SAHMarxist
@abbysalerno.bsky.social
my love/hate relationship with The New Yorker magazine will never die 🖤
God I love a books review. On the US obsession with home ownership and FDR, both really great reads. I think Beverly Gage on FDR and Fascism (and anti-fascism!) is such a good writer - elegant, funny, and not too heavy handed or cutesy. Sincere. I think I teared up a little.
October 5, 2026 at 1:16 AM
God I love a books review. On the US obsession with home ownership and FDR, both really great reads. I think Beverly Gage on FDR and Fascism (and anti-fascism!) is such a good writer - elegant, funny, and not too heavy handed or cutesy. Sincere. I think I teared up a little.
I also read all of that review of the work of Rachel Cusk. Wow. Not sorry I missed that boat. I am pretty intrigued by the end of personhood and the first few paragraphs had me thinking about my favorite movie (serious division) which is Persona.
September 22, 2026 at 1:14 AM
I also read all of that review of the work of Rachel Cusk. Wow. Not sorry I missed that boat. I am pretty intrigued by the end of personhood and the first few paragraphs had me thinking about my favorite movie (serious division) which is Persona.
But that thing about the dressage weirdos. Ugh.
September 22, 2026 at 1:07 AM
But that thing about the dressage weirdos. Ugh.
I read something by Adam Gopnik and I kind of liked it, but don't remember what it was. So I guess it wasn't memorable. Still, I used to haaaaaaaate his writing and now look at me.
September 22, 2026 at 1:06 AM
I read something by Adam Gopnik and I kind of liked it, but don't remember what it was. So I guess it wasn't memorable. Still, I used to haaaaaaaate his writing and now look at me.
And so was the poem "...Being Born with Teeth and Sharpening Them..."
September 12, 2026 at 1:04 AM
And so was the poem "...Being Born with Teeth and Sharpening Them..."
Oh my poetic side! Vinson Cunningham's book review (almost a two-book review) on hip hop artist Grandmaster Flash was a deep pleasure.
September 12, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Oh my poetic side! Vinson Cunningham's book review (almost a two-book review) on hip hop artist Grandmaster Flash was a deep pleasure.
This will also have to be where I comment about TV. If you think about it it makes sense to pair it with my thoughts on The New Yorker. Or if I think about it. Anyway, on Hacks, when D asks for a rhyme for "flat tits," A totally should have said, "QVC oven mitts."
September 1, 2026 at 3:42 AM
This will also have to be where I comment about TV. If you think about it it makes sense to pair it with my thoughts on The New Yorker. Or if I think about it. Anyway, on Hacks, when D asks for a rhyme for "flat tits," A totally should have said, "QVC oven mitts."
I recently watched all of Hacks. I am neither Hannah nor Jean, Deborah nor Ava, but I am both of them. It's like the best sit-coms (The Golden Girls, Will & Grace, Schitt's Creek) where you have a very fluid identification with all of the characters. A why-choose sex comedy ensemble situation.
August 18, 2026 at 4:34 PM
I recently watched all of Hacks. I am neither Hannah nor Jean, Deborah nor Ava, but I am both of them. It's like the best sit-coms (The Golden Girls, Will & Grace, Schitt's Creek) where you have a very fluid identification with all of the characters. A why-choose sex comedy ensemble situation.
Sometime in the last two years I read this New Yorker essay that I deeply, unreservedly, whole-heartedly identified with. Imagine my surprise. It was The Last Rave, by Emily Witt. Now, I have not been to my first rave but change all the particulars and it just felt so familiar.
August 11, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Sometime in the last two years I read this New Yorker essay that I deeply, unreservedly, whole-heartedly identified with. Imagine my surprise. It was The Last Rave, by Emily Witt. Now, I have not been to my first rave but change all the particulars and it just felt so familiar.
I have loved Rivka Galchen since I joyfully over-identified with her fiction "The Region of Unlikeness" way back in 2008 and one of the great pleasures of my life since then has been following her development into a smart, critical, beautiful science journalist. So this piece about color . . .
August 4, 2026 at 2:17 PM
I have loved Rivka Galchen since I joyfully over-identified with her fiction "The Region of Unlikeness" way back in 2008 and one of the great pleasures of my life since then has been following her development into a smart, critical, beautiful science journalist. So this piece about color . . .
Hua Hsu on The American Dream was a little slight and anecdotal, but I'm not sure what more I expected.
July 23, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Hua Hsu on The American Dream was a little slight and anecdotal, but I'm not sure what more I expected.
I forgot - I read the piece about American Jews opposing Isreali violence and getting push back from the leaders at their synagogues. It felt anecdotal, but still important.
July 18, 2026 at 2:43 AM
I forgot - I read the piece about American Jews opposing Isreali violence and getting push back from the leaders at their synagogues. It felt anecdotal, but still important.
