The Otherworldly Comedy of Julio Torres
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THE CARTOON ISSUE DECEMBER 28, 2020 6 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN 17 THE TALK OF THE TOWN Amy Davidson Sorkin on the First and Second Spouses; herd rebellion; good vibes; a Harlem romance; testing times. PROFILES Michael Schulman 22 Extraordinary Alien The strange and fanciful comedy of Julio Torres. SHOUTS & MURMURS Sarah Akinterinwa 28 How to Survive Christmas with Your Toxic Family PERSONAL HISTORY Calvin Trillin 30 Some Notes on Funniness Lessons in humor from grade school to Johnny Carson. COMICS Edward Steed 26 “Life Drawing” Roz Chast 33 “A Cartoonist’s Life” Ali Fitzgerald 36 “The Museum of Purgatory” Ronald Wimberly 42 “Pandemic Paper Doll” 44 The Funnies Jillian Tamaki 52 “Junban” Liana Finck 76 “Stay-at-Home Fun” FICTION Nick Drnaso 58 “Acting Class” THE CRITICS BOOKS Adam Gopnik 78 Animation’s wild and golden age. 81 Briefly Noted Merve Emre 83 The surreal life and work of Leonora Carrington. POP MUSIC Kelefa Sanneh 87 Morgan Wallen’s hard-partying country style. ON TELEVISION Naomi Fry 90 The hormone-crazed teens of “Big Mouth.” THE ART WORLD Peter Schjeldahl 92 Artists and ideology in MOMA’s new show. THE THEATRE Alexandra Schwartz 94 “I Am Sending You the Sacred Face.” POEM Ian Frazier with Edward Koren 34 “Greetings, Friends!” COVER Harry Bliss “In with the New” DRAWINGS Arantza Peña Popo, Mick Stevens, Zoe Si, Teresa Burns Parkhurst, Lars Kenseth, Benjamin Schwartz, Carolita Johnson, William Haefeli, Colin Tom, Drew Dernavich, Sofia Warren, Amy Hwang, Roz Chast, Ngozi Ukazu, E. S. Glenn, Tadhg Ferry, Caitlin Cass Our advisors listen, so you know you’ve been heard. When you talk to a Dell Technologies Advisor, they’re focused on you — to provide tailored solutions on everything from laptops to the cloud, to keep your Small Business ready for what’s next. 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Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. 375114 CONTRIBUTORS Michael Schulman (The Talk of the Jillian Tamaki (“Junban,” p. 52) won, Town, p. 20; “Extraordinary Alien,” with Mariko Tamaki, a Caldecott Honor p. 22) is a staff writer and the author for the young-adult graphic novel “This of “Her Again.” One Summer.” Her latest picture book is “Our Little Kitchen.” Ali Fitzgerald (“The Museum of Purga- tory,” p. 36), an artist and a writer, first Nick Drnaso (Fiction, p. 58) is the au- contributed to the magazine in 2016. thor of the graphic novels “Beverly” She published “Drawn to Berlin” in 2018. and “Sabrina.” He is at work on “Act- ing Class,” which is due out in 2022. Harry Bliss (Cover) has contributed cartoons and covers to the magazine Calvin Trillin (“Some Notes on Funniness,” since 1998. He is the author, with Steve p. 30), a contributor to The New Yorker Martin, of “A Wealth of Pigeons.” since 1963, has written thirty-one books, including “Jackson, 1964” and “About Liana Finck (“Stay-at-Home Fun,” Alice.” p. 76) is a New Yorker cartoonist. Her latest book is “Excuse Me.” Sarah Akinterinwa (Shouts & Murmurs, p. 28), an illustrator, created the comic Ronald Wimberly (“Pandemic Paper “Oyin and Kojo.” She began contrib- Doll,” p. 42), the founding editor of uting cartoons to the magazine in 2020. LAAB magazine, is the creator of the graphic novels “Prince of Cats” and Ian Frazier (Poem, p. 34) is the author “Black History in Its Own Words.” of, most recently, “Hogs Wild.” He is working on a book about the Bronx. Roz Chast (“A Cartoonist’s Life,” p. 33), a New Yorker cartoonist, published, with Jeremy Nguyen (“Sketchpad,” p. 21) began Patricia Marx, “You Can Only Yell at publishing cartoons in The New Yorker Me for One Thing at a Time.” in 2017. Now THIS WEEK ON NEWYORKER.COM hear this. Narrated stories, along with podcasts, are now available in the New Yorker app. Download it at newyorker.com/app 2020 IN REVIEW N EWS DESK Bryan Washington chronicles a year Paige Williams on Dan Barkhuff, a of ordering takeout as the pandemic former Navy SEAL who is organizing raged and beloved eateries closed. his fellow-veterans to stop Trumpism. Download the New Yorker app for the latest news, commentary, criticism, and humor, plus this week’s magazine and all issues back to 2008. YORKER THE NEW FOR WARREN KATE RIGHT: MIN HEO; LEFT: 4 THENEW YORKER, DECEMBER 28, 2020 THE MAIL ON BECOMING A HERETIC ever, when individuals choose to stay and demand acceptance, Orthodox commu- Larissa MacFarquhar’s article is a sen- nities slowly change over time. As the sitive