A tish, or gathering, of Hassidic Jews during the festival of Sukkot in Jerusalem in 2009. Hassids and some Roman Catholics are among the religious chafing at coronavirus restrictions. Photograph by permission of Eli Segal.

The politics of religion in the age of Covid

October 12, 2020

A federal judge has struck down an Orthodox Jewish group’s lawsuit against New York’s restrictions on worship in large groups during the pandemic. The number of virus cases is creeping up in the Northeast, the state is cracking down and religious groups, including some Roman Catholics, are upset at what they see as infringements on their religious freedoms, guaranteed under the Constitution.

No one wants to impede the practices of the religious. But we are in a health emergency, the fight of our lives in what one doctor told me is not just the story of the year but will turn out to be the story of this century. So why is it so hard for religious groups — which are, after all, supposed to be on the side of humanity — to comply? A hostess at a popular restaurant I frequent smiled knowingly before answering. “It’s about the money,” she said. And she’s right.

The image of Kate Gosselin, star of the reality TV series “Jon & Kate Plus 8” is often used to crystallize the look of a “Karen,” a privileged, demanding white woman — itself a stereotype.

He, she, they: the politics of gender and a place in the sun

October 11, 2020

Recently, I had an experience that redefined the right and the left for me. I interviewed two individuals who began by presenting me with their pronouns, as if they were ambassadors presenting a head of state with their credentials. One of the inidividuals’ pronouns was “she” and “her.” So if I were quoting her, I might say “she” on second reference. But the other person’s pronouns were “they” and “them.” (For the purpose of this post, I’ll call them S and T.)

When I explained that from a journalistic perspective, I worked for a company that used the Associated Stylebook — which allows for “they” in single usage when clarity is not at stake — and standard English, in which the masculine is still the default singular pronoun, as in the sentence “Everyone deserves his place in the sun,” well, things got a bit tense.

The ultimate mind-over-matter guy — John Milton’s Satan in “Paradise Lost,” seen here in John Martin’s “Satan Presiding Over the Infernal Council” (1824), engraving. Victoria and Albert Museum/The Bridgeman Art Library.

The Devil Wears MAGA: Trump and Covid

October 5, 2020

I started out writing this post about President Donald J. Trump and taxes and then about Trump and the appalling debate and now about Trump having Covid-19. In the Trumpian universe, you really have to be blogging every minute. That’s how fast the news changes.

President Donald J. Trump is expected to name Amy Coney Barrett to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat today. Photograph by Rachel Malehorn. — President Donald J. Trump is expected to name Amy Coney Barrett to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat today. *Photograph by Rachel Malehorn.*

Amy Coney Barrett , 'notorious' women and the limits of sisterhood

September 26, 2020

A female relative of mine recently told be about a flurry of activity in her company that involved the possible election of a woman for the first time to a certain position. The problem was that some did not like this woman or think she was qualified.

Well, said I, just because someone shares your gender doesn’t mean you’re going to support her for a certain job. Which brings us, of course, to Amy Coney Barrett, the apparently wonderful, brilliantly successful jurist, teacher, Catholic, wife, mother of seven (including a special needs child) and soon-to-be “replacement” for the late, deeply lamented Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In this Barrett will be opposed by many women who believe she will threaten their right to choose and the Affordable Care Act. She will also be opposed by many men as well who see her as a possible rubber stamp for a Trumpian second term should the presidential election descend into a Bush v. Gore slugfest.

A Novak Djokovic kind of year

September 9, 2020

What kind of year has it been for you, for our global community? For many, it has been an “annus horribilis,” to borrow from what Queen Elizabeth II said of 1992. (Chuck and Di divorced. Windsor Castle burned. Your Majesty, we felt your pain.) People have lost loved ones, jobs, homes and their health to the coronavirus. Their loss and grief are incalculable, as are our feelings of inadequacy in trying to help them.

For others, it’s been “the best of times, the worst of times,” to quote another Briton, Charles Dickens. They have not lost their health, loved ones, jobs and homes. Instead they are working from and on their homes, using their extra time to acquire new skills, take up a language, a sport or an art, exercising and losing weight and generally getting their lives in order. They’ve made money in the market, as tech and pharma stocks help buoy the Dow, and have even earned honors. Or maybe they haven’t endured any losses but they’re struggling with a number of challenges, like the kids’ schooling.

In any event, it’s hard for them to take much pleasure and pride in their accomplishments and blessings with so much suffering around them — and with the occasional curve ball thrown their way. They’re having what we might call a Novak Djokovic kind of year.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend church at Sandringham on Christmas Day, 2017, six months before their May wedding.

Royal flush: When Harry met Meghan

August 19, 2020

The challenge of authorized biography is the balance between accessibility and objectivity. If your subject is still alive or has keepers of the flame like a relative or foundation, you want to be able to tap into that resource. At the same time, you do your subject and yourself no favor by kowtowing. Indeed you make a stronger case for the importance, charisma, strength, greatness and perhaps ultimate goodness of your subject by portraying him with warts and all.

Like Andrew Morton’s “Diana: Her True Story,” Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s “Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family” (Dey St./William Morrow, $27.99, 354 pages) — billed as “the definitive biography” — reads like an authorized one.

Contrary to what the sign says, the lockdown didn’t kill this man’s business. Rather, fear and denial of the virus ravaged the American economy.

Adolescent America and fear itself

August 10, 2020

Given the highly individualistic nature of American society, the coronavirus was always going to be a lethal challenge here. But it didn’t have to be as devastating as it is.