"Behold My Suit!"

Although Gary Shteyngart interrupts the narrative to brag about the elephants he's slaughtered with his bare hands as well as his Herschel-esque 40-yard-dash time and subtle mastication of both Iron Mike's ears (no double entendre), Hong-Kong Gary manages nevertheless to produce a humane and humble narrative that illuminates a world neither the author nor much of the audience has had access to in any detail. I highly recommend an hour or three away from it all to read the March Atlantic Monthly's "Behold My Suit!"

A Dispatch from the Future

Over a few days this week, I read George Packer's "The Valley," a comprehensive take on Phoenix, Arizona and its surroundings published in The Atlantic Monthly, and it reminded me of how his "The Megacity" from The New Yorker, on Lagos, Nigeria, is perhaps my very favorite in the genre of travel to a city and write about it in detail. This recent Harper's Magazine piece on Branson, Missouri is another recent favorite.

Maura Cheeks in The Atlantic

"Wealth is a number, sure, but it’s also a feeling. I grew up living with my mom and maternal grandparents, while my dad played and coached in the NBA. For a time, our family’s safety net was held together by my grandfather’s HVAC business, but in 2001, it nearly came apart. That year, the company worked on a project performing mechanical-contracting work at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles. The timeline did not account for delays. My grandfather estimates that the company lost $4 million on the project. Our house was put on the market shortly after. I loved that house because it felt like home, but also because it made me feel at home in a predominantly white world, where I felt as if my every move was on display. The house served as a symbol of wealth to justify belonging. When we sold it, I felt exposed, as though my family was showcasing the fragility of black wealth for all to see. I told friends that my family wanted to downsize. I’m sure they saw through the lie."