The National Newsroom
National
Amusement Perks
How the cult of cool offices took over the cubicle world
April 23rd, 2013
Last winter, BuzzFeed got a pony. Well, technically it was a miniature horse named Mystic, and she came by for a visit one morning—a surprise treat for hitting a Web-traffic goal. Sure, a cash bonus might have been more practical, but a little pony with pink ribbons in her mane and a tiny gold party hat that stuck up like a unicorn’s horn? So much cooler. Read more »
The National Newsroom
Investing in the End of the World
How cash-flush preppers are trying to up their odds of disaster survival
April 16th, 2013
Aviva Drescher’s first child was just 1 month old when the planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11. The Real Housewives of New York City star—a lifetime New Yorker—watched the events unfold with horror. Read more »
The National Newsroom
No Divorce Is the New Divorce
Moms and dads navigate messy breakups in marriage-less world
March 27th, 2013
It only took filmmaker Jim Strouse three months in New York City to fall in love. He moved here from Indiana straight out of college, and for years after, he and his girlfriend had the perfect arty bohemian relationship. They made films together, they made kids together—it was all happening. Read more »
The National Newsroom
Fear of a Black Pundit
Rising star Ta-Nehisi Coates raises his voice in American media
March 20th, 2013
Before Ta-Nehisi Coates was a superstar at The Atlantic, he was fired from three consecutive writing jobs. Well, not quite fired. “I’m still not exactly sure what happened,” he said, sipping a single espresso at a Morningside Heights bakery near his Harlem apartment, where he lives with his wife, Kenyatta, and their young son. Read more »
Gimme Shelter
Journalists take refuge in the world of branded content
March 14th, 2013
Melissa Lafsky Wall is one of many journalists departing the desert of traditional media for the greener—but also grayer—pastures of branded content. A bad year for journalism, owing to layoffs at Condé Nast, Martha Stewart Living, Reuters and Hearst, and buyouts at The New York Times and Time Inc. has been a boon to this emerging field. Read more »
National Newsroom
Can’t Handle the Truth?
How a New Yorker reporter and a team of fact-checkers took on the Church of Scientology
February 28th, 2013
Lawrence Wright’s new book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Disbelief (Knopf, $29), was spun out of his 2011 story for The New Yorker about director Paul Haggis’ break with the church. Two magazine fact-checkers worked on the story full time for four to six months of its yearlong inception, and close to publication they were joined by three more. Read more »
The National Newsroom
The Luxury Rental Girlfriend
Why buy the long-term relationship when short-term does the trick?
February 7th, 2013
Jack can have any girl he wants. A blond event planner who wears heels on Sunday mornings. A former fit model who looks great in Hanes white. A yoga instructor who makes him spicy tempeh wraps with steamed kale on the side. There are girls who make great Bloody Marys and there are good girls who go to church on Sunday with their families, but last night they were at Jack’s. There are lawyers and designers and tall ones and short ones, stacking their needs up across his walls and then saying those are not needs, they are shadows. So why does Jack prefer escorts? Read more »
National Newsroom
Post Modernism
Your great-great-grandparents’ favorite magazine is making a comeback (although it never left)
January 24th, 2013
On a recent chilly Tuesday evening, magazine editors and ad salespeople from one of the nation’s most venerable glossies crowded the garden room at Michael’s in Midtown Manhattan, holding glasses of pinot aloft as the publisher and editorial director took turns toasting the latest issue. Read more »
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The Good Wife
As expectations for next term grow, let Michelle be Michelle!
January 3rd, 2013
Amid all the speculation about Barack Obama’s newfound mojo, a hotly anticipated stiffening of his political spine inspired by his decisive victory in November, a somewhat more intriguing question has scarcely been asked. Will Michelle finally step out? Read more »
The Latest (National)
Stand and Deliver!
The etiquette of teacher gifts
December 20th, 2012
When the holidays roll around, there are plenty of handy guides to tell you how much to give your mail carrier, your hairdresser or your gardener. But what to get the beleaguered liberal-arts grad marinating in Yellow Tail Shiraz and student loans who molds the mind of your child? Read more »
