{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"October 3, 2026 – Air Mail","description":"Welcome to Air Mail Issue number 377.","favicon":"https://static.airmail.news/assets/icons/apple-touch-icon.png","home_page_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3","feed_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3.json","items":[{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-view-from-here","title":"The View from Here","content_text":"“Short-fingered vulgarian”; “Queens-born casino operator”; the “WA-A-A-A-H!” cover depicting Donald Trump as a toddler mid-tantrum. These are all, presciently if tragically, now a vital part of the historical record. Forty years on, Spy magazine is best remembered, not unjustly, as the first entity to call out Trump for his tackiness, villainy, and arrant idiocy.The cover story of the October ’86 issue, Spy’s very first, was entitled “The Ten Most Embarrassing New Yorkers” and described the future president as someone afflicted with “a Dynasty notion of panache.” The piece proceeded to indict him with a series of his ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-view-from-here","summary":"“Short-fingered vulgarian”; “Queens-born casino operator”; the “WA-A-A-A-H!” cover depicting Donald Trump as a toddler mid-tantrum. These are all, presciently if tragically, now a vital part of the historical record. Forty years on, Spy magazine is best remembered, not unjustly, as...","tags":["The View from Here","But First ..."],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/xsffo8uf0h1oqqzshkjk7an0k7dr-3a6ab22d50d8946a55dcdd4f92603d16.jpg","author":{"name":"David Kamp"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/david-kamp\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eDavid Kamp\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"In 1980s New York, Donald Trump had the press in the palm of his hand. Only one satirical yet scrupulously reported magazine had the temerity to note the length of his fingers …","shorts":false,"banner":"But First ...","category":"The View from Here"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/barry-blitts-sketchbook","title":"Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/barry-blitts-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Barry Blitt's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/ts9ak2gbgc3v06j2xnn6rq2hys5c-4ae7ffda4bd8d4b1f4759f4fec942785.jpg","date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":null,"subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Barry Blitt's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/grindrs-bottom-line","title":"Grindr’s Bottom Line","content_text":"Inside the 12,000-square-foot Georgetown mansion, there were raw oysters and caviar-topped ice cream. Outside, black S.U.V.’s, paparazzi, and a line snaking around the block. During White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend this year, one of Washington’s most sought-after invitations came from a company better known for arranging more private encounters: the gay-dating app Grindr. By mid-evening, however, the bar had run out of liquor. “That was not super popular,” Democratic strategist Alex Slater told journalist Tara Palmeri afterward. Even in Washington, there are limits to what the gays will tolerate.Over the last year and a half, Grindr has spent ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/grindrs-bottom-line","summary":"Inside the 12,000-square-foot Georgetown mansion, there were raw oysters and caviar-topped ice cream. Outside, black S.U.V.’s, paparazzi, and a line snaking around the block. During White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend this year, one of Washington’s most sought-after invitations came from...","tags":["News","friends with dividends"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/td6fgeq6uapmyj9mji5f7fv35zaw-bc67221680fcc878fd93eaa2e7bb5e8d.jpg","author":{"name":"Matt Kapp"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/matt-kapp\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMatt Kapp\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Once “the scariest gay bar on earth,” Grindr is now courting Washington and Wall Street—and selling an ever more expensive route to a familiar destination","shorts":false,"banner":"friends with dividends","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-earl-of-grievance","title":"The Earl of Grievance","content_text":"Poor King Charles. With his brother, the former Prince Andrew, banished to a sad little farmhouse on the Sandringham estate, and his son Prince Harry consumed by the complexities of the English school run, the King might have hoped for a reprieve from familial drama. But ha! These are the Windsors. It’s never long before another tall, mouthy relative has something unfortunate to say.For the past fortnight, British newspaper readers haven’t been allowed to check the Premier League rankings without getting an earful from Charles Spencer. It’s not the first time. Two years ago, the ninth Earl Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, was everywhere with his first jaw-dropping memoir, ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-earl-of-grievance","summary":"Poor King Charles. With his brother, the former Prince Andrew, banished to a sad little farmhouse on the Sandringham estate, and his son Prince Harry consumed by the complexities of the English school run, the King might have hoped for...","tags":["The Royal Family","Royal Follies"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/1ezavxhhb3n3olbclj6sq8cgl9bl-0da4c9cd1f7f13b6f0c97a5c75f6b14b.jpg","author":{"name":"Ashley Baker"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/ashley-baker\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAshley Baker\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Charles Spencer’s new memoir takes aim at King Charles—but it also raises awkward questions about his own relationship with Diana","shorts":false,"banner":"Royal Follies","category":"The Royal Family"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-curious-case-of-the-missing-basquiat","title":"The Curious Case of the Missing Basquiat","content_text":"This summer—in the heat and humidity of Miami—a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting estimated to be worth $20 million was reportedly discovered in a warehouse. It had been missing for 16 years, but its surprising reappearance has done little to settle the question of who actually owns it.Wine of Babylon, painted in 1984 at the height of the artist’s fame, has been at the center of a bitter legal battle lasting nearly three decades between the Italian film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori and his ex-wife, Rita Rusic, a Croatian-born actress and singer who became a producer herself.But the reported discovery came with another twist. Citing leaked documents from the ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-curious-case-of-the-missing-basquiat","summary":"This summer—in the heat and humidity of Miami—a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting estimated to be worth $20 million was reportedly discovered in a warehouse. It had been missing for 16 years, but its surprising reappearance has done little to settle the...","tags":["Crime and Scandal","art of darkness"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/wun2o23nptg1kon6d9efi0c9mc6l-a7ec0ada654b1a1e724742dbc18cb1d7.jpg","author":{"name":"Mattia Ferraresi"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/mattia-ferraresi\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMattia Ferraresi\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"For 16 years, a $20 million Basquiat was at the center of a bitter legal battle between an Oscar-winning Italian producer and his ex-wife. Then, just as mysteriously as it vanished, it turned up in a Miami warehouse","shorts":false,"banner":"art of darkness","category":"Crime and Scandal"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-babe-ruth-truthers","title":"The Babe Ruth Truthers","content_text":"This past July, on Kristin Cavallari’s Let’s Be Honest podcast, the Chicago Cubs’ star center fielder, Pete Crow-Armstrong, was asked to share an “unpopular opinion.” His answer: “Babe Ruth never existed.”The man known as “PCA” credited the theory to Tayler Saucedo, then a Seattle Mariners relief pitcher, who reached this conclusion by way of deduction. Saucedo said he’d seen hardly any video of the Babe. If Ruth existed, where’s all the footage? From there, Saucedo reasoned Ruth right out of existence, consigning him to the same category as Bigfoot, a figment of the collective unconscious.That the case against Ruth’s actuality is ludicrous is less important than why ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-babe-ruth-truthers","summary":"This past July, on Kristin Cavallari’s Let’s Be Honest podcast, the Chicago Cubs’ star center fielder, Pete Crow-Armstrong, was asked to share an “unpopular opinion.” His answer: “Babe Ruth never existed.”The man known as “PCA” credited the theory to Tayler...","tags":["Modern Times","field of dreams"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/19rs62q0tf0e4omzmgtjm138xrlv-960ebf039f9fc778ae706f109823ef00.jpg","author":{"name":"Rich Cohen"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/rich-cohen\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eRich Cohen\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"With the baseball playoffs upon us, the strangest conspiracy theory is making its way through the nation’s dugouts","shorts":false,"banner":"field of dreams","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/mcmullen","title":"McMullen","content_text":"Over the course of nearly two decades, Sherri McMullen’s Sacramento Street independent boutique became a favorite ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/mcmullen","summary":"Over the course of nearly two decades, Sherri McMullen’s Sacramento Street independent boutique became a favorite ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/iv2cv27942qkjyhrantkl0ts0y0n-886a9f9edb12bdd4ac1d58f0283b6855.png","author":{"name":"Maggie Turner"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/maggie-turner\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMaggie Turner\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"shop","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-new-yorker-from-cover-to-cover","title":"The New Yorker: From Cover to Cover","content_text":"Dozens of books have been published about The New Yorker, and I have ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-new-yorker-from-cover-to-cover","summary":"Dozens of books have been published about The New Yorker, and I have ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/umih1fu6njys4tgdblt0f2fvh7vp-4eecaf0abf09f6eddce1304c34a9e16b.png","author":{"name":"Jim Kelly"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jim-kelly\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJim Kelly\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"read","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/a-morning-with-ernie-bushmiller","title":"A Morning with Ernie Bushmiller","content_text":"“It’s harder not to read Nancy than to read it”—that was cartoonist Wally Wood’s (admiring) verdict on ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/a-morning-with-ernie-bushmiller","summary":"“It’s harder not to read Nancy than to read it”—that was cartoonist Wally Wood’s (admiring) verdict on ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/ojskmxacqllc4rgmdzl9j5va64o7-6b2ded51d81a4403d8a4bd25fa1e57ee.png","author":{"name":"Cullen Murphy"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/cullen-murphy\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCullen Murphy\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"see","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/madchen-in-uniform","title":"Mädchen in Uniform","content_text":"Released in 1931, Mädchen in Uniform sits at the confluence of Germany’s cultural contradictions in the decade leading up to ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/madchen-in-uniform","summary":"Released in 1931, Mädchen in Uniform sits at the confluence of Germany’s cultural contradictions in the decade leading up to ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/cvve2tmmkmkkg6iu36ote354gtf9-92eb5ffee6ae2fec3ad71c777531578f.png","author":{"name":"Eve Eismann"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/eve-eismann\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eEve Eismann\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"watch","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/osanna-visconti-x-the-house-of-lyria","title":"Osanna Visconti x The House of Lyria","content_text":"Some foot stools are stowed away and brought out only when something is beyond reach. This one from ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/osanna-visconti-x-the-house-of-lyria","summary":"Some foot stools are stowed away and brought out only when something is beyond reach. This one from ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/kcl8xxjp7dhftbewnm9id6ba2had-206a03595f4413fadc87aaaa1d333ced.png","author":{"name":"Jimena Elmufdi"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jimena-elmufdi\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJimena Elmufdi\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"decorate","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/my-aim-is-true","title":"My Aim Is True","content_text":"Where were you (and those of a certain age and inclination will certainly remember) back in 1977 when you first heard Elvis Costello’s ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/my-aim-is-true","summary":"Where were you (and those of a certain age and inclination will certainly remember) back in 1977 when you first heard Elvis Costello’s ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/xn7d8th4ng64u526yu7537t7ia01-d013c7496d443690fdfc60d28217b02e.png","author":{"name":"George Kalogerakis"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/george-kalogerakis\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGeorge Kalogerakis\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"listen","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-dos-and-donts-of-a-highland-ball","title":"The Dos and Don’ts of a Highland Ball","content_text":"Somewhere in the middle of a foursome reel at the Northern Meeting in Inverness, the music quickens and all of a sudden I am lifted off the ground and spun round at speed by two sweating, kilted Scotsmen. Opposite me, another girl is likewise clinging on for dear life. The dance move is called “the helicopter,” and we women are the blades. It is perhaps the trickiest of the “reels” that are danced at balls across the Highlands, and it is not for the fainthearted.The good news is that nobody is filming. Not the laird’s son currently spinning ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-dos-and-donts-of-a-highland-ball","summary":"Somewhere in the middle of a foursome reel at the Northern Meeting in Inverness, the music quickens and all of a sudden I am lifted off the ground and spun round at speed by two sweating, kilted Scotsmen. Opposite me,...","tags":["Modern Times","reel life"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/ztup9ml8u4vj9cnjcixzjn03i4u8-f96ad5fd736c80a23393529ee45750c4.jpg","author":{"name":"Katherine Pangonis"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/katherine-pangonis\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eKatherine Pangonis\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Scotland’s centuries-old ball circuit comes with a strict set of rules: learn the reels, never hire a kilt, and whatever you do, don’t take a picture","shorts":false,"banner":"reel life","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-air-mail-diary","title":"The AIR MAIL Diary","content_text":"This week, Pope Leo left Paris, which he’d taken by storm—drawing 800,000 people to an open-air Mass at the Place de le Concorde—and his departure finally cleared some space for news from other corners of the globe. Although we’re still waiting for Donald Trump, as unpopular as Leo is popular, to complain about how the Pope’s skimpy gathering represented a mere fraction of the crowds he routinely attracts to his open-air Masses.Elsewhere:An 11-year-old e-sports phenom is the youngest gold medalist in Asian Games history and “Japan’s newest sporting star,” reported Japan Today. Yuki Kurihara defeated much older competitors in the final of Puyo Puyo Champions, ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/the-air-mail-diary","summary":"This week, Pope Leo left Paris, which he’d taken by storm—drawing 800,000 people to an open-air Mass at the Place de le Concorde—and his departure finally cleared some space for news from other corners of the globe. Although we’re still...","tags":["News","News of the World"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/uovu5eg7250ckz5355sd4ydu0n2h-f6fae0203db6b55a8a9c681adb4fdd68.jpg","author":{"name":"George Kalogerakis"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/george-kalogerakis\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGeorge Kalogerakis\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"A South Korean A.I.