The New Yorker’S (“The Arms Dealer,” P
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MARCH 5, 2018 7 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN 19 THE TALK OF THE TOWN Amy Davidson Sorkin on Mueller’s indictments; charting hatred’s rise; Edna O’Brien takes her tea; Lincoln drawn from life; the shoemaker’s cameo. A REPORTER AT LARGE Mike Spies 24 The Arms Dealer A lobbyist’s influence over Florida’s lawmakers. THE CONTROL OF NATURE John McPhee 32 Direct Eye Contact Dreaming of seeing a bear outside the window. SHOUTS & MURMURS Larry David 35 No Way to Say Goodbye PROFILES Tad Friend 36 Donald Glover Can’t Save You The actor, producer, and musician writes his script. LETTER FROM MEDELLÍN Jon Lee Anderson 50 The Afterlife of Pablo Escobar How the drug kingpin became a global brand. FICTION Nicole Krauss 60 “Seeing Ershadi” THE CRITICS ON STAGE Hilton Als 67 The standup comedy of Tiffany Haddish. BOOKS Kelefa Sanneh 70 Jordan Peterson against liberal values. 75 Briefly Noted Laura Miller 76 Uzodinma Iweala’s “Speak No Evil.” THE ART WORLD Peter Schjeldahl 78 New radicals at the New Museum’s Triennial. POP MUSIC Hua Hsu 80 The fuzzy identities of U.S. Girls. POEMS Idea Vilariño 46 “Alms” Rachel Coye 64 “New Year” COVER Chris Ware “Golden Opportunity” DRAWINGS David Sipress, Carolita Johnson, Navied Mahdavian, Danny Shanahan, Roz Chast, Christopher Weyant, P. C. Vey, Pia Guerra, Will McPhail, Maddie Dai, Drew Dernavich, Barbara Smaller, Edward Steed, Paul Noth, Jason Adam Katzenstein SPOTS Sergio Membrillas Where to go, what to do. CONTRIBUTORS Try Goings On About Town Mike Spies Tad Friend online, The New Yorker’s (“The Arms Dealer,” p. 24) is (“Donald Glover Can’t Save a staff writer at the Trace, a nonprofit You,” p. 36) has been a staff writer since finger-on-the-pulse guide to news organization covering guns in 1998. His latest book is the memoir the city’s best in culture, from America. This story was published in “Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and ballet to bagels. partnership with the Trace. the Last Days of Wasp Splendor.” newyorker.com/go Chris Ware (Cover), a graphic novelist, Nicole Krauss (Fiction, p. 60) is the au- has contributed comic strips and cov- thor of four novels, including, most re- ers to The New Yorker since 1999. His cently, “Forest Dark.” most recent book, “Monograph,” came out in October. John McPhee (“Direct Eye Contact,” p. 32), a staff writer since 1965, has Idea Vilariño (Poem, p. 46), who died in published thirty books, including the 2009, was an Uruguayan poet and es- forthcoming essay collection “The sayist whose best-known books include Patch.” “Nocturnos” and “Poemas de Amor.” Laura Miller (Books, p. 76), the author Jon Lee Anderson (“The Afterlife of Pablo of “The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Escobar,” p. 50), a staff writer, began Adventures in Narnia,” is a books-and- contributing to the magazine in 1998. culture columnist at Slate. He is the author of several books, in- cluding “The Fall of Baghdad.” Hilton Als (On Stage, p. 67), the maga- zine’s theatre critic, won the 2017 Pu- Emily Stokes (The Talk of the Town, litzer Prize for criticism. He is an asso- p. 21) is the features editor for new- ciate professor of writing at Columbia. yorker.com. Hua Hsu (Pop Music, p. 80), a staff writer, Kelefa Sanneh (Books, p. 70) is a staff is the author of “A Floating Chinaman: writer. Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific.” NEWYORKER.COM Everything in the magazine, and more. PODCAST PHOTO BOOTH Adam Davidson discusses how the Charlie LeDuff on Zackary Cane- Trump family’s business dealings abroad pari’s portrait of the Flint, Michigan, could inform the Mueller investigation. police department in crisis. SUBSCRIBERS: Get access to our magazine app for tablets and smartphones at the App Store, Amazon.com, or Google Play. (Access varies by location and device.) CANEPARI ZACKARY BY PHOTOGRAPH RIGHT: THE MAIL DEATH AND THE MIND finger in response to a prompt, I think that they should pull the plug. And yet Rachel Aviv beautifully illuminates the it’s one thing to make such a call for story of Jahi McMath, a child who was me, near the end of my natural life span; declared brain-dead four years ago, in it’s entirely another for Jahi, who, even Oakland, and the family members who now, is only seventeen. As Aviv makes Iconic Style disagree with her diagnosis (“The abundantly clear, there is a whole spec- Death Debate,” February 5th). They trum of measurements and behaviors From classic cartoons deserve Aviv’s advocacy. However, Aviv of the brain that cannot be codified into to signature covers, also seems to create villains in her tell- exact legal bases for action. Ultimately, ing. Her writing subtly but powerfully in