John Hendrickson

George AI is giving David Strathairn

ICO writes to Meta over 'concerning' AI smart glasses report Videos, including of glasses-wearers using the toilet or having sex, are sometimes reviewed by a Kenya-based subcontractor.

Last year when I was checking into a hotel, the desk person was wearing Meta glasses. I kindly asked them to take them off. They were annoyed. I said, “I do not consent to you looking at my credit card and ID with Meta glasses on.” My instincts were correct: www.bbc.com/news/article...

No Help and Few Options for Travelers Stranded by Mideast Conflict

One woman who called the State Department helpline looking for help said they told her to "stop ranting and raving" and hung up on her.

Another woman said they asked her how to spell Oman.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/t...

When we talk about Baby Boomers not getting off the stage: In 1997, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2007, the US president was born in 1946.

In 2017, the US president was born in 1946.

And next year in 2027? The US president will have been born in 1946.

Powerful words from KC Concepcion: “I wanna be a role model for those who may be scared to speak up, who may be afraid and not confident in yourself. … Don’t let a[n] outside person’s thoughts, opinions get in the way of you being great, of you achieving something in life.” ❤️

Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man In a long list of classic stories, the legendary magazine writer helped teach readers what masculinity looks like in the 21st century. To write his first book, he had to confront the man who first tau...

"But Tom [Junod] doesn’t write; he excavates. He digs for people’s full, messy truth on the page. Who leaps at the opportunity to do that to those he cherishes most?" @johnhendrickson.bsky.social for Esquire

www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

Lindsey's substack is one of my favorites, what a thrill to pop up there this morning

Opinion | The A.I. Disruption Is Actually Here, and It’s Not Terrible

NYT OpEd asked me to explain vibe coding to a general audience, and I took a swing. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o...

Deliveristas ending their shift and about to head home over the Williamsburg Bridge, though the blizzard. One of them, Salvador,tells me he’s happy for the cutoff by the city.

“This is more dangerous than last snowstorm, harder to move in,” he tells me in Spanish.

Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man In a long list of classic stories, the legendary magazine writer helped teach readers what masculinity looks like in the 21st century. To write his first book, he had to confront the man who first tau...

“There’s a recognition of people’s pain that you don’t have unless you’ve been through some extraordinary pain yourself,” @bronwendickey.bsky.social tells @johnhendrickson.bsky.social about @tomjunod.bsky.social.

A fake ICE tip line reveals neighbors reporting neighbors A Nashville comedian’s deportation hotline, set up as a joke, has gone viral among viewers who say it shows the “banality of evil personified” in the U.S. immigration crackdown.

New: A comedian set up a fake ICE tip line as a joke. Then 100 calls flooded in: neighbors ratting on neighbors, a teacher reporting a kindergartener. Fans say the viral TikToks revealed deportation's "banality of evil." Conservatives say he should be in prison wapo.st/4kM4qbF

How One Doctor Changed New York’s Right-to-Die Law Jeremy Boal helped pass the bill. He may be one of the first people to use it.

The doctor Jeremy Boal helped convince Governor Kathy Hochul to pass New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act. He may be one of the first people to use it.

How One Doctor Changed New York’s Right-to-Die Law Jeremy Boal helped pass the bill. He may be one of the first people to use it.

For @nymag.com, I drove upstate to meet Dr. Jeremy Boal, who is devoting his final time on earth to bringing nuance to the charged public debate around Medical Aid in Dying: nymag.com/intelligence...

Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man In a long list of classic stories, the legendary magazine writer helped teach readers what masculinity looks like in the 21st century. To write his first book, he had to confront the man who first tau...

My friend @johnhendrickson.bsky.social has written an honest, beautiful Esquire profile of journalist Tom Junod, whom you might know for his stories about Mister Rogers or the 9/11 Falling Man. The article explores masculinity, secrets, and betrayal, and it's told with John's big open heart.

When I wanted to write my first book, Tom Junod kindly offered to provide a blurb for my proposal (he was a fan of my covers blog). I had no real public profile and have no doubt his stamp of approval helped me get it published. Never met the guy but will be forever grateful. Excited for his book.

Thanks Feed Me! www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man In a long list of classic stories, the legendary magazine writer helped teach readers what masculinity looks like in the 21st century. To write his first book, he had to confront the man who first tau...

