The Biologist and the Invasive Lizard

Plus: how Democrats lost the working class; Jake Paul gave Mike Tyson a senseless beating; and two films that Hollywood doesn’t want you to see. View in browser | Update your preferences Saturday, November 16, 2024 In today’s newsletter, three R.E.M. songs for a dark moment. But first, playing God with reptiles. Plus: • How Democrats lost the working class • Jake Paul gave Mike Tyson a senseless beating • Two films that Hollywood doesn’t want you to see The Weekend Essay The Lizard King of Long Island Jon Sperling secretly spread a non-native species across the Northeast. “It’s insane what this guy was doing,” a biologist said. By Ben Goldfarb Illustration by Arif Qazi The Italian wall lizard—a cigar-size Mediterranean reptile with a green back, mottled copper flanks, and a whiplike tail—is more or less the animal you picture when someone says the word “lizard.” Their ubiquity in places like Pompeii and the Colosseum has earned them the moniker “ruin lizards.” Their known range extends to Slovenia, Croatia, and, since the nineteen-sixties, Long Island, which they may have colonized after making their way out of a Hempstead pet store. Podarcis siculus thrived in the urban wilds of Garden City, feasting on spiders and crickets and sheltering in sidewalk cracks. By the two-thousands, according to one Hofstra University biologist, the area had become home to tens of thousands of the creatures. The New York Lizards, a now-defunct Major League Lacrosse team, adopted a large-eyed lizard as its mascot. Keep reading From the News Desk The Lede How Donald Trump Gave Democrats the Working-Class Blues Kamala Harris spoke of creating an “opportunity economy,” a vague idea more likely to appeal to entrepreneurs than to struggling workers. By Eyal Press The Sporting Scene Jake Paul Gave Mike Tyson a Senseless Beating The YouTuber turned boxer triumphed over the legend of Iron Mike, and, less impressively, the man himself. By Kelefa Sanneh Our journalism relies on your support. If you believe in a media that is fearless in the face of power, please subscribe today. Subscribe now Doreen St. Félix Documentaries of Dissent Illustration by Keith Negley “No Other Land,” about the destruction of a group of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, and “Union,” which chronicles the organizing of workers at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, are films that Hollywood and corporate America don’t want you to see, Doreen St. Félix writes. Read the column » Critic’s Notebook, written by Doreen St. Félix and Naomi Fry, publishes every Saturday. If you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter, please share it. Was it forwarded to you? Sign up. Culture Dept. Photo Booth Bearing Witness to American Exploits Peter van Agtmael’s images of war and domestic strife are arresting and almost cinematically spare, but it is the careful narrative arc of his new book, “Look at the U.S.A.,” that deepens the viewer’s experience. By Clare Malone The Critic Recommends Mark Krotov New Yorker contributor Photograph by Richard E. Aaron / Redferns / Getty My new piece about R.E.M. and its legacy covers the band’s entire history, but I really think of it as an unstated, though probably not unsubtle, argument for three of their underloved albums from the mid-nineties: “Monster,” “New Adventures in Hi-Fi,” and “Up.” These are demanding records, but they contain some of R.E.M.’s most beautiful and adventurous work. I was tempted, for obvious reasons, to highlight the band’s more politically engaged material, but the ruminative, searching quality of the following songs feels right for the moment. “Bang and Blame.” I love how heedlessly Peter Buck’s guitar roams around this song, as if it’s drifting from room to room. Also, it features the band’s sexiest lyrics, “You kiss on me / Tug on me / Rub on me,” and so on. “E-Bow the Letter.” I listened to Michael Stipe’s dense and plaintive duet with Patti Smith constantly during the pandemic’s cold first months, and have returned to it again over the past (warm) week. An ideal song for any bleak occasion. “Walk Unafraid.” “These heavy notions creep around,” Stipe sings at the beginning of this song, in which a clear-eyed lyrical defiance ultimately triumphs over its churning orchestration. One can hope. Read or listen to “How R.E.M. Created Alternative Music” Fun & Games Dept. Shouts & Murmurs How to Update Your Wardrobe for the Fall Every so often, I’ll decide it’s time to retire my old Target wardrobe and replace it with a new Target wardrobe. By Danielle Kraese Name Drop: Can you guess the identity of a notable person—contemporary or historical—in six clues? Play our trivia game » P.S. The American composer W. C. Handy, who is sometimes known as the Father of the Blues, was born on this day in 1873. Louis Armstrong’s rendition of his pieces is No. 5 on David Remnick’s list of a hundred essential jazz albums. 🎶 What did you think of today’s newsletter? Let us know. If you like the daily newsletter, browse more New Yorker newsletters. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the daily newsletter from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2024. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.