{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"July 11, 2026 – Air Mail","description":"Welcome to Air Mail Issue number 365.","favicon":"https://static.airmail.news/assets/icons/apple-touch-icon.png","home_page_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11","feed_url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11.json","items":[{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-view-from-here","title":"The View from Here","content_text":"It’s YOLO season in global politics. With apologies to Graham Platner’s campaign consultants and the lone opponent in Nigel Farage’s gimmicky by-election—in which the far-right British politician is facing off against a satirist who goes by the name of “Count Binface”—the prize for most reckless goes to Marine Le Pen. The French politician announced on Tuesday that she’d be running for president for a fourth time, despite her extremely unclear legal status, which won’t be decided until at least April of next year, the month of the first round of the election.Le Pen, the 57-year-old daughter of the ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-view-from-here","summary":"It’s YOLO season in global politics. With apologies to Graham Platner’s campaign consultants and the lone opponent in Nigel Farage’s gimmicky by-election—in which the far-right British politician is facing off against a satirist who goes by the name of “Count...","tags":["The View from Here","But First ..."],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/os4kvggjnw7pfti5hzmv3v3obr8r-7dc211d22cdb815fad6d1c8ecaf29226.jpg","author":{"name":"Alexandra Marshall"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/alexandra-marshall\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAlexandra Marshall\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Despite being forced to wear an ankle monitor following a conviction for robbing taxpayers of millions of dollars, France’s far-right politician Marine Le Pen is entering the election fray","shorts":false,"banner":"But First ...","category":"The View from Here"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/barry-blitts-sketchbook","title":"Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/barry-blitts-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Barry Blitt's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/399rcf7kx6nefb1hhae6nu2s767p-4219faba42e3b5bdaf5f8ba7e6905da2.jpg","author":{"name":"Barry Blitt"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/barry-blitt\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eBarry Blitt\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Barry Blitt's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/re-inventing-anna","title":"Re-Inventing Anna","content_text":"At first scroll, her Instagram presence is like any other influencer’s. There’s a close-up of her bare, pretty face trying a salmon-DNA facial; a recommendation for the best place to go in New York to achieve “glass skin”; heavily curated photos of her in designer dresses as she emerges from taxis or poses in front of Coney Island rides. Then there’s a recent reel that focuses on Anna Delvey’s slim legs as she demonstrates to her 1.1 million followers how to pull up nylons under her ankle monitor. You know, the one that ensures she doesn’t go outside a ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/re-inventing-anna","summary":"At first scroll, her Instagram presence is like any other influencer’s. There’s a close-up of her bare, pretty face trying a salmon-DNA facial; a recommendation for the best place to go in New York to achieve “glass skin”; heavily curated...","tags":["Crime and Scandal","The Art of the Scam"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/nho065gw2m32enusznynvgrnxms7-70e3e663c27eaaafdb084c6f60a35aa9.jpg","author":{"name":"Lauren Bans"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/lauren-bans\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eLauren Bans\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"The Russian-born fraudster Anna Sorokin, better known as Anna Delvey, has turned notoriety into a career, with campaigns from Goop to French \u003cem\u003ePlayboy\u003c/em\u003e—and zero signs of remorse","shorts":false,"banner":"The Art of the Scam","category":"Crime and Scandal"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-duke-of-hazard","title":"The Duke of Hazard","content_text":"Prince Harry was half an hour early. As a discussion about his Invictus Games tournament at Chatham House in London got under way, the Duke of Sussex was distracted, glancing down at his lap to check a phone or tablet of some sort.It was hard to discern what exactly, because the press, who had been invited to report on Harry’s One Year to Go event for the tournament, had been relegated to seats at the back of the room. At 2 p.m. phones started to vibrate around the room with the breaking news that Harry had comprehensively lost his $67 million court battle against the publishers of the ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-duke-of-hazard","summary":"Prince Harry was half an hour early. As a discussion about his Invictus Games tournament at Chatham House in London got under way, the Duke of Sussex was distracted, glancing down at his lap to check a phone or tablet...","tags":["The