1. Jonathan Chait’s column (�Why �Liberals Should Support a Trump Republican Nomination,� February 8�21) played with the idea that Trump wouldn’t actually be as bad at governing as his �primary-season rivals, arguing that Arnold Schwarzenegger turned out to be a decent head of state for California. But the New York Times’ Ross Douthat felt that Chait’s comparison of Trump to Schwarzenegger fell flat, preferring another analogy. �This @jonathanchait case for Trump would read differently if it chose Berlusconi rather than Ah-nuld as its comp,� he tweeted. Chait responded, �California is a closer approximation of the US than is Italy.� Commenter DRF55 also thought the Schwarzenegger comparison seemed off. �So because Arnold adapted to the politics of California, Chait assumes that Trump will follow the same path? Why � because both are sexist pigs with no knowledge of policy prior to taking office? That’s a pretty thin thread to hang onto, and ignores some of the pretty important differences in personality as well as politics. First, sexist pig he may be, but Arnold came out of what is essentially a collaborative industry, where he wasn’t in charge of his movies. That has to have schooled Arnold in the politics of relationship building and collaborative activity. In contrast, Trump has been the absolute commander of his business (and not all that successful at it) all of his career, notorious for not taking advice and for acting on impulse and personal desires. Second, again, he may be a sexist pig, but Arnold is well-known for being a fairly solid, reliable performer and partner, relatively even-tempered and with a large but in check ego. In contrast, Trump is, as �others have pointed out, someone who suffers from a borderline personality �disorder, a total narcissist and has repeatedly demonstrated a great amount of immaturity.� Others liked Chait’s argument, at least when it came to Trump’s potential to shape-shift �his� party: �If some chaos is needed to reorient the GOP from libertarian & evangelical values to nationalism, so be it,� tweeted Supreme Mentor.
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2. Noreen Malone’s profile of Miki Agrawal, the �self-styled tech broad� behind Thinx � a company that makes underwear to be worn during one’s period � prompted responses on subjects as varied as female representation in magazine articles and the future of radical menstruation rethinking in general (�Panty Raid,� February 8�21). One commenter, that�girlinnewyork, wondered why a pro-free-bleeding Agrawal would �develop a tampon � �organic’ or not? � I’d like you to consider that tampons are not, should not, be our future; unless you can make them, somehow, of renewable and sustainable materials that don’t wind up in septic systems or landfill � Thanks for providing something potentially liberating below, but please think more innovatively above.� Agrawal herself responded unhappily to the profile in the comments section online. �I was so excited for this to be written and yet this article makes me look so self-promoting and insincere. Every single entrepreneur has to push hard to get their ideas across and if that’s considered bad then I’m okay with it. Also, a lot of questions that were asked by this writer were about marketing and how I marketed my businesses so it skewed the convo in that regard. I feel like these stories have been twisted for the sake of �story,’ and as a woman creating a business that helps women both here and around the world and truly hopes to eliminate shame from the period conversation, I am concerned with where media is going and what media is doing to our country (i.e. Trump all over press for click bait). The whole point of starting Thinx was to help myself and all women deal with their periods with more ease and self-love � while using innovation to do it. Not much more complicated than that.� To Agrawal and her team’s criticism of the profile � which included a post by Agrawal on Medium, �An Open Letter to Respectfully Quit Telling Me How to �Do Feminism’ (and to just support one another, please!)� � BuzzFeed’s Matthew Zeitlin responded: �Female reporters have enough problems with male subjects without female ones calling them bad feminists for writing down what they say.�
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3. �The Ronans � came to live close to my town in Ireland,� wrote Colm Tóibín about Saoirse Ronan, the actress who plays the lead in the Hollywood adaptation of Tóibín’s novel Brooklyn (�Bronx, Brooklyn, Broadway,� February 8�21). �In fact, as Saoirse was growing up, they used to go to my local cinema. Thus she knows the inflections of my town, the tiny details of behavior and the mannerisms. But she knows something else, too, which sets her apart and gives her a sort of distance, a grandeur. She seems to have a real sense of her own almost ethereal beauty.� �Lovely piece by Colm Tóibín on the realities and imaginaries of Irish emigration,� the University College Dublin School of Education posted on its Facebook page. �Well worth a read,� agreed Niamh_etc. �Colm Tóibín in @TheCut on Saoirse Ronan’s New York, the Irish, emigration & inhabiting a space.� Many commenters focused on the cover: a stark image of Ronan with blue eyeliner and red lips. �Obsessed with the latest @NYMag cover featuring Saoirse Ronan,� tweeted Nicky�Schrire. �Love love love.� Many more appreciated Tóibín’s writing. �Colm Tóibín on Saoirse Ronan’s performance in Brooklyn, like all of his writing, is gorgeous,� tweeted asannua.
4. It’s awards season (for media, too), and New York was the most-honored magazine at the National Magazine Awards, taking home awards for General Excellence (the top news, entertainment, or sports magazine), Magazine Section (�The Culture Pages�), Website, and Multimedia (for the �One Block� project). In addition, our feature �Cosby: The Women, an Unwelcome Sisterhood,� by Amanda Demme, Noreen Malone, and Jody Quon, won the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting.