"Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, agreed to meet me at 11 a.m. on a recent Saturday. Kagame’s office is on top of a hill near the center of Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, and I took a taxi there, driven by a man in a suit and tie. Whenever I’m in Kigali, I am always impressed by how spotless it is, how the city