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[Memoir] False Labor

Giving up on motherhood

By Lena Dunham,

December 2020

Current Issue December 2020

[Report] Skin in the Game

Wall Street’s answer to the student-debt crisis

By Avi Asher-Schapiro,

[Criticism] “If Only I Could Begin Again!”

The mystery of a writer’s métier

By Vivian Gornick,

[Harper’s Index]

Hypothetical median income of full-time U.S. workers if income were distributed as evenly as it was in 1975 : $92,000

[Harper’s Index]

Actual median income of full-time U.S. workers : $50,000

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change since last year in the number of U.S. homes for sale : -35

[Harper’s Index]

In the median home price : +11

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who live with one or both of their parents : 52

[Harper’s Index]

Rank of this percentage among the highest ever recorded in the United States : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who believe that someone will become a trillionaire during their lifetime : 1/2

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of unpaid taxes that are owed by the richest one percent of Americans : 70

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which the richest one percent of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 50 percent : 2

[Harper’s Index]

Metric tons by which Donald Trump’s deregulatory policies will increase greenhouse-gas concentrations by 2035 : 1,800,000,000

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which this exceeds Germany’s annual emissions output : 2

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of utility companies worldwide that are expanding the production of gas or coal more quickly than renewables : 9/10

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who have been exposed to unhealthy air this year as a result of wildfires : 1/7

[Harper’s Index]

Number of the twenty largest wildfires in California’s history that occurred this year : 5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who think climate change poses a risk to people living in the United States : 61

[Harper’s Index]

Who think it poses a risk to them personally : 43

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of coronavirus deaths that the average American believes occur among those aged 44 and younger : 30

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of coronavirus deaths that have occurred among those aged 44 and younger : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans with symptomatic COVID-19 who deny having symptoms when asked by others : 34

[Harper’s Index]

Who try to conceal their symptoms : 55

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which men are more likely to try to conceal their symptoms than women : 32

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which someone who trusts Fox News more than CNN was more likely in May to visit someone else’s home : 9

[Harper’s Index]

To have a visitor over to their own home : 14

[Harper’s Index]

To attend a gathering of more than ten people : 10

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Democratic or Democratic-leaning Americans who are trying to “tune out” coronavirus news : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Of Republican or Republican-leaning Americans who are : 2/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of immigrant television characters last year who were portrayed as victims or perpetrators of a crime : 22

[Harper’s Index]

Who were portrayed as undocumented or seeking asylum : 63

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of U.S. immigrants who are undocumented or seeking asylum : 24

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of people arrested by the NYPD before the department implemented racial-bias training who were black : 47

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage after the department implemented racial-bias training who were : 48

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who think integrating the suburbs would “very likely” lead to more crime and lower property values : 13

[Harper’s Index]

Who consider those outcomes “not at all likely” : 23

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. Black Lives Matter protests in which no people were harmed and no property was damaged : 93

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who say that protests by athletes make them less likely to watch games : 36

[Harper’s Index]

Who say protests make them more likely to watch : 12

[Harper’s Index]

Number of hours it takes for the average American to “unwind” after work on Fridays : 2

[Harper’s Index]

Time on Sundays at which the average American begins to feel anxiety about work : 3:58 pm

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which Americans are more likely to say that this summer was the worst of their lives than the best : 8

Weekly Review

Harper’s Podcast

Making Meaning

You may know what you want, but you may not know what you need

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Monday Gallery

Among women only

Among women only, a painting by Louis Fratino, whose work was on view last week at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., in New York City.

© Louis Fratino. Courtesy Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York City

Past Issues

Harper’s Finest

[Article] from the March 2003 Issue

Jesus Plus Nothing

by Jeff Sharlet

At Ivanwald, men learn to be leaders by loving their leaders. “They’re so busy loving us,” a brother once explained to me, “but who’s loving them?” We were. The brothers each paid $400 per month for room and board, but we were also the caretakers of The Cedars, cleaning its gutters, mowing its lawns, whacking weeds and blowing leaves and sanding. And we were called to serve on Tuesday mornings, when The Cedars hosted a regular prayer breakfast typically presided over by Ed Meese, the former attorney general. Each week the breakfast brought together a rotating group of ambassadors, businessmen, and American politicians. Three of Ivanwald’s brothers also attended, wearing crisp shirts starched just for the occasion; one would sit at the table while the other two poured coffee.

SARS was found in tears.

A psycholinguistic analysis of posts on Twitter and Weibo during COVID-19 lockdowns found that residents of Lombardy grew increasingly focused on leisure and residents of Wuhan grew increasingly focused on religion.

Convalescent plasma helps Syrian hamsters fight SARS-CoV-2.

Falling levels of tourist trash during pandemic lockdowns was found to have caused rat infighting, and macaques were reported to have attacked a lab assistant in Delhi and stolen vials of COVID-19-infected blood, which at least one monkey then tried to eat.

The World Health Organization warned that SARS will probably return this winter.