D. Carleton Gajdusek won the Nobel Prize for his work on a disease in Papua New Guinea. In the course of three decades, he brought dozens of boys from the Pacific Islands to live with him in the United States. Gajdusek cast the arrangement in philanthropic as well as anthropological terms, but the reality was darker. What became of the boys he brought to America has never been fully reported—until now.
The environmental activist has launched a project to document community concerns about the boom in data-center construction across the U.S.
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The virologist D. Carleton Gajdusek wrote sexually about his adopted children in journals that were printed by the National Institutes of Health. “I carried my lifelong pederasty into my medical career and succeeded in both with very few failures,” he wrote, two months before he died. “Without protectors I would never have succeeded.” In this week’s issue, Rachel Aviv reports on how institutions enabled the Nobel Prize-winning scientist—and the complicated afterlives of the boys who were in his care.
Maybe you know Alia Shawkat from her acclaimed roles in “Arrested Development” and “Search Party”—or, maybe, you went to high school together? The “Wrong Girls” actress reveals that she doesn’t really think she’s famous. “I get a lot of, like, ‘How do I know you?’ ”
Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat, who star in the stoner comedy “The Wrong Girls,” sat down for the New Yorker Mini Interview. Kristen reveals her plans for L.A.‘s Highland Theatre, which she recently purchased, and Alia discusses what it was like to star in “Arrested Development” at a young age. They also share their favorite of their co-stars’ performances, including “Spencer” and “Search Party,” and talk about what it feels like to be their fans’ “gay awakening.”
0:00 Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat: The New Yorker Mini Interview
0:20 What is your vision for the Highland Theatre, which you recently purchased?
1:51 What was it like to experience fame at such a young age?
3:15 What would you name a strain of weed?
4:08 Who are two actors that you would like to see in a buddy comedy?
4:25 Who is in your dream—and nightmare—blunt rotation?
5:42 Which scene in “The Chronology of Water" was the most difficult yet rewarding to direct?
7:01 Which of their performances is your favorite?
7:24 What is your favorite jazz song to perform?
7:55 How does it feel to be so many people's gay awakening?
In this week’s issue, Rachel Aviv follows the complicated afterlives of boys who were adopted from the South Pacific by the scientist D. Carleton Gajdusek—who later pleaded guilty to child abuse.
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