Wednesday's Times Arts Section Might as Well Not Exist
Did you know there were stories in Wednesday's New York Times that weren't about the election? Mike Birbiglia, a fairly successful actor-comedian who got a great break—a profile in the Times for his new off-Broadway show. That profile ended up running on November 5th, the one day people actually wanted to buy newspapers. Remember that? People were lining up around the block to snag a copy of that day's Times. As he explains on 23/6, he couldn't even find a freaking copy to send to his mom!
It wasn't that I was hoping for a slow news day, just maybe not the biggest news day in the last half-century. So I woke up on Wednesday morning and walked to the newsstand to pick up a copy of my article. Except they didn't have any copies left. As a matter of fact, the man at the news-stand laughed at me... I stopped at four more newsstands and was met with the same response. ...I called my brother Joe and asked if he had gotten the paper and he explained that it was sold out, and beyond that copies of it were going for $50-200 dollars a pop on eBay. [23/6]
Aww, Mike. I feel you; somebody stole my home-delivery copy before I even left the house that morning. Finally, after many phone calls, victory! "Fortunately, my mother-in-law had a copy of the arts section at her office. Someone had stolen the cover and failed to see the historical significance of section C."