose of my life. (d) I have a pretty good idea about the purpose or meaning of my life. (e) I have a very clear idea about the purpose or meaning of my life. 3  (a) I am usually in a bad mood. (b) I am usually…

In studying people’s good intentions, psychology professor Gabriele Oettingen of NYU discovered something unexpected: Positive thinking can actually impede the likelihood of attaining our goals. That’s because we focus on our ideal outcome (I want to lose weight) rather than the obstacles we’ll face to get there (pizza is delicious). So Oettingen developed a tactic called WOOP to overcome hurdles. First you identify your wish (losing weight) and imagine the outcome (having lost weight). Then you think about a likely obstacle (I love pizza) and make a concrete plan to get around it (avoid all pizzerias). WOOP!…

IT STARTED WITH MONEY, as it so often does in New York. A crisp $100 bill slipped across the smooth surface of the mid-century-inspired concierge desk at 11 Howard, the sleek new boutique hotel in Soho. Looking up, Neffatari Davis, the 25-year-old concierge, who goes by “Neff,” was surprised to see the cash had come from a young woman who seemed to be around her age. She had a heart-shaped face and pouty lips surrounded by a wild tangle of red hair, her eyes framed by incongruously chunky black glasses that Neff, an aspiring cinematographer with an eye for detail, identified as Céline. She was looking, she said in an accent that sounded European, for “the best food in Soho.” “What’s your name?” Neff asked, after the girl waved off…

ADOLESCENT MEDICINE MARCIE SCHNEIDER Eating disorders, menstrual disorders; Greenwich; 203-532-1919 GREENWICH KAREN SOREN Adolescent behavior–high risk, anxiety and depression; New York; 212-326-3352 NY PRES–MORGAN STANLEY FAMILY MEDICINE JILL BARON Integrative medicine; New York; 646-472-5043 MT SINAI RENO DISCALA Astoria; 347-242-2684 NYU LANGONE MARK DOMBROWSKI Emerson; 201-666-3900 HACKENSACK GEORGE FISHER Preventive medicine, hypertension; Astoria; 718-726-1000 MT SINAI QUEENS OHAN KARATOPRAK Geriatric medicine; Fort Lee; 201-886-8877 HOLY NAME ALBERT LEVY Concierge medicine, sexual dysfunction; New York; 212-288-7193 MT SINAI GEORGE LIAKEAS Concierge medicine; New York; 212-750-5088 MT SINAI BETH ISRAEL EDWARD MERKER Pleasantville; 914-769-7300 NY PRES–LAWRENCE ROBERT SCHILLER Complementary medicine; New York; 212-924-7744 MT SINAI BETH ISRAEL RICHARD SHEPARD Diabetes, hypertension, asthma; New York; 212-496-9620 NYU LANGONE NEIL SOSKEL Lynbrook; 516-887-0077 S NASSAU RICHARD STRONGWATER Travel medicine; Pleasantville; 914-769-7300 PHELPS DANIEL WILKIN…

What are you up to today? I’m visiting from Chicago. I’m here to see my brother, who lives in Crown Heights. Last night we went to Chinatown to eat at one of those places with all the ducks hanging in the window. Today we went thrifting at Tokio 7. Are you a big thrifter? We didn’t have much money growing up, so all my clothes were thrifted. I was so afraid kids would find out I wore secondhand clothes, but then in high school there was this grunge revival, and suddenly everyone wanted to go to Goodwill. I was like: Well, okay—I already do that all the time. My mom made and vegetable-dyed a lot of her own clothes; she’s a real hippie. We lived in South Carolina in the…

DISTINGUISHING between a migraine and a headache is simple. If the pain is on one side of your head and comes with nausea, that’s likely a migraine. During a migraine, the trigeminal nerve, responsible for feeling in the face, is stimulated, which releases neurotransmitters, including CGRP, inflaming blood vessels. Headaches are primarily caused by the tightening of the muscles in the neck and the head. Below, a sampling of the various(ly awful) subcategories. MIGRAINES MIGRAINE WITHOUT AURA: A collection of symptoms, including nausea, a throbbing pain on one side of the head, and sensitivity to light. MIGRAINE WITH AURA: The aura is the collection of symptoms caused by hyperexcited nerves in the occipital lobe that happen before the headache begins. A typical aura presents as a loss of vision, lethargy,…

THE NEWS that the first drug created to prevent migraines had been approved by the FDA was announced late on a recent Thursday evening. And the migraine community—those who’ve long relied on vitamins, repurposed drugs, and Eastern medicine (or some combination thereof) to manage their symptoms—was thrilled. Cautiously. “I cried,” says Wendy L., a long-term migraine sufferer. “But only a couple of tears, because I didn’t want to trigger a migraine.” The drug takes the form of a single shot composed of a specially created antibody that targets a neurotransmitter called CGRP, whose levels spike in patients in the midst of a migraine. The injections modulate patients’ CGRP levels to prevent attacks from happening, instead of treating them once they’ve already begun, like Triptans do. The trials have been successful—in…

At the original Manhattan Una Pizza Napoletana on East 12th Street, Anthony Mangieri famously offered his guests nothing but pizza, and only until the dough ran out. That and a small, complimentary chunk of chocolate chiseled off a bar for dessert. Times have changed. At the UPN reboot on the Lower East Side, there are small plates, and, as of press time, three full-fledged desserts, including this cleverly tweaked tiramisu made by UPN partner Fabián von Hauske Valtierra, who swaps out the usual ladyfingers for lemon sponge cake soaked in espresso, aged rum, and Cynar. How does it taste? Rich and creamy, sweet and bitter, and so oddly delicious the kitchen runs out of tiramisu these days about as frequently as it runs out of dough. Layers of cream (made…