Royal Family","Royal Follies"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/cfw2liyavtz91f7n6rkthwyf0kkq-d0c765c48a1b55ab7b58e5e126944ea0.jpg","author":{"name":"Kate Mansey"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/kate-mansey\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eKate Mansey\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Where do Harry’s thrashing in court and chaotic visit to the U.K. leave the duke’s plans to present himself as a moral crusader?","shorts":false,"banner":"Royal Follies","category":"The Royal Family"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/flocked-and-loaded","title":"Flocked and Loaded","content_text":"Eric Striffler is a self-described “big fan” of following the law. That doesn’t mean the Southampton native is thrilled about the growing number of license-plate readers in his hometown.”I’ve always seen it as a quote-unquote small-town area,” Striffler says about the summer enclave. “Now that this surveillance is being used, it raises an eyebrow for sure.” He adds, “Who is collecting the data? Is the data being sold to third parties?”His concerns are gaining traction among a skeptical subset of the billionaire playground as the number of electronic eyes spikes. Since 2022, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office has purchased 64 readers made by Flock Safety for its jurisdiction, which encompasses the eastern tip of Long Island, according to Christopher Brockmeyer, a deputy sheriff. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/flocked-and-loaded","summary":"Eric Striffler is a self-described “big fan” of following the law. That doesn’t mean the Southampton native is thrilled about the growing number of license-plate readers in his hometown.”I’ve always seen it as a quote-unquote small-town area,” Striffler says about...","tags":["Modern Times",".01 Percent Problems"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/pdjupvn6odn9hz2xyng1r4zop8c5-7e30d35d77f2ee91f96e29558f628aa5.jpg","author":{"name":"Andrew Zucker"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/andrew-zucker\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAndrew Zucker\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"An $8 billion surveillance start-up is turning the roads on the eastern tip of Long Island into a searchable police database. Not everyone is grateful for the protection","shorts":false,"banner":".01 Percent Problems","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/how-much-is-that-t-rex-in-the-window","title":"How Much Is That T. Rex in the Window?","content_text":"There’s a scene in Woody Allen’s 1986 film, Hannah and Her Sisters, where Elliot (Michael Caine) takes newly minted rock star Dusty Fry (Daniel Stern) to see some drawings by brooding, miserable, uptight artist Frederick (Max von Sydow). “Dusty just bought this huge house in Southampton,” a caption explains. Frederick’s girlfriend, Lee (Barbara Hershey), suggests Dusty looks at the oils in the studio basement. “Are they BIG?” asks Dusty, who already owns “a big, weird” Frank Stella. “I’m looking for something big. Because I got a lot of wall space.”The exchange was Allen’s way of acknowledging a ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/how-much-is-that-t-rex-in-the-window","summary":"There’s a scene in Woody Allen’s 1986 film, Hannah and Her Sisters, where Elliot (Michael Caine) takes newly minted rock star Dusty Fry (Daniel Stern) to see some drawings by brooding, miserable, uptight artist Frederick (Max von Sydow). “Dusty just...","tags":["Modern Times"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/08y4mg1u4pn5ausv43up5ob7pxpi-e60f82e6fbd834c3313880373efd9b4f.jpg","author":{"name":"Simon Mills"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/simon-mills\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eSimon Mills\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"With collectors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicolas Cage, and Ken Griffin, dead dinosaurs have become supersize status symbols","shorts":false,"banner":"Modern Times","category":"Modern Times"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-air-mail-diary","title":"The AIR MAIL Diary","content_text":"Much of the United States sweltered through the semiquincentennial, which is no surprise given that any oxygen Donald Trump wasn’t already using up in Washington, D.C., South Dakota, and Ankara was being claimed by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in New York. Less oxygen means thinner atmosphere means … higher temperatures, right? (We were absent from science class that day.) Imagine, three individuals giving the entire World Cup an Attention Whore–ish run for its money. In Trump’s case, this involved characteristically thick-headed blundering into the tournament itself, essentially guaranteeing the U.S. team’s elimination. (Was Belgium really going to lose to them after that?) Please show that guy a red card. Or, even better, orange. ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-air-mail-diary","summary":"Much of the United States sweltered through the semiquincentennial, which is no surprise given that any oxygen Donald Trump wasn’t already using up in Washington, D.C., South Dakota, and Ankara was being claimed by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in...","tags":["News","News of the World"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/w5x5kzofga6mdqnpnbe7dfic0812-78f9151935d912f37259b72c2036ec6b.jpg","author":{"name":"George Kalogerakis"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/george-kalogerakis\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGeorge Kalogerakis\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Joey Chestnut swallows 66 wieners, a 1,700-pound bull interrupts a cricket match, and other strange stories from around the globe …","shorts":false,"banner":"News of the World","category":"News"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/bonjour-tristesse","title":"Bonjour Tristesse","content_text":"Bonjour Tristesse needs no introduction. But humor me, if you will. Adapted by Otto Preminger in 1958 from Françoise Sagan’s ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/bonjour-tristesse","summary":"Bonjour Tristesse needs no introduction. But humor me, if you will. Adapted by Otto Preminger in 1958 from Françoise Sagan’s ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/04qwwcco4vq7dj3hnsnvibl31lwl-5fc9e947e02b51358ad44965fe763436.png","author":{"name":"Eve Eismann"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_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/2026-7-11/the-barbarous-feast","title":"The Barbarous Feast","content_text":"Novels, at least the good ones, have always been the best avenue for us to understand others and thus ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/the-barbarous-feast","summary":"Novels, at least the good ones, have always been the best avenue for us to understand others and thus ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/0srmqa2lspa5lzxz71unub8xb38o-8cd76bc187344cbc56f8814e34bc312e.png","author":{"name":"Jim Kelly"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_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/2026-7-11/confessions-ii","title":"Confessions II","content_text":"The Queen of Pop’s 15th studio album is here to remind us all why she ever earned that sobriquet in the first place. Madonna’s Confessions II","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/confessions-ii","summary":"The Queen of Pop’s 15th studio album is here to remind us all why she ever earned that sobriquet in the first place. Madonna’s Confessions II","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/w0sxulw388q2q6y7d37up7hkhx3z-e8d647182e528bee361fb1f089af8f97.png","author":{"name":"Cassidy Sollazzo"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/cassidy-sollazzo\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eCassidy Sollazzo\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"listen","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/sunsolve","title":"Sunsolve","content_text":"Sunsolve’s Firm + Replenish S.P.F. 50 is luxury in a bottle, made with zinc oxide, to help protect skin from harmful UV rays, and nourishing ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/sunsolve","summary":"Sunsolve’s Firm + Replenish S.P.F. 50 is luxury in a bottle, made with zinc oxide, to help protect skin from harmful UV rays, and nourishing ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/sst7ez9yt9o8i4ik4afrphqk75nn-8976a64d783ce8e2bf2bef255eebe40e.png","author":{"name":"Gabriella Maestri"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gabriella-maestri\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGabriella Maestri\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"apply","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/left-on-friday","title":"Left on Friday","content_text":"Left on Friday makes the rare bathing suit that quietly subtracts a size. Founded by two former Lululemon executives, the brand borrowed ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/left-on-friday","summary":"Left on Friday makes the rare bathing suit that quietly subtracts a size. Founded by two former Lululemon executives, the brand borrowed ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/k8667q2nsqluj8hbg68ldad91ia0-5ed1696c0c8da36a75e704d778cd17fa.png","author":{"name":"Jennifer Noyes"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/jennifer-noyes\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eJennifer Noyes\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"swim","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/lemisios","title":"Lemisios","content_text":"It wasn’t until the fifth time I walked down Likavittou Street, in Athens’s Kolonaki neighborhood, that I noticed the little shop on the corner ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/lemisios","summary":"It wasn’t until the fifth time I walked down Likavittou Street, in Athens’s Kolonaki neighborhood, that I noticed the little shop on the corner ...","tags":["Recommended","Best"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/rr1pemtx4ortlia79rpmafsxu80h-e6d949e194bae20535fa5f2845d48847.png","author":{"name":"Gracie Wiener"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/gracie-wiener\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eGracie Wiener\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"strut","shorts":true,"banner":"Best","category":"Recommended"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/dress-to-impress","title":"Dress to Impress","content_text":"If you ever go to Borgo on East 27th Street in New York City, get the salad. I can’t say for sure what will be in it (you know, seasonality and all that), but I do know it will make you stop mid-bite and think to yourself, How come I don’t make salads like this?I’m not saying you don’t make a nice salad. Maybe even a tasty one—but not like this. Bite down on that first leaf of Little Gem and a jolt of acidity zips through your mouth, sparking your taste buds to life; a sheen of ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/dress-to-impress","summary":"If you ever go to Borgo on East 27th Street in New York City, get the salad. I can’t say for sure what will be in it (you know, seasonality and all that), but I do know it will make...","tags":["Food and Drink","Food"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/55c4tvrafjcu9yyq14gkiebx43s6-5e40574d9651e2f52ac5a74cc039fd23.jpg","author":{"name":"Adam Rapoport"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/adam-rapoport\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eAdam Rapoport\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Why are restaurant salads always so much better? Jordan Frosolone, the chef at New York’s Borgo, reveals his tips and tricks for elevating at-home greens","shorts":false,"banner":"Food","category":"Food and Drink"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/marty-unabridged","title":"Marty, Unabridged","content_text":"Martin Scorsese had conceived The Eternal City as an epic of ancient Rome. The surviving color storyboards show scenes teeming with Romans in robes, all to be shot in sprawling CinemaScope. The tableau shots evoke majestic classical compositions, plus a bath scene reminiscent of the one in Spartacus. Marlon Brando and Richard Burton were considered to star. In the end, Scorsese did not secure the necessary funding to make the film—probably because he drew up The Eternal City as an 11-year-old asthmatic in Little Italy.Paging through the new encyclopedic companion to his work, Martin Scorsese: All the Films, it’s possible to get misty-eyed about the irrepressible Scorsese, seemingly ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/marty-unabridged","summary":"Martin Scorsese had conceived The Eternal City as an epic of ancient Rome. The surviving color storyboards show scenes teeming with Romans in robes, all to be shot in sprawling CinemaScope. The tableau shots evoke majestic classical compositions, plus a...","tags":["Books"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/yppe9c3v5vba92z8cyqxeo7b8sat-b4d27fdada85ff97a20d2d2c37b3c962.jpg","author":{"name":"Nicolas Rapold"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/nicolas-rapold\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eNicolas Rapold\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Books","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/some-like-it-sleek","title":"Some Like It Sleek","content_text":"The houses on the eastern tip of Long Island read larger than they are. Many belong to America’s wealthiest families, which gives them oomph. But mostly it’s because of the landscape. The ground is flat, the lawns dissolve into marshes, and beyond the tidal inlets the Atlantic stretches uninterrupted to the horizon. Against so much empty space, even a modest house looks magisterial.That openness has done more than flatter architecture—it has shaped it. For more than a century, the East End has served as a laboratory for American domestic design, beginning with its beach houses.When visitors first arrived in numbers in the late 19th century, they found a landscape that still felt untouched. “Our tourists came out upon a scene of freshness and uncontaminated splendor such as they had no idea existed a hundred miles from ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/some-like-it-sleek","summary":"The houses on the eastern tip of Long Island read larger than they are. Many belong to America’s wealthiest families, which gives them oomph. But mostly it’s because of the landscape. The ground is flat, the lawns dissolve into marshes,...","tags":["Books","Open Book"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/i1p8fy0rn1kxc1bgjv95694eudfk-4fde07d57339754ce192270c028f1cb0.jpg","author":{"name":"Elena Clavarino"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/elena-clavarino\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eElena Clavarino\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Clean lines, open plans, boxy silhouettes … a new coffee-table book traces how the eastern tip of Long Island became the proving ground for American modernism","shorts":false,"banner":"Open Book","category":"Books"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/bubba-weiler","title":"Bubba Weiler","content_text":"Thirteen was a big year for Bubba Weiler. It was the age he was on track to become a professional tennis player when a stray ball blinded his right eye and forced him to take a year off. “I fell way behind,” he says. “It was earth-shattering.” It was also the year, after a requisite period of sadness, that Weiler decided to try something new. He began taking voice lessons and, before long, was working as a child actor in nearby Chicago. An all-boys Catholic military high school was next for him, but there, he says, “theater saved me.”Thirteen, then, was the start of a new life for Weiler—one that has led him, 20 years later, to ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/bubba-weiler","summary":"Thirteen was a big year for Bubba Weiler. It was the age he was on track to become a professional tennis player when a stray ball blinded his right eye and forced him to take a year off. “I fell...","tags":["Culture","Close-up"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/xmq143x190bfcojt81c9jj68st0q-fc1c840c8db83579a48b261441498f96.jpg","author":{"name":"Nadine Zylberberg"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/nadine-zylberberg\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eNadine Zylberberg\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"His debut play made it Off Broadway; now, for his second act, the emerging star of New York’s indie theater scene is reaching back to his small-town Catholic roots","shorts":false,"banner":"Close-up","category":"Culture"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/pulp-it-up","title":"Pulp It Up","content_text":"“Something stopped me dead in my tracks,” goes the first verse of “Spike Island”—a song that was released last year and sung by Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker—“I was headed for disaster and then I turned back / I was wrestling with a coat hanger, can you guess who won? / The universe shrugged, shrugged then moved on.”As the opening song on More, Pulp’s first studio album in nearly a quarter-century, “Spike Island” is a rock star’s stab at humility. In the 24 years since 2001’s We Love Life and the band’s subsequent breakup, the universe wasn’t exactly waiting on tenterhooks for their reunion. But a lot of us hadn’t entirely moved on. Last summer, just as England was awash in ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/pulp-it-up","summary":"“Something stopped me dead in my tracks,” goes the first verse of “Spike Island”—a song that was released last year and sung by Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker—“I was headed for disaster and then I turned back / I was...","tags":["Culture","Highlight"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/8tx6j3m3fugc8vn4ntu8uwgjtblh-5d909719985a5aa20fd448a38c25e0e5.jpg","author":{"name":"Spike Carter"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/spike-carter\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eSpike Carter\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Fresh off last summer’s chart-topping \u003cem\u003eMore—\u003c/em\u003etheir first release in two decades—a newly re-united Pulp, the Brit-pop heroes behind “Common People,” return to London to perform the album in its entirety for the first time","shorts":false,"banner":"Highlight","category":"Culture"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/holy-spirits","title":"Holy Spirits","content_text":"Do not visit Nazaré; her great waves break mainly on YouTube. Do not seek the true self in Comporta; you’ll find only others looking. Avoid crowded Fátima; it is a giant parking lot. The best spiritual pilgrimage in Portugal is up north, to the Mateus estate in Vila Real, a four-hour drive from Lisbon. The property holds the body of Saint Marcos—São Marcos—an early Christian martyr tortured and killed by the Romans, now resting in a suit of pure gold among some of the best vineyards in Portugal.Rent a car in Lisbon. Set your G.P.S., first, to a ...","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/holy-spirits","summary":"Do not visit Nazaré; her great waves break mainly on YouTube. Do not seek the true self in Comporta; you’ll find only others looking. Avoid crowded Fátima; it is a giant parking lot. The best spiritual pilgrimage in Portugal is...","tags":["Travel","View With a Room"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/yoi4xb78ke75j1ular5ii8pu7soj-1f612cfa2eae7684aa29d041567083fe.jpg","author":{"name":"Dana Vachon"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/dana-vachon\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eDana Vachon\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":"Casa Agrícola da Levada, in northern Portugal, offers a tranquil escape among some of the country’s best vineyards—and an unexpected encounter with one of its strangest religious mysteries","shorts":false,"banner":"View With a Room","category":"Travel"}},{"id":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/ruby-wrights-sketchbook","title":"Ruby Wright’s Sketchbook","content_text":null,"url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11/ruby-wrights-sketchbook","summary":null,"tags":["Sketchbook","Ruby Wright's Sketchbook"],"image":"https://photos.airmail.news/j08q97974jpd6gqogaavakgsr9dx-eabee8a3e232944303e08d1d26b48012.jpg","author":{"name":"Ruby Wright"},"date_published":"2026-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00","_issue":{"name":"July 11, 2026","date":"2026-07-11","url":"https://airmail.news/issues/2026-7-11"},"_article":{"byline_html":"\u003cem\u003eBy\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/ruby-wright\" data-purpose=\"author\" class=\"text-inherit\"\u003eRuby Wright\u003c/a\u003e","subhead":null,"shorts":false,"banner":"Ruby Wright's Sketchbook","category":"Sketchbook"}}]}