TheNewsGal, Edition No. 105

What a week! These are the standouts.

All the things

• Is old music killing new music? Umm, duh? (Ted Gioia, The Atlantic, ~10 min.)

• Figure skating’s new, nearly impossible standard. The quad is insane and now I’ve seen everything. (Sarah Stodola, The Cut, ~4 min.)

• Super-Prime Mover: Britain’s most successful estate agent, Gary Hersham, has been selling houses to the very rich for decades. What does it take to stay on top in this cut-throat business? What a character. (Sophie Elmhirst, The Guardian, ~28 min.)

• An Interview With Andrew Garfield: “We all die with an unfinished song, and that’s the setup. None of us complete. None of us finish the symphony. There’s a few notes left to be done, if we’re lucky.” I’m a fan. (Esmé Weijun Wang, The Believer, ~24 min.)

• Can the world’s most connected doctor cure cancer? He was physician to the late Steve Jobs, pal to Elon Musk and Howard Stern, counselor to both Trump and Biden. Now he’s founded the most cutting-edge cancer center in L.A. OK, I’m interested. (Joel Stein, Los Angeles Magazine, ~12 min.)

(Dakarai Akil, Harper’s)

• National Treasure: The ecstatic cult of Nicolas Cage. This is amazing. (Dan Piepenbring, Harper’s, ~20 min.)

• Ann Lai Filed A Lawsuit To Tell This Story: She quit her high-profile job and sounded an alarm about bad behavior in tech — and she was nearly forced from the industry. This is the story of her fight to be heard. My god. (Stephanie Clifford, Elle, ~16 min.)

• Avoidance: My mother tried to explain, “Oh, we just thought Hitler was crazy, a clown. We never thought anyone would take him seriously.” Wooow. (Madelaine Zadik, Consequence Forum, ~11 min.)

• Of The Four Of Us. Family and animals and my heart, oh my. (Esther Ehrlich, The Sun, ~4 min.)

• The plan was simple: Infiltrate MAGA world and tell everyone what she saw. Then she was found out. I can’t even imagine. (Ali Breland, Mother Jones, ~16 min.)

• How the air fryer crisped its way into America’s heart. OK, I’m in. (Christina Morales, New York Times, ~8 min.)

---

If you read one thing this week

(Angal Field, GQ)

• Kris Wilka Just Wants To Play Football: In South Dakota, one quintessentially American teenager — along with his deeply supportive community — is upending the outdated debate about transgender athletes in schools. I really, really enjoyed this. (P.E. Moskowitz, GQ, ~17 min.)