| | | | How climate change is threatening one of the country’s most famous roadways.  The winding turns and breathtaking coastal cliffs of California’s Highway 1 are iconic. They’ve been memorialized by writers such as Jack Kerouac and Henry Miller and in the opening credits of “Big Little Lies.” But, for the past decade, the highway has existed in a state of uncertainty, largely owing to our changing climate. In a rigorously reported new piece, Emily Witt travels to Big Sur, an idyllic hamlet situated in the central coast of California—and home to one of the most fragile stretches of the road. “From above, the mountains erode toward the sea, causing landslides; from below, waves pound at the cliffs, compromising their stability,” Witt writes. The highway is currently the only way in and out of the town, so many residents keep a stock of food, in case a closure cuts them off from the rest of the world. And yet Big Sur, to the chagrin of many locals, is more popular with tourists than ever before, causing further strain on the area’s infrastructure. “As in Venice, or Kyoto, residents have started discussing methods to limit the influx,” Witt discovered, including “capping the number of vehicles allowed in per day and, controversially, reducing access to the beach.” Most people seem to agree that, as climate conditions worsen, the area’s situation is unlikely to improve. But one thing remains true: Big Sur is a magical place. As one resident put it, “it’s a partnership between human and spirit.” Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | | | | From the News Desk |  Our Local Correspondents Donald Trump and Michael Cohen Deserve Each OtherAt the former President’s hush-money trial, Trump’s ex-lawyer is using his old boss’s playbook to help the prosecution. By Eric Lach | | | | | Letter from Biden’s Washington On Trump and the Elusive Fantasy of a 2024 Election Game-ChangerWith a general-election debate and the ex-President’s criminal verdict looming, can anything move the immovable American electorate? By Susan B. Glasser | | The Political Scene The Two-Pronged Attack on a Muslim Judicial NomineeHow the smearing of Adeel Mangi became a bipartisan exercise. By Jonathan Blitzer | | | | |  | If you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter, please share it. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up. | | | | A Note from Our Columnist | | Jay Caspian Kang writes a weekly column, Fault Lines, which runs every Friday. He’s off this week, planning the column’s next chapter. Recently, he was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary, for pieces that he wrote for The New Yorker. Fault Lines is my attempt to think out loud, in a serial format, about politics and the media. I plan to divide it into chapters, each of which will focus, for the most part, on a particular aspect of contemporary American life. My hope is that, by the end of these chapters, the reader and I will have come to some new clarity together. In the first chapter, I considered the question of free speech in a digital age, and tried to reach some conclusions about how we can talk more openly and productively in a loud, distracted time. I discussed Neil Postman’s book “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” reported on a student encampment at Berkeley, conversed with a radical animal-rights activist, and weighed in on the crackdowns on campus protests. For the second chapter, my questions will center on family life, and how it’s changed. If you have thoughts about what I should cover, please share them with me by replying to this e-mail. I hope you’ll join me. | | | | | | Editor’s Pick |  The Current Cinema The Madly Captivating Urban Sprawl of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”After a thirteen-year absence, a great American director returns with an ambitious vision of a city—and a world—in need of renewal. By Justin Chang | | | | | Culture Dept. |  Cultural Comment Ilana Glazer’s “Babes” Joins a Lineage of Pregnancy ComediesIn the past decade, pregnancy has proved to be the ideal vehicle for raunch—and for observations on class and social mores. By Carrie Battan | | | | | At the Museum Dept. Slick Rick, Museum Consultant“Ice Cold,” the American Museum of Natural History’s hip-hop jewelry show (featuring treasures from artists like Run-DMC and Tyler, the Creator), outdazzles the Met Gala. By Sarah Larson | | | | | Fun & Games Dept. |  Mini Crossword A Bite-Size Puzzle Vast watery expanse: five letters. By Kate Chin Park |  Daily Cartoon Friday, May 17th By Benjamin Schwartz | | | | | | P.S. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage twenty years ago today. In 2021, Isaac Chotiner spoke with the journalist Sasha Issenberg about the success of the marriage-equality movement. “One of the things that make it very easy for people to grow more liberal on the marriage question,” Iseenberg explains, “is that it doesn’t ask the majority to give up much to the minority, which has been a central source of political friction around a lot of other civil-rights or social-justice movements.” 🌈 | | | | Today’s newsletter was written by Erin Neil. | | | | | | | |