I finished the profile of Whitehead while sitting on the porch in the rain. Like an old person! I am always so compelled by descriptions of his novels but can never get further than well-started. I think they might be too dense and not fast-paced enough for me rn. I only read spy novels...
June 30, 2026 at 10:54 PM
I finished the profile of Whitehead while sitting on the porch in the rain. Like an old person! I am always so compelled by descriptions of his novels but can never get further than well-started. I think they might be too dense and not fast-paced enough for me rn. I only read spy novels...
I am also half way (maybe that's generous) through the profile of Colson Whitehead. It's more likely I'll finish that than the Habermas piece.
June 30, 2026 at 4:28 AM
I am also half way (maybe that's generous) through the profile of Colson Whitehead. It's more likely I'll finish that than the Habermas piece.
And now I'm halfway through Ross on Habermas and wondering if I need to read the whole thing.
June 27, 2026 at 1:58 PM
And now I'm halfway through Ross on Habermas and wondering if I need to read the whole thing.
I started reading the profile of Boots Riley awhile back and half way through I thought that maybe I didn't need a full profile of Boots Riley. But today I picked it up and found the second half compelling, enjoyable, etc. Must have been a mood.
June 27, 2026 at 1:56 PM
I started reading the profile of Boots Riley awhile back and half way through I thought that maybe I didn't need a full profile of Boots Riley. But today I picked it up and found the second half compelling, enjoyable, etc. Must have been a mood.
Greenland was exactly what you'd expect, which is excellent. A serious look at a serious situation being handled by the shittiest clowns in the clown show.
June 27, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Greenland was exactly what you'd expect, which is excellent. A serious look at a serious situation being handled by the shittiest clowns in the clown show.
I am hoping to read Ross on Habermas, Greenland and the thing on college that is a book review. But not in that order.
June 21, 2026 at 2:58 PM
I am hoping to read Ross on Habermas, Greenland and the thing on college that is a book review. But not in that order.
Zengerle on Hakeem Jeffries was great. Maybe not as elegant or stylish as I'd like, but he used sharp humor and juxtaposition to good critical effect.
June 20, 2026 at 9:16 PM
Zengerle on Hakeem Jeffries was great. Maybe not as elegant or stylish as I'd like, but he used sharp humor and juxtaposition to good critical effect.
I read Menand on Lady Chatterley's Lover but it was dull - I'm never interested in obscenity cases. But this is probably one of my favorite novels and I love Laurence's poetry even more. But you have to read it to enjoy it or understand it. Publication history misses the point entirely.
June 17, 2026 at 1:05 AM
I read Menand on Lady Chatterley's Lover but it was dull - I'm never interested in obscenity cases. But this is probably one of my favorite novels and I love Laurence's poetry even more. But you have to read it to enjoy it or understand it. Publication history misses the point entirely.
The talk of the town on the US measures to limit immigration and asylum paired well with the thing about Switzerland and their more calm and civilized efforts to do the same. I liked the tone of the piece on die Schweiz, dry but deeply critical.
June 16, 2026 at 3:17 AM
The talk of the town on the US measures to limit immigration and asylum paired well with the thing about Switzerland and their more calm and civilized efforts to do the same. I liked the tone of the piece on die Schweiz, dry but deeply critical.
If u read TNY your whole life you will go through phases where someone else reads it with you. Right now I have been recommended Lepore on college and the article about Pelicot. I will have to get to reading.
February 26, 2026 at 3:55 AM
If u read TNY your whole life you will go through phases where someone else reads it with you. Right now I have been recommended Lepore on college and the article about Pelicot. I will have to get to reading.
I can't access the "online" part of my New Yorker subscription. It's a long story involving my ex and my in-laws but I just can't. So I therefore have not read any of the informal pieces on Heated Rivalry in that publication. And yet...
February 3, 2026 at 2:28 AM
I can't access the "online" part of my New Yorker subscription. It's a long story involving my ex and my in-laws but I just can't. So I therefore have not read any of the informal pieces on Heated Rivalry in that publication. And yet...
I also read Jason Zengerle on Tucker Carlson. It was too fast and breathless and snide, but apart from the tone it was excellent - research, structure, etc.
January 30, 2026 at 4:37 AM
I also read Jason Zengerle on Tucker Carlson. It was too fast and breathless and snide, but apart from the tone it was excellent - research, structure, etc.
I read Brody's review of the Ping Pong movie. I read about the dictionary. I read about the two accounts of Bernie Goetz and this last article was my favorite of the three.
January 30, 2026 at 4:34 AM
I read Brody's review of the Ping Pong movie. I read about the dictionary. I read about the two accounts of Bernie Goetz and this last article was my favorite of the three.