Jia Tolentino Interviews Candace Bushnell

Plus: Angélique Kidjo; the threat of sanctions against Putin; and the joys of roasting a duck. View in browser | Update your preferences Wednesday, February 16, 2022 In today’s newsletter: • Angélique Kidjo, the doyenne of African pop • Why sanctions may not deter Putin • When in doubt, roast a duck Candace Bushnell Is Back in the City The “Sex and the City” writer on being ambitious, getting older, and making it in New York. Illustration by Jules Julien; Source photograph by Caroline McCredie / Getty In the nineteen-nineties, Candace Bushnell’s New York Observer column, “Sex and the City,” turned her into a celebrity journalist. “She was instinctively funny, iconically blonde, and possessed the kind of charisma that generates its own spotlight,” Jia Tolentino writes, in the introduction to her interview with the real Carrie Bradshaw. Three decades later, we find that Bushnell is still writing, and still tossing off classic lines: “Being around famous people is very different from being famous. Being around accomplished people will not make you accomplished yourself, or make anyone take you seriously. You have to do the work.” “It is still really important that women understand that it is Good Choices 101 to not be financially dependent on a man.” “By your late forties you feel like you’ve done everything so many times, including brushing your teeth.” Plus, you’ll faint at hearing the size of the contracts that magazines like Vanity Fair used to give writers and find out what Bushnell really thinks about “And Just Like That . . .,” the new HBO Max reboot of “Sex and the City.” —Ian Crouch, newsletter editor Read “Candace Bushnell Is Back in the City.” Our first digital-only issue features interviews with people of note. We’re publishing new pieces all week. Tomorrow: David Hockney interviewed by Françoise Mouly, and Min Jin Lee interviewed by Michael Luo. More from the Digital Issue The New Yorker Interview Angélique Kidjo Has Heard It All At sixty-one, the doyenne of African pop is recording with everyone from Burna Boy to Philip Glass—and still searching for new rhythms. By Julian Lucas From the News Desk Our Columnists More Economic Sanctions May Not Deter Putin The sanctions under consideration don’t appear to include two measures that could cause real financial pain for the Russian leader. By John Cassidy Elements A New Story for Stonehenge Using innovative techniques, researchers are learning more about the monument’s origins and history. By Simon Akam Politics and More Podcast Free Speech in Comedy Clubs and on Campus A former academic looks at group identity and how it affects students, and a historian of comedy explains that complaints about certain kinds of jokes are nothing new. Culture Dept. Kitchen Notes When in Doubt, Roast a Duck An alternative approach to the sort of casually special evening when you might normally make a chicken. By Helen Rosner Under Review Newspaper, Zine, Manifesto, Meme A new book argues that what we say, and how we say it, affects whether radical ideas can change the world. By Andrew Marantz Culture Desk Ceirra Evans Paints a Complex Portrait of Appalachia An artist from Bath County, Kentucky, faces hard truths and dispels flattening myths about the place where she grew up. By Garth Greenwell The New Yorker Documentary When Eartha Kitt Disrupted the Ladies Who Lunch The documentary short “Catwoman vs. the White House” reconstructs an unexpected moment of activism during the Vietnam War. Film by Scott Calonico Text by Lauren Elyse Garcia From the Archive Letter from Honduras Is Juan Orlando Hernández a Narco-Trafficker? The former President of Honduras was detained this week, and faces extradition to the U.S., in connection with what American officials have called a “violent drug-trafficking conspiracy.” From 2021: For decades, the U.S. has accommodated corruption in Central America. Now it is contending with the results. By Jon Lee Anderson Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Liz Maynes-Aminzade Daily Cartoon Wednesday, February 16th By Peter Kuper Crossword A Moderately Challenging Puzzle Machines used to dig the Panama Canal: twelve letters. By Patrick Berry Daily Shouts Your Personality, Explained by Your Annoying Household Habits You leave a swig of orange juice in the bottle because you’re too busy with your own life to think about anyone else’s. By Nicole Rose Whitaker 🎾 P.S. We’re serious, John McEnroe turns sixty-three today. Appraising the petulant tennis star’s cinematic qualities on the court, Anthony Lane writes, “He chose to be embroiled in a multiple fight—with his opponent, with the umpire, but also with himself, somehow driven forward by feelings, including frustration and wrath, that would fell or retard the rest of us. . . . There had been nothing like it, on public view, since the heyday of James Dean.” Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.