This was one of the most daunting, intimidating, and fulfilling stories I’ve ever done. With thanks to J.R. Moehringer, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Wright Thompson, Bronwen Dickey, and many others for their reflections + insights on someone with a singular life and career www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

To me and countless others, Tom is the Michael Jordan of magazine writing. And now, at 67, he’s about to publish something that had occupied his head for so much of his life. What took him so long? What was he afraid of? I spent some time with Tom in Georgia trying to figure it out...

(2/3)

Mini-thread:

A few months ago my old boss Michael Sebastian texted and asked if I’d be up for a rather meta freelance assignment: an Esquire profile of one of Esquire’s greatest profilers, Tom Junod. (1/3...)

When Jesse Jackson Came to ‘Sesame Street’: ‘I Am! Somebody!’

I wrote about the time Jesse Jackson brought the movement to Sesame Street. [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/a...

Jesse Jackson: Well, first of all, we had been freed without being made equal. There’s historical continuity between blacks being amassed in prison after 246 years of legal slavery. When there was a contest about it [in Dred Scott v. Sandford], the Supreme Court ruled that blacks had no rights. [After emancipation and the Civil War] those who had been slave masters became segregation masters. They took our freedom away from us; they began to lock up blacks by the thousands to do prison labor, farm labor—the whole range. They just put us back in slavery. We finally, in 1954, broke the backbone—legally—of that system [with the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision], but we were never—there was never repair for damage done. Two hundred and forty-six years of slavery, then legal Jim Crow and [nearly] 5,000 lynchings without a conviction. And even today, discrimination by extension of that system has not completely ended. So we had been fighting for repair. We fought against the barbarism for our freedom; now we’re fighting for our equality. We are the foundation of American society—not the bottom, the foundation. When the Declaration of Independence came, we had been enslaved for 157 years. We made cotton king. We are due a different kind of recognition.

Harris: Do you personally have hope that there will be payment for that legacy of slavery? Jackson: The truth of slavery—that Africans subsidized America’s wealth—that truth will not go away. It’s buried right now, but as each generation becomes much more serious, it will be grappled with.

thinking about the conversation I had with Jesse Jackson in 2019:

"The truth of slavery—that Africans subsidized America’s wealth—that truth will not go away. It’s buried right now, but as each generation becomes much more serious, it will be grappled with." www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE - Official Trailer - In Theaters February 13 YouTube video by NEON

It’s very real and brilliant m.youtube.com/watch?v=y2K9...

A poster for Nirvana the band the show the movie

Unadulterated joy

The Epstein Emails Show How the Powerful Talk About Race The files reveal the disgraced financier’s interest in “race science.”

"Arguing intelligence & adjacent traits are biologically determined served a clear function for Epstein, who treated women as subordinate. It’s equally unsurprising that the powerful people he cultivated might come up with a natural, objective explanation for their perch at the top of society"

What being a billionaire scion taught JB Pritzker about standing up to one Few national Democrats have pushed back as forcefully against Trump’s authoritarian crackdown. There’s a reason for that.

spent some time in Chicago, and also at a very nice library at Yale, trying to understand JB Pritzker www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Do You Have a Moment to Talk About How Mormons Conquered Pop Culture? How the women of Utah blogged and posted their way into American hearts and wallets.

My first cover story at @nymag.com! I went to Utah to figure out how everything got so Mormon: www.thecut.com/article/morm...

The real reason I'm leaving The Great British Baking Show Trump is threatening bombing the likes of which Tehran has never seen Prue Leith

the Spectator accidentally recycled a subhed from a previous day’s article about Tehran

Met Sam as an intern at Esquire roughly a decade ago. He was so talented beyond his years then and that's even more true now. Any outlet would be lucky to have Sam and all the other Post journos on the market today

Unbelievable

Nancy Mace Is Not Okay “Something’s broken. The motherboard’s fried. We’re short-circuiting somewhere.”

Republicans who have known Nancy Mace for years are increasingly worried about her. But why is she like this?

A number of scoops and new details here, including her recently departed campaign chief going on the record to call for her to leave electoral politics altogether: nymag.com/intelligence...