Handicapping this week's New Yorker

This is the part of the week where we grade the New Yorker based on the articles locked behind the paywall. 

1.  "Skivvies 101":  Laruen Collins churns out a middling talk piece about underwear.  After a brief introduction, piece devolves into a list of wryly chosen facts...cross between DFW and Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.  (+0)

2.  "Reservations":  Ariel Levy, who became a staff writer in 2008, is an under-the-radar talent.  Her writing is evocative without being showy, her subjects are fascinating without being topical or hokey, and her humor is dry and actually humorous.  I won't be surprised if she eventually becomes a superstar a la Susan Orleans or Malcom Gladwell.  In this article, she examines the struggle of a Long Island indian tribe to build a casino near southhampton.  What's at stake for all the yuppies is even worse traffic on the Long Island Expressway, plus the tackiness that goes along with a casino.  For Shinneock Indian Reservation, what's at stake is the survival of their tribe -- their median income in 2000 was less than 15k.  Levy puts together a fascinating piece that offers many perspectives on this complex, ironic issue.  (+2)

3. "A Widow's Story":  Joyce Carol Oates mourns for her husband, who passed away in 2008.  Saw her at AWP in January 2008, and she seemed pretty disheveled, but I was led to understand that she's always in different states of dishevelment.  The full-page picture of Oates and her husband is creepy...kept looking at it.  Very interesting to see a young, pretty Oates.  (+1)

I remember reading the obit in the Times and wondering how Oates was going to react, as a writer, to his death.  I'm going to guess that this essay is just a small sample of a larger work.  Normally, I'm not a fan of someone sharing gross details about their marriage, especially if it's a marriage between literary types. Literary types harvest their personal lives in exchange for space in the Sunday Times magazine. Joyce knows the right details to hit, though.  The cats, for instance ("Something in our manner has made then wary, suspicious.")  And as the datelines in the piece draw closer to her husband's death, the tone becomes jittery, borderline hysterical.  Like her husband, I don't read much of JCO's fiction, but I'll read her essays any day of the week.  (+2)

4.  "Enter the Dragon":  John Cassidy makes the case that...something.  China?  (-1)


Total:  4

Yes, this issue is worth buying to read the articles behind the paywall.