The poor thing, he’s seen so much. Death sprawls across the field, bodies lying next to one another like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. How do you walk through a […]
DRAG DESK
Varla Jean Takes You Underneath the Wig
In her 27th Provincetown season, Merman parodies her colleague Taylor Swift
Varla Jean Merman has been on television, on Broadway, and, she says, on welfare. She’s been on the front page of the New York Times and, for 35 years, on […]
FOURTH OF JULY
A Not-So-Straight-Up Potato Salad
Comforting yet zingy, a recipe that’s right for whatever kind of party you’re invited to
I attended a swanky dinner party on an early summer night when the weather was still cool enough to ward off mosquitoes and invite indulgent feasting. It was at an […]
DRAG DESK
Dina Martina Is in a Good Place
In her 20th Provincetown season, a rebel imparts an absurd brand of happiness
Dina Martina says she was born nine months early. “I looked like a poached egg,” she confides. Her grandmother looks just like Colonel Sanders. “Beautiful, hirsute lady,” says Martina. “She […]
FILM FESTIVAL
Joel Kim Booster Knows How the World Works
The winner of PIFF’s Next Wave Award takes superficiality seriously
Joel Kim Booster was squatting on the corner of Carver and Bradford in Provincetown, wearing just a jockstrap. He held his phone to his ear. He had just been at […]
KALE AND BEYOND
Lessons in Herbs, From My Salad Days
Use your greens extravagantly lest they go to waste
I love going to the grocery store almost as much as my mom hates taking me there. She says I’m a spendthrift. I prefer the term epicurean. To her point: […]
PHOTOGRAPHY
The Democratizing Lens of Quil Lemons
A photographer who subverts our expectations
There is a shock of recognition. The photo looks like ones we’ve seen before — a Black man is tied up, suspended in the air. “When people see a picture […]
Once Again, Taylor Swift Exposes Herself
Fans often call Taylor Swift’s music “diaristic”: at their best, her lyrics feel like the delicate and sometimes ugly truths most of us don’t dare utter aloud. “And I hate […]
THINKERS
Judith Butler Would Like Us to Love Without Fear
The philosopher’s latest book asks Who’s Afraid of Gender?
Before she was a transphobe, J.K. Rowling was a writer. In her Harry Potter series, the villain Voldemort is so feared that everyone believes it is dangerous to utter his […]
PAINTERS
Figures Emerge Slowly From Agnes Walden’s Art
Paintings that blur the boundaries between people and their environment
Agnes Walden is a teacher, but her paintings won’t teach you a thing. She speaks lucidly about painting with the off-the-cuff exactitude of an expert, but her paintings are inscrutable. […]
COLLAGE
Astonishing Propositions of Momentary Liberation
LaRissa Rogers reveals the threats that lurk in what looks like beauty
The kids are at play. They’re on swings and trampolines. These contraptions allow them to fly, even if only for split seconds. They’re resisting gravity, getting out from under its […]
QUEER ‘I’
The Shameless Plan for a ‘New Fire Island’
An idea for a ‘gay paradise’ provokes ire — and unflattering reflections
If you’ve heard of it, then you probably already hate it. You’ve groaned and eye-rolled about it. So has the Provincetown Business Guild: in an Instagram post, the Guild wrote, […]
MEET THE MAKER
For Vintage Purses, a Second Life
How Lucy Siegel saves leather goods from untimely endings
Lucy Siegel’s obsession with salvaging vintage leather goods began at the swap shop at the transfer station in Wellfleet. There, four years ago, browsing with her sister, she found an […]
PORTALS
In Poland With Abraham Storer
In a solo show, the painter finds flashes of recognition in the unfamiliar
Abraham Storer was standing in a cemetery in Gliwice, Poland in the fall of 2020. He wasn’t there to mourn but to paint — positioned with easel, canvas, and palette […]
TELEVISION
The Curse Tells Unnerving Truths
The show on Paramount Plus paints a brutal portrait of two newlywed gentrifiers
The Curse, the latest wild-card creation from director Nathan Fielder now streaming on Paramount Plus, is a show about the two worst people in the world: newlyweds Whitney and Asher […]