Social A’s: I Am A Hermit And Is That Okay?

Dear Answer Lady,

Jesse James Hollywood On Trial: Part One

by Natasha Vargas-Cooper

SANTA BARBARA-Trials are terrible things in that they bring people together. This past Friday, in the afternoon, Jack Hollywood, a brawny man in billowy khaki pants and dark sunglasses, stood in the sun at…

Mr. Wrong: Do This Now for the Future

America’s Best Newspaper Typist™ Joe MacLeod is available to speak motivationally at pretty much anywhere in the Lower 48. Here is an exciting preview of how he can inspire the youths.

Annals of Narcissism: On Daphne Merkin

by Zachary Woolfe

“Recently I arrived at what I consider to be a dramatic new understanding of the concept of change.” The quote-unironic!-is the first sentence of a 1989 Times article by Daphne Merkin, the writer whose chosen form is…

Social A’s: I Can’t Invite My Friends Over, As I Have No Drugs

Dear Answer Lady,

I have these friends who, whenever I go over to their house, we smoke a ton of marijuana. I would like to return their hospitality, but I’ve never invited them to hang out at my…

Flicked Off: ‘Angels and Demons’

“Angels and Demons” is a movie about a hot Israeli actress named Ayelet Zurer and her Bottega Veneta…

Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Gopnik

In which last week’s New Yorker, with its double-dose of Adam Gopnik and Malcolm Gladwell, arrives at last in Maryland. Warning! Contains sports!

Social A’s: Can I Drop Out Of This Crazy Lady’s Wedding?

Dear Answer Lady,

My roommate from freshman year at college is getting married and she
 asked me to be a bridesmaid. We’re not that close anymore, but we do
 have a certain history-she was just a few feet…