Fiction writers are constantly exhorted: Write what you know! To explore something all too real — the distorted way mental illness is regarded today — author Freddie DeBoer picks up that venerable admonition and runs with it. In his new book “All in Your Head: Illness as Identity, Trauma as Fashion, and the Desire to … Read more
Do GLP-1s curb drug and alcohol addiction? And if they do, can they also help curb crime, homelessness and even child abuse and neglect? A new $13 million clinical trial announced this week may start to answer these questions. With support from the Arnold Foundation, the Center for Addiction Science, Policy and Research (CASPR) and the Allegheny County Department … Read more
There are few things stranger than reading a highly anticipated new book — in this case, Tracy Daugherty’s biography “Cormac McCarthy: A Legacy Revisited” (St. Martin’s Press, Oct. 6) — only to find yourself cited in it. My admittedly slight contribution to the afterlife of McCarthy was to have written an article in 2024 that … Read more
Thirty-five years ago, a film crew descended on my high school, Worcester Academy. Trailers filled with cameras and costumes arrived at the end of the summer before my sophomore year to shoot a movie about a prep school set in the 1950s. Apparently, our gym and pool, unrenovated for decades, were perfect for the vibe. … Read more
Beginning on Valentine’s Day of 1989, the Booker Prize winning author Salman Rushdie had a sword hanging over his head. For a period of time, threats of death followed him everywhere. The bloody culmination of his life spent alternately on the run and in public — with near-lethal consequences — is captured in “Knife: The … Read more
It’s rough out here. As a 22-year-old member of Gen Z, I wasn’t surprised by a new study from The Kinsey Institute saying that my generation isn’t having sex. The study claims that it’s mostly financial anxiety responsible for our collective dry spell — 43% said financial concerns made it harder to date or maintain … Read more
It’s the stuff of a $1 romance novel that’s only available on Kindle. Last week, a video dropped of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dancing like a fool in the aisle of a Montreal hardware store with girlfriend Katy Perry while holding a plunger. Have you ever read a more surreal or nonsensical string … Read more
Lindsay Clancy committed the worst crime imaginable when she killed her three children. She was disturbingly methodical about it, tying an exercise band to a door in the basement of the family home and strangling each of her babies, Cora, then 5, Dawson, then three, and Callan, then just seven months, one at a time. … Read more
There is never a perfect time to step away from your team. If you’re a head coach, there is always another game, another trip, another training session. And in professional women’s soccer, those demands last almost 11 months of the year. But, as I tell my players, we’re people first — and when I became … Read more
For all the sequels and remakes pumped out by Hollywood, the most overplayed storyline is the death or downfall of a once luminous child star — usually at the hands of addiction or mental illness. Hayden Panettiere is now sadly one of them. The troubled actress passed away over the weekend from an apparent overdose. … Read more
Timing is everything, and the executive order calling for pediatricians to change how they space out childhood vaccines comes at a difficult time. On Monday, President Trump signed an order adopting new recommendations of 11 childhood vaccines, down from 18 — and called for the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine to be split into three separate shots, … Read more
Call me old-fashioned, but didn’t publicly exclaiming “I love Hitler” used to automatically disqualify people from receiving prestigious honors in Manhattan? I’m pretty sure it did. However, in these topsy-turvy times, flagrant and repeated antisemitism gets you the red carpet treatment in the Bigoted Apple. Disgraced designer John Galliano will be the subject of the … Read more
Ariana Grande’s alarming weight loss in her new ‘Petal’ music video raises serious concerns. The video, meant to address scrutiny, is overshadowed by 33-year-old Grande’s skeletal frame. Body positivity activist Charli Howard calls Grande’s appearance ‘not normal’ amid ‘thin-is-in’ culture. Over the last three years, Ariana Grande has shrunk before our eyes. And we need … Read more
New York State has moved to protect kids from addictive social media platforms, announcing on Tuesday that the SAFE for Kids Act has been finalized and will go into effect early next year. The law promises to stop social media companies from feeding kids personalized content via algorithms and sending them notifications deep into the … Read more
The internet is losing its mind over the ultimate, baffling fashion hybrid: the “poot.” Yes, you read that correctly. A “poot” is a pair of pants that seamlessly extend all the way down into a built-in boot. While high fashion houses like Balenciaga and Loewe have been playing with pant-boot illusions on the runway, the … Read more
There’s something to be said for going out on top. And that something can’t be said for Howard Stern. The one time “King of all Media” has been limping along like an aging star athlete desperately clinging to his youth and glory. This week, staffers on the Howard Stern show were laid off and told … Read more
Mick Jagger gets it. In a new sit-down with the New York Times, the 82-year-old gave a rare peek into the inner workings of being the Rolling Stones’ frontman. He is surprisingly self-aware about his tremendous ego, which he’s learned to switch off when not on stage. Jagger doesn’t let it trick him into believing … Read more
We live in strange and confusing times. Up is down. Day is night. Madonna is acclaimed. Taylor Swift is a circus act. It’s a veritable pop bizarro world. On Friday, 67-year-old Madge surprised everybody by releasing her first good album in 21 years, “Confessions II,” after a long string of clunkers and tasteless, embarrassing stunts. … Read more
In January 1937, Pauline Trigère and her husband, Lazar Radley, along with their two sons and Trigère’s mother and brother Robert, arrived in New York City. The family was Jewish, and they had left France because of the growing Nazi threat. New York, however, was just a stopover: Their destination was Chile, where Lazar and … Read more
The world seems intent on locking Gen Z down. As children, they were given smartphones and iPads which taught them to see the world through a screen, rather than with their own eyes. As tweens and teens, their schools were shut down, sending them into the solitude of Zoom classes in their bedrooms. And now … Read more