She was a serious woman, a small woman with a heavy manner, though some later recalled a twinkle in her eye, and others a dry sense of humor.
I remember only that her presence was full of undescribed life and uncheapened by conclusions.
But, ah, when she began to sing, the seriousness was like oil she had saved for a day of need. The song came out of her light and young, a hint at what she must have been before we knew her. She held the final note of each phrase for a long time.
As we listened to the song that night in the apartment, a song in a dialect with few living speakers, a song she sang with no gesture toward her previous fame, the things that were to bring an end to everything were already happening.
We had been compromised. The next morning, Ms. Prosper and the other leaders were arrested and taken to –––––.
Mint goes right to your head. Its leaves are pebbled leather. Thyme is the stubborn memory of wood, with a trace of cloves. Sage has large, outstretched gray-green hands. Rosemary is the pine’s twin sister.
SWIMMING IN LAKE OSO
Beyond the circle was a clearing. Beyond the clearing, the forest began. Our group had a plan: when the bus came the next morning, that would be the moment to make a break for it. Some of us would be captured. Some might even be killed. But not all of us could be captured or killed: some would reach the trees, and our plan was made in recognition of that hope.
She was afraid. She went to the Guide, and he told her not to be afraid. Then he prayed for her. The Guide was a man of God; he was the person to talk to when your courage was failing. But I was an atheist—it wasn’t my scene.
That night, the Guide drew me aside. He knew the prayers, he said, but he did not know if he believed anymore. I am utterly terrified, he said to me.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 04, 2023-Ausgabe von The New Yorker.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 04, 2023-Ausgabe von The New Yorker.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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INSIDE JOB-"Hit Man"
Years before Hannah Arendt coined, in the pages of this magazine, the phrase \"the banality of evil,\" popular films and fiction were embodying that idea in the character of the hit man. In classic crime movies such as \"This Gun for Hire\" (1942) and \"Murder by Contract\" (1958), hit men figure much as Nazis do in political movies, as symbols of abstract evil.
WHATEVER YOU SAY
Rereading Jenny Holzer, at the Guggenheim.
SUBCONSCIOUSLY YOURS
Does every generation get the Freud it deserves?
BY A WHISKER
Louis Wain and the reinvention of the cat.
Beyond Imagining
Bessie, Lotte, Ruth, Farah, and Bridget, who had been lunching together for half a century, joined in later years by Ilka, Hope, and, occasionally, Lucinella, had agreed without the need for discussion that they were not going to pass, pass away, and under no circumstances on.
STATES OF PLAY
Can advocates use state supreme courts to preserve-and perhaps expand-constitutional rights?
THE LONG RIDE
The surf legend Jock Sutherland's unlikely life.
ARE WE DOOMED?
A course at the University of Chicago thinks it through.
GOD EXPLAINS THE RULES OF HIS NEW BOARD GAME
Guys, want to play this new board game? It’s called Life. No, it’s not “one of God’s impossible-to-understand games that take three hours to learn.” It’ll be fun, I promise!
RED LINE
With the election approaching, the U.S. and Mexico wrangle over border policy.