NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

Was Emily Gould Just Self Medicating?

As people still search for answers as to why former Gawker editor and current Jimmy Kimmel sympathizer, Emily Gould, wrote thousands of words about herself in a New York Times Magazine cover story, maybe there’s a very simple explanation: it’s therapeutic. Apparently there’s new research that suggests blogging keeps people spirited and helps the sick recover faster, according to an article in Scientific American:

“Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.”

Bees Buzzing NYC

While the New York Times Magazine was slathering bees all over fashion products and pissing off PETA, the little buzzers have been swarming the city: “The second massive swarm of thousands of bees has been spotted in the city in just over a week and experts say it’s a sign the Big Apple could be overrun by drones this summer.” In one instance, over 15,000 bees congregated on Riverside Drive and West 68th Street.|NYP|

By ANIMAL on May 19, 2008 at 10:40 am

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PETA Buzzed Over NYT Magazine’s Bee Fashion, Others Not So Much

In this past weekend’s New York Times Magazine, there was an illustrious fashion photo shoot of high end products slathered in honey and populated with lots of bees. Featured items included a $35,000 Lana Marks tote bag, Christian Louboutin shoes, and a Chopard watch listed at $5,120, among other conspicuously consumptive accessories. ANIMAL contacted PETA to get their take on the fashionable, insect crawling editorial, and they released this statement:

“The entire world is talking about the fact that bees are dying off—The New York Times has even reported on it—and yet The New York Times Magazine does a fashion spread with bees in it. That’s pretty irresponsible.”

However, Joanne Thomas, admitted wife of an ex-fashion photographer and President of the Long Island Beekeepers Club didn’t have a problem with the Gray Lady using the sticky food source or the insects, “[I] see why they did it. Yellow and honey colors are the fashion rage right now.” Thomas, who used have hives on the Upper East Side, doesn’t think that any bees are harmed in shoots like this, describing the process:

Ghost Bike Snippet In the New York Times Magazine Is Chilling

Although reporters are by nature some of the most cynical people alive, what in the Sam-fuck is W.M. Ferguson talking about in this past weekend’s not so green New York Times Magazine piece: “GHOST BIKES: To judge from ad campaigns and civic initiatives, the solution to climate change is simple: ride a bike, save the earth. The hundreds of ghost bikes throughout the world, however, silently testify to a darker truth. A memorial to a cyclist killed in traffic, a ghost bike springs up in the days after the crash — never, in the parlance of the cycling activists responsible for the ghost bikes, an “accident.” Really, a darker truth? Like what, bikes aren’t a great way to go green? Riding your bike instead of driving a car is not good for the environment? No it’s this, “[H]owever free and healthy and green our bicycles make us, the green revolution might actually be a revolution, and revolution can be dangerous.”