examination of the complexities executive director of Eshel, a nonprofit of the child-custody cases that play out that creates community for L.G.B.T.Q. in civil courts when ultra-Orthodox Orthodox Jews, I have seen the begin- Jewish parents make the wrenching de- nings of evolution. My organization cision to leave their community, and it runs a retreat that was mentioned in the adds an important dimension to the article; its existence is proof that there growing body of films, memoirs, and are queer Orthodox Jews who would scholarship on the subject of those who like to find ways to stay in their com- abandon religion (“Solomon’s Dilemma,” munities. The work we do with Ortho- December 7th). But in one description dox parents of L.G.B.T.Q. people and MacFarquhar’s casual tone could give a with Orthodox rabbis shows that these wrong impression. Voicing one source’s communities can become more accept- account of friends who have experienced ing of a diverse membership. a crisis of faith but haven’t left Hasi- Miryam Kabakov dism, MacFarquhar writes that they “vi- Northampton, Mass. olated Shabbos all the time, watching sports, and just lied to their families I left the Hasidic world at the age of about it.” In my book about religious forty-five, and I have seven children. Jews who lead double lives, “Hidden Hasidic kids are born into a system that Heretics,” I find that people who have withholds the education they need to lost their faith but have decided to stay function in the secular world. The sta- don’t “just” lie to their spouses and chil- tus quo is upheld by politicians who turn dren. The emotional and moral reason- a blind eye to yeshivas that do not ad- ing behind their lies is complex, and it here to state educational standards, even is based, above all, on a desire to avoid though the schools are ostensibly ac- causing hurt to their loved ones. Some credited and supported by public funds. NEW ALBUM OUT NOW are afraid of the outside world, and oth- Many Hasidic adults can barely read or ers, especially women with few resources, write in English. What’s important to are afraid of losing their children in the remember is that Hasidim are not in a kinds of divorce scenarios that MacFar- quaint world apart from ours; they are quhar describes. Indeed, many hidden Americans. Young adults are leaving heretics have told me that, despite their ultra-Orthodox communities without doubts about the truth of the Torah, the skills they need to survive. They face they believed that staying in their com- homelessness, depression, addiction, and munity was the most ethical thing to suicide. MacFarquhar’s article depicts do. Ironically, by choosing to stay, these the lives of these apostates and their “McCARTNEY RETURNS TO THE SOUND OF HIS EARLY SOLO WORK people expose their children to their communities in a lyrical way, but avoids FOR A LAID-BACK GEM” changing understanding of choice, in- hard numbers and the sordid political “A CHANCE FOR THE MASTER TO dividuality, tolerance, and critical think- collusion. At the end, the piece becomes KICK BACK AND SMILE AWAY.” ing—thereby changing ultra-Ortho- a love story, as if in love there is resolu- doxy itself. tion. I am a lesbian. I left my commu- Ayala Fader nity in order to survive. “…ONE OF HIS MOST COMPELLING Professor of Anthropology Leah Lax ALBUMS IN DECADES…” Fordham University Houston, Texas New York City • “...EVOKES THE DELICACY OF Belonging to a Hasidic community offers Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, ‘YESTERDAY’ OR ‘BLACKBIRD’” a life style of unparalleled social cohe- address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters may be edited sion, but, as MacFarquhar shows, the for length and clarity, and may be published in community’s tight embrace all too often any medium. We regret that owing to the volume strangles those who don’t fit in. How- of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. PaulMcCartney.com In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, many New York City venues are closed. Here’s a selection of culture to be found around town, as well as online and streaming. DECEMBER 23 – 29, 2020 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN When the Rink at Rockefeller Center (above) opened, on Christmas Day in 1936, it was meant to be a temporary attraction. But the “skating pond,” as it was then known, has long since become a winter fixture of New York City. Holden Caulfield went on a date there in “The Catcher in the Rye,” and Truman Capote took to the ice for a Life magazine photo op.