New York Magazine September 14-27, 2020

1 For last issue’s cover story, Allison P. Davis spoke with Mariah Carey about the pop star’s three-decade-long career (“Mariah After Midnight,” August 31–September 13). The cover image, shot by Dana Scruggs, proved divisive with readers. Eddie Major wrote, “This Mariah Carey cover photo is … a choice, I guess?” And @theerkj tweeted, “This not even mama’s angle!! I’m so surprised she let them run this.” @ohsoacquiescent pushed back with, “Some people call it awkward and unflattering but if we’re being honest that was probably the look they were going for—she isn’t the glamorous out-of-touch diva she’s always been painted to be; she’s still very vulnerable.” On Instagram, John Duff wrote, “The photo is stunning! Refreshing to see her out of glam … I hope people are able to see…

WHAT CAN BE DONE? On the eve of Labor Day weekend, three of the four largest fires in state history were still burning, a Bay Area ring of fire, with none of them close to “contained.” That Friday night, the Creek Fire broke out in Fresno County and quickly grew past 100,000 acres in two days. The state’s offshore winds, long understood as the driver of the most devastating and out-of-control fire disasters, had not yet even arrived. When they did, they ignited something like a whole new fire season compressed into just a few days. The Bear Fire, in Northern California, burned through 250,000 acres in a single day—roughly as much as burned in the entire state throughout all of 2019. In Oroville and the surrounding foothills, 20,000 people…

PUCKISH CHAOS AGENT” is how Charlie Warzel describes his former BuzzFeed News boss and current New York Times colleague Ben Smith. “He loves to make chaos,” says Katie Notopoulos, a BuzzFeed reporter. Smith has a “constant desire to stir shit,” another onetime colleague says, while ex–BuzzFeed editor Saeed Jones puts it this way: “Ben is a messy bitch who lives for the drama.” Smith, the New York Times’ new media columnist—and BuzzFeed’s old editor-in-chief—has indeed spent the past six months stirring up an amount of shit, drama, and chaos that is notable even for these shitty, dramatic, and chaotic times. Consider: There was the column in which he slammed the work of Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker’s star reporter, as revealing “the weakness of a kind of resistance journalism,” and…

SIX MONTHS INTO THE PANDEMIC, I’ve developed a new gymless fitness routine that is, under the circumstances, reasonably robust. My husband and I bought a Peloton bike. I do at-home strength-training workouts with dumbbells, and I’ve tried to get used to jogging with a mask on. I’ve been doing yoga, which has allowed me to tell myself that—while I may have put on a few pounds—I’ve never been more flexible. I’ve grown especially used to exercising with an onscreen instructor who can’t see me, which means I can shout as many obscenities as I like without bothering anyone (a habit that has made it hard for me to adjust to the occasional outdoor group workouts that friends have invited me to). I’m not alone in all this change. The pandemic…

WITH THE CORONAVIRUS vaccine hurtling toward its public debut as early as late fall, the United States is about to enter a new and precarious phase of the pandemic response. Regardless of when a vaccine becomes available, the rollout is almost destined to be messy for logistical reasons, as public-health officials must ready a massive campaign to convince 330 million citizens to take it. But after months of misinformation and disingenuous optimism from the White House—underlined by revelations that President Trump knew all along that the coronavirus is deadly—will anyone trust the administration’s assurances about the new vaccine’s safety? There are already clear signs that the public is suspicious about the rigor with which a vaccine will have been assessed before its release, and experts are increasingly concerned that conflicting…

MY MOTHER’S EX-HUSBAND, Jim (who, until I turned 8, I’d thought was my uncle), had Google alerts set for me. Every time my name appeared in the news—if you can call gossip websites “news”—he was notified immediately via email. Jim was well meaning but an alarmist; he wished to maintain a relationship with me, and these alerts provided him with perfect opportunities to reach out. ¶ I was walking through Tompkins Square Park with a friend and her dog and sipping a coffee when Jim’s name lit up my phone. “See you’re getting sued. My advice …” he began. Jim was a lawyer, familiar with people calling him up to ask for legal advice and therefore used to doling out his opinion even when it wasn’t solicited. “I guess this…