10.08.17 Issue

Highlights

Feature
Frances McDormand’s Difficult Women
The actor has built a career, and a passionate fan base, playing supporting roles; now, at 60, she has become an unconventional star.
By Jordan Kisner
CreditKaty Grannan for The New York Times
The Culture Issue
Should Women Make Their Own Pop Music Canon?
I listened to only female singers all summer. Here’s what I learned.
By Wesley Morris
CreditIlona Szwarc for The New York Times
The Culture Issue
Letters of Recommendation: ‘Twin Peaks,’ Screaming Karaoke and More
Six writers on their favorite cultural experiences of 2017.
By Alexandra KleemanLeanne ShaptonNathan EnglanderDamon LindelofMarlon James and Angela Flournoy
CreditPhoto illustration by Mario Hugo
The Culture Issue
A Former Superagent Bets Big on a More Diverse Hollywood
After years as the industry’s top African-American talent agent, Charles D. King is building an audacious new production company — with a vision for bringing long-neglected stories to the screen.
By Calvin Baker
CreditAwol Erizku for The New York Times

My Obsession With the Necks, the Greatest Trio on Earth
Exploring nearly 30 years of genre-bending, improvisational work.
By Geoff Dyer
CreditDevin Yalkin for The New York Times
The Culture Issue
The Golden Age of ‘Existential’ Dread
How French intellectuals, cigarette smoke and questions of the self gave way to an obsession with apocalypse.
By Nitsuh Abebe
CreditPhoto illustration by Derek Brahney
First Words
What if Platforms Like Facebook Are Too Big to Regulate?
Attempts by governments to rein them in might instead have to resemble diplomacy — a cautious search for detente with institutions that ultimately get to set their own laws.
By John Herrman
CreditIllustration by Jon Han
On Technology
Is It O.K. to Give Cigarettes to a Homeless Person?
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on coveted but harmful handouts and lying to a parent with dementia about the other parent’s death.
By Kwame Anthony Appiah
CreditIllustration by Tomi Um
The Ethicist
This Is the Best Firehouse Chili
For first responders, a shared meal is more than simply fuel.
By Sam Sifton
CreditGentl and Hyers for The New York Times.
Eat

A Cake You Can Take With You Anywhere
The visiting cake has a durable goodness that makes it a perfect treat for travel.
By Dorie Greenspan
CreditGentl and Hyers for The New York Times.
On Dessert
Chuck Todd Thinks It’s Important to Stay Neutral
The moderator of “Meet the Press” on how the media covered the events of 2016 and whether sports figures should weigh in on political issues.
Interview by Ana Marie Cox
CreditSally Montana for The New York Times
Talk
New Sentences: From ‘Sing, Unburied, Sing,’ by Jesmyn Ward
The first sentence of Ward’s latest novel is a classic opening line: instantly absorbing and just a little bit destabilizing.
By Sam Anderson
Credit
New Sentences
Poem: Self-Portrait as Myself
Selected by Terrance Hayes.
By Meghan O’Rourke
Credit
Poem
Judge John Hodgman on a Technophobic Friend’s Traffic Navigation
When he figures out how to process geospatial data at over 600 billion operations per second, then we can talk about ignoring the smartphone.
By John Hodgman
CreditIllustration by Kyle Hilton
Judge John Hodgman