my case, the decision will fall to my the New Yorker archive forms a picture of an uncaring hospi- wife; for Jahi, the decision will be her has memorable images tal and incompetent, indifferent, and loving mother’s. It may not be entirely for your walls. possibly racist health-care providers. I rational, but it doesn’t need to be. newyorkerstore.com know the hospital and the people whom Robert M. Fitch Aviv describes; I completed some of El Prado, N.M. my medical training there about a de- cade ago, though I have never reviewed As a nurse in a pediatric intensive-care any medical records associated with unit, I face morally distressing situa- the McMath case, nor have I directly tions on an unfortunately frequent basis. spoken about the case with any of the Brain death is one of the most difficult providers involved. For more than a concepts that families and health-care hundred years, the Children’s Hospi- providers deal with in medicine, sus- tal has delivered compassionate care pending everyone involved in an ago- to the children of Oakland, despite nizing purgatory. However, as medical ever-shrinking funding. Aviv gives full management and technology improve, voice to the fear, distrust, and helpless- we must continue to consider the eth- ness that the family has felt—a voice ics of certain decisions, including those that likely resonates with many read- made by parents and by physicians. ers. But she gives no such space to the Many of my colleagues regularly dis- feelings of the others caught up in this cuss whether the fact that we can do difficult situation. Tragedy does not re- something necessarily means that we Prints, gifts, quire villainy. always should do it, and the complex- Peter Oishi, M.D. ity of this issue contributes to the high mugs, and more. Medical Director, PICU burnout and turnover rates of PICU University of California San Francisco nurses. On a daily basis, I ask myself Enter TNY20 Benioff Children’s Hospital these questions: What is life? What for 20% off. Oakland, Calif. does it mean to truly be alive? What does it mean to live as a child? I am As I approach the end of my ninetieth not talking about arterial flow or atro- year on this earth, I have been think- phy of a brain stem, but about the ex- ing about death more frequently. I am perience of being a child. I don’t know in no hurry to move on to “the undis- the answers, but I have seen that, in sit- cover’d country from whose bourn no uations like Jahi’s, the child can some- traveller returns,” as Hamlet says. But times get lost amid disagreeing adults. I had decided, and written in my will, Rayna Eisenhut Coccari that, if my mind goes before my body, Seattle, Wash. then my body should be allowed to die. I will not be in it. Then came Aviv’s • poignant exposition on what constitutes Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, death, and I’m left wondering what cri- address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters may be edited teria my family should use, when the for length and clarity, and may be published in time comes, to determine whether my any medium. We regret that owing to the volume mind is gone. If all I can do is wiggle a of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. THE NEW YORKER, MARCH 5, 2018 5 From bonds to bullion, TD Ameritrade has the most commission-free ETFs. Whether you want to track the market or invest in a specifi c sector, we have over 300 commission-free ETFs and a comprehensive screener tool to help you fi nd the investments you want, whatever you think shines brightest. Find yours at tdameritrade.com/etf Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. A prospectus, obtained by calling 800-669-3900, contains this and other important information. Read carefully before investing. TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. © 2018 TD Ameritrade. FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 6, 2018 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN In 1976, David Bowie chose an unorthodox opening act for his “Thin White Duke” tour—the Sur- realist film “Un Chien Andalou,” by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. The same year, Bowie cast an uncanny eye on himself in this photo-collage, made using production stills from the movie “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” It’s one of the four hundred items from his personal archive—costumes, hand- COLLAGE BY DAVID BOWIE USING FILM STILLS FROM “THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH,” 1975-76. 1975-76. EARTH,” TO “THE MAN WHO FELL FROM USING FILM STILLS BOWIE DAVID BY COLLAGE MUSEUM ALBERT AND THE VICTORIA ARCHIVE,AND STUDIOCANAL, BOWIE THE DAVID OF COURTESY written lyrics, album art, videos—in “David Bowie Is,” opening March 2 at the Brooklyn Museum.