1.
“The War and New York,” November 20–December 3
New York’s latest issue examined
how the Israel-Hamas war has caused turmoil within the city. ProPublica’s Alec MacGillis said, “This issue just arrived in the mail and it’s so well done, exactly what you want from a city magazine in this moment.” And Nick Pinto, a founder of the outlet Hell Gate, wrote: “In its ambition, and, for the most part, in its execution, the current issue … is a really impressive example of a publication mobilizing its resources to meet a moment.” Online, fights broke out among readers with @sophiekpstone noting that “this comment section is literally proving the point made here (the only point being that divisiveness is worse than ever).” “Right? Is there a stupider, more useless place to debate this than social media?” added @reganwoodphoto.
2.
“92NY Digs In”
As part of the issue, Simon van Zuylen-Wood reported on the furor at 92NY after it postponed — some said canceled — an event with author Viet Thanh Nguyen because he had signed an open letter critical of Israel. Justin Van Wormer said, “What jumps out of this (very good) piece is the extent to which the Y (reasonably) wants to have a particular political identity around their personal identities but doesn’t seem to notice that a bunch of the big names cancelling on them are Jewish and POC people doing the same.” The Nation’s Christopher Shay called the story “cowardly” but added “it does something useful: It reveals hate at the top of what was a beloved institution. The Y’s CEO compares being mildly critical of
ethnic cleansing to being pro-Covid — it’s almost laughably offensive.”
3.
“The Fracturing of the Intellectual Left”
Ryu Spaeth wrote about “The Fracturing of the Intellectual Left.”
“I don’t think it’s fair to set up the two sides so evenly like this,” wrote author Malcolm Harris. “If these are the best examples you can find of a Zionist intellectual left in the US, it’s absurd to call that a fracture or a split. A much better frame would’ve focused on Zionists realizing they’re totally unwelcome. I don’t think that would have played better for the left necessarily, but it’d be more accurate!” N+1’s Richard Beck cautioned, “When concern-trolling pieces like this tell you the left is ‘fracturing’ despite all available evidence suggesting otherwise, what they mean is that the part of the left they’re comfortable with is no longer in the driver’s seat.” Brooklyn College professor Corey Robin wrote, “Everyone’s pissed about this piece but I think it has two virtues. (1) It gives a fair, full hearing to the anti-Zionist side. (2) It reveals, inadvertently, the extent to which Zionist progressives depend on debates from 100 years ago. I’ll take the win.” Jacobin’s Benjamin Fogel, meanwhile, called the story “classic in the old tradition of making a horrific world historic conflict about the important issues: New York writers writing about each other.”
4.
“Artists and Collectors Turn on Each Other”
Rachel Corbett investigated how an open letter in Artforum led to the firing of its top editor and weeks of art-world infighting. Adam Pelling-Deeves wrote, “Artists who create for fun and exploration, and art collectors interested in collectables and investments, are at either end of the art-world spectrum — with galleries, critics, careers and studies muddying the colours in-between.” And Kurt Newman said, “The Art Front activists of the 1930s would have immediately called for collectivization of the galleries and elimination of the very position of rentier art collector/bully.” Many readers were incensed at the collector Stefan Simchowitz saying the artist Oscar Murillo “does not have the intellectual capacity or historical knowledge to understand the complexity of the situation.” Writer Hanson O’Haver found it to be “an unbelievable encapsulation of the relationship between artists and the people who make money off them.” Critic Tobi Haslett tweeted, “I hope Oscar Murillo starts hanging out with fewer psychotic racists.”
5.
“Witnessing Gaza Through My Instagram Feed”
The Palestinian American author Zaina Arafat contributed an essay about the disorienting experience of watching the war play out over social media. Literary agent Caroline Eisenmann called it a “great piece which beautifully articulates some of the surreal, horrifying dissonance of the moment.” Jim Duggan wrote, “This really hit me. How do we turn our rage and sadness into something.” And Camille Wallen said the essay helped “me to recognise that the ‘news’ is too distant, that what we’re witnessing is real and daily life now for too many people.”
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