-dating show! A Japanese crab-themed resort! And other strange stories from around the globe …","shorts":false,"banner":"News of the World","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/peak-television","title":"Peak Television","content_text":"In 2002, when I was 12 or 13 years old, I managed to rent David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, newly released on home video. Knowing little more than that Lynch was perhaps the world’s coolest director, and that his latest featured ample female nudity, I excitedly popped the disk into the player for a solo after-hours screening. Lynch, forever intent on keeping his mystery-laden work open to individual interpretation, defiantly released the DVD sans chapter stops, asserting they would demystify the film and its unique dream logic. (The omission also happened to make it harder for types like me to skip straight to Naomi Watts and Laura Harring’s sex scene.) ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/peak-television","summary":"In 2002, when I was 12 or 13 years old, I managed to rent David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, newly released on home video. Knowing little more than that Lynch was perhaps the world’s coolest director, and that his latest featured...","tags":["Books"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/m3dt5umggoud6i6cohpd11aywstd-5f74cef27d23e00911e0e449a160ea56.jpg","author":{"name":"Spike Carter"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/spike-carter\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eSpike Carter\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Books","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/love-paint-and-fury","title":"Love, Paint, and Fury","content_text":"Lee Krasner once said her art was autobiographical, should anyone care to decipher it. After her husband, Jackson Pollock, died in a car accident in 1956, many people came to her paintings to do just that—to read them. It wasn’t necessarily the art that drew them; it was a voyeuristic hunger to see how the widow of such an outsize character was coping, to catch a glimpse of her pain.But those who crowded into Krasner’s 1958 show at Martha Jackson’s New York gallery, her first since Pollock’s death, encountered her Earth Green series—paintings that exploded in vibrant ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/love-paint-and-fury","summary":"Lee Krasner once said her art was autobiographical, should anyone care to decipher it. After her husband, Jackson Pollock, died in a car accident in 1956, many people came to her paintings to do just that—to read them. It wasn’t...","tags":["Arts and Letters","The Heart of the Splatter"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/ccv43wbn1x3t1z1smusj05io95gc-c0bfe7158b00d49c615e87f03e2d6a0b.jpg","author":{"name":"Mary Gabriel"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/mary-gabriel\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMary Gabriel\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock’s relationship was turbulent, at times violent, and one of the greatest creative partnerships of the 20th century","shorts":false,"banner":"The Heart of the Splatter","category":"Arts and Letters"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/horse-power","title":"Horse Power","content_text":"“Few animals have left a more significant mark on art history than the horse,” declares the photography creative Tiggy Maconochie. An enduring muse, the noble creature has served humanity in countless ways—as transportation; on the hunt and in war; in sport and pageantry. Arabian or Thoroughbred or compact quarter horse, Equus ferus caballus embodies passion, strength, and independence. “The intense horses were blood and rhythm,” the poet Pablo Neruda wrote in “Horses.” “The animating treasure of life.” When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the 11-year-old Queen Elizabeth II told Life magazine, “I should like to be a horse.” ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/horse-power","summary":"“Few animals have left a more significant mark on art history than the horse,” declares the photography creative Tiggy Maconochie. An enduring muse, the noble creature has served humanity in countless ways—as transportation; on the hunt and in war; in...","tags":["Books","Open Book"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/w5r2alm55em67lxsvavcvp136t9m-200687eaa5a411ebf49e8caa8ccfd3ae.jpg","author":{"name":"Maggie Turner"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/maggie-turner\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMaggie Turner\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"With an introduction by Tracey Emin and works by Nan Goldin, Martin Parr, and Man Ray, a new coffee-table book examines centuries of art’s most enduring muse","shorts":false,"banner":"Open Book","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/lost-and-found","title":"Lost and Found","content_text":"The neoclassicist George Balanchine choreographed 465 works over a long life. The company he founded, New York City Ballet, holds the largest cache of his ballets, maintaining around 70 in its active repertory. Next Thursday, one few have seen is returning to the fold after a 57-year absence. And of all the lost Balanchine ballets, it is the most notorious. The score was composed using mathematics instead of melody, and the central ballerina thrashes in a gold-fringed bikini.Ballet has never been a field on the technological forefront, and forgotten choreography—by any choreographer—must be resurrected through something like Homeric tradition: the passing of musico-kinetic knowledge from one keen-memoried body to others. How appropriate that the work in question, ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/lost-and-found","summary":"The neoclassicist George Balanchine choreographed 465 works over a long life. The company he founded, New York City Ballet, holds the largest cache of his ballets, maintaining