I am beginning to experience what I would call disturbing digital coincidences.
Call me crazy, but on Wednesday I asked my Amazon Echo Dot, “Alexa, what time is it?” On Thursday, I got an email from Wayfair suggesting that I might like to order a thirty inch farmhouse style wall clock that lends any room a touch of charm. Coincidence?
While chatting with a colleague via Skype, I cleared my throat and coughed twice. Hours later, my Facebook feed displayed an ad for Mucinex. On Sunday night, I watched a YouTube video of ICE agents hassling immigrants. On Monday morning, the first song in my Spotify “Discover Weekly” playlist was “Cold as Ice” by Foreigner.
On a phone call using my landline, I told my parents that Janice and I were thinking about having another child. Moments later, the doorbell rang. It was a door to door salesman selling First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test Kits.
This story is from the March 25, 2019 edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the March 25, 2019 edition of The New Yorker.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
STUNTED
\"The Fall Guy.\"
MOTHERS OF US ALL
Paula Vogel's \"Mother Play,\" Shaina Taub's \"Suffs,\" and Amy Herzog's \"Mary Jane.\"
PURE PLEASURE
The \"Radical Optimism\" of Dua Lipa.
PARADISE LOST
The search for a home that never was in Claire Messud's new novel.
ORIGIN STORY
What do we hope to learn from our prehistory?
DEATH IN VENICE
At the Biennale, the past dignifies the weird, desperate present.
WE'RE NOT SO DIFFERENT, YOU AND I
\"You'll never get away with this!\" Ultra Man vowed as he wriggled in his chains. \"You may destroy me, but you'll never destroy what I stand for!\"
STONES OF CONTENTION
The British Museum faces accusations of cultural theft-and actual theft.
A CAMPUS IN CRISIS
Dissent and defiance at Columbia's pro-Palestine protests.
ARROW RETRIEVER
I am an arrow retriever. After a batrows are costly and time-consuming to make. It seems like a terrible waste-and maybe even a sin―for an arrow to fall to the ground without hitting someone. Even if the arrow kills somebody, it can be reused to kill someone else. As Randolf the Scot famously said, \"Arrows don't grow on trees.\"
