 | | Hua Qu is fighting to save her husband — one of at least seven U.S. captives in the Islamic Republic being used as pawns in a nearly 40-year secret history of hostage taking. Adam Ferguson for The New York Times | | Dear Reader,
I hope you've had a good week. Our cover story is about the fate of Xiyue Wang, a Chinese-American graduate student at Princeton who has been in prison in Iran for the past two years. The journalist Laura Secor tells the story of how Wang's wife, Hua Qu, is fighting to bring him home.
There are at least seven American civilians being held in prison in Iran whose fates are tied up in the relations between the two countries. "For 40 years, whether Iran and the United States have had fraught relations or no relations, hurled epithets or dangled promises, one consistent thread has run beneath it all — a sort of secret history — and that has been the back and forth over American citizens held captive in Iran," Secor writes. As the Trump administration takes a harder line with Iran, the question is what's going to happen with the Americans currently being held prisoner there.
There's lots more to read from this week's issue. I've noted some highlights below. |  | | Avenatti before an interview with CNN. Benjamin Lowy for The New York Times | | The Fast and Furious Michael Avenatti: He's cocky, he's everywhere on cable news and he has taken on the most high-profile case of his career: suing the president. Meet the "mercenary" Michael Avenatti, the brash, loudmouthed lawyer for the porn star Stormy Daniels, who is convinced that he can take down Donald Trump. Matthew Shaer profiles a man who likes to live large and bet high, and discovers Avenatti's secret for making the news cycle revolve around him. |  | | Daveed Diggs Michelle Gibson for The New York Times | | Daveed Diggs Talks Gentrification: In his post-"Hamilton" life, Daveed Diggs has co-written and co-starred in the coming film "Blindspotting," which is about gentrification in Diggs's hometown, Oakland, Calif. Diggs reveals his thoughts on policing in communities, his own role and relationship with gentrification and why #BBQBecky is his favorite meme of the year. |  | | Taramasalata Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Pamela Duncan Silver. | Add This to Your Summer Meze Platter: The best way to eat taramasalata, a Greek cod-roe paste/dip/spread, is under a huge pine tree, on a whitewashed terrace, looking out at the Aegean and feeling the breeze on your sunburned skin. But since that is out of reach for most of us, at least make your taramasalata from scratch, says Gabrielle Hamilton in this week's Eat column. It's a spread so satisfyingly salty and pleasantly fishy — like caviar itself, but with a lot more going on.
Revel in Your Mess: Don't give in to the tyranny of making your living quarters clean just because the constant scrutiny of Instagram demands it, writes Helen Holmes in this week's Letter of Recommendation. Accept that a bed covered with dirty laundry says nothing about the worth or the competence of its occupant, and allow yourself to feel unburdened. Spill soda on the carpet. Smoke indoors. Refuse to clean your bedroom as a conscious act of rebellion.
The Last Person to See My Father Alive: Daryln Brewer Hoffstot's father died ejecting from a B-57 bomber 63 years ago. In 2017, she met his navigator who survived the crash: "I finally met the last person to shake my father's hand, to speak to him, to see him, 7,000 feet in the air. As their B-57 plummeted toward earth, he was the person to whom my father gave the 'thumbs up' sign to eject. He was the navigator, my father the pilot. He bailed first; my father followed. He lived; my father did not."
Do You Know What Caused His 'Brain Sloshing'? During a pickup soccer game, James was hit in the back of the head with a soccer ball. Everything went black, and he felt a sharp stab of nausea, but he thought everything was O.K. Still, days and months later, he experienced a "molasses-like" sensation in his brain that kept him from thinking clearly. Can you discover his diagnosis?
From the Archives: What's Better Than Swimming Babies? It's finally Friday. Let these photographs of infants learning to swim guide you into the spirit of the weekend.
Onward,
Jake | | |
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