around 70 in its active repertory. Next Thursday, one few have seen is...","tags":["Culture","Highlight"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/23m3c1p2r2kbmfv35gto1udn8h3j-aae5d81beaf09f69abd150a18d8d369f.jpg","author":{"name":"Faye Arthurs"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/faye-arthurs\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eFaye Arthurs\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"After a 57-year hiatus from the New York stage, George Balanchine’s most notorious ballet, \u003cem\u003ePithoprakta,\u003c/em\u003e makes its return","shorts":false,"banner":"Highlight","category":"Culture"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/wellness/2026/10/aging-like-a-goddess","title":"Aging Like a Goddess","content_text":"To lift or not to lift? Lately, that is the hotly debated question among my 50-something friends. I am not immune to the allure of the ultimate cosmetic overhaul: a taut jawline and a neck that doesn’t slouch more than my teenage daughter. But where I live, in Los Angeles, it’s more of a rhetorical question. New York is the city that never sleeps. Here, we don’t age. For clarity, I decide to ponder whether or not to get plastic surgery in a place that’s centuries old—and seek wisdom from ancient philosophers instead of from my facialist.”What brings you to Rhodes?” asks my taxi driver as we scale ...","url":"https://airmail.news/wellness/2026/10/aging-like-a-goddess","summary":"To lift or not to lift? Lately, that is the hotly debated question among my 50-something friends. I am not immune to the allure of the ultimate cosmetic overhaul: a taut jawline and a neck that doesn’t slouch more than...","tags":["Wellness","Reflections"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/20whrzjgddhqzskd691y1e3aeh86-7e6c9725cc1bce3f9a1c9b7fe4cb9d07.png","author":{"name":"Monica Corcoran Harel"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/monica-corcoran-harel\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eMonica Corcoran Harel\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"What if aging well were purely a matter of attitude? One woman looks to the past to decide her future","shorts":false,"banner":"Reflections","category":"Wellness"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/dress-code/style/2026/10/rave-new-world","title":"Rave New World","content_text":"“The 90s: Art and Fashion,” now installed at Tate Britain and curated by Edward Enninful, stirs a longing for printed matter, analog media, anthems of techno and grunge; a pre-smartphone era—the last vestige of privacy. But Enninful’s intention is critical reflection rather than nostalgia. The more than 100 photographs, paintings, sculptures, and garments mark a decisive shift in aesthetic tenor: a sobering up from the glamorous excess that marked the previous decade and a democratization of who takes part in the dialogue. Emerging in the heady aftermath of Thatcherism and a Britain still in flux, a new generation of ...","url":"https://airmail.news/dress-code/style/2026/10/rave-new-world","summary":"“The 90s: Art and Fashion,” now installed at Tate Britain and curated by Edward Enninful, stirs a longing for printed matter, analog media, anthems of techno and grunge; a pre-smartphone era—the last vestige of privacy. But Enninful’s intention is critical...","tags":["Style","Naughty 90s"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/ycib6hsumep2afm7xczs2h2r9127-de450dc2052287c3d2a0a27e76f9fe59.png","author":{"name":"Tracy Doyle"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/tracy-doyle\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eTracy Doyle\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"At Tate Britain, Edward Enninful revisits the 90s, when art, fashion, and underground culture collided","shorts":false,"banner":"Naughty 90s","category":"Style"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/meet-me-at-metropolis","title":"Meet Me at Metrópolis","content_text":"Few buildings are more photogenic than Madrid’s Metrópolis. Situated in the Centro district, where Gran Vía meets Calle de Alcalá, within walking distance of the Four Seasons and Nobu, it features a Beaux-Arts façade and gilded dome that have been part of the cityscape since 1911. Federico Coullaut-Valera’s statue Winged Victory, which crowns the building, is a relative newcomer—installed in 1977—but it has nonetheless spent nearly half a century presiding over one of the best addresses in town. For all its architectural swagger, the building has spent much of its existence as corporate office space.Enter Marta Seco and Sandro Silva, the husband-and-wife restaurateurs behind the wildly successful Grupo ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3/meet-me-at-metropolis","summary":"Few buildings are more photogenic than Madrid’s Metrópolis. Situated in the Centro district, where Gran Vía meets Calle de Alcalá, within walking distance of the Four Seasons and Nobu, it features a Beaux-Arts façade and gilded dome that have been...","tags":["Travel","View With a Room"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/f0y02djkrvvvt5u3vmogtpwv567x-e9942f44a51e99d34973f7b7c193c596.jpg","author":{"name":"Victoria Grier"},"date_published":"2026-10-03T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"October 3, 2026","date":"2026-10-03","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-10-3"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/victoria-greer\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eVictoria Grier\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"For more than a century, Madrid’s gilded Beaux-Arts landmark was best admired from the pavement. Now the duo behind Amazónico has turned it into a 19-suite hotel and private club","shorts":false,"banner":"View With a Room","category":"Travel"}}]}