R.I.P. “Lives” Column?
Last week I lamented the diminishing number of print venues for personal essays. Then yesterday I realized this Sunday’s edition of The New York Times Magazine was the second in a row in which the “Lives” column was replaced with a short feature called “Read More,” which is not a first-person piece.
NYT Picker noticed, too. By the looks of it, the column appears to have been quietly killed. “Lives” wasn’t always great - sometimes it was awful - but to me, this is a big bummer.
I am wondering whether “Lives” has been replaced with “Riff”? This week’s installment was a personal-ish essay by Heather Havrilesky, of whom I am a fan. But the week before, Carina Chocano’s “Riff” essay was much more a piece of social criticism.
I tried to send an inquiry about this to John Glassie, the long-standing editor of “Lives,” at an email address I found on the Times site. But it bounced back, which makes me wonder if he’s been a casualty, as well…of what is maybe a growing anti-first-person-writing sentiment at the Times?
Update: NOT KILLED. Just heard form John Glassie that it will still run, just less frequently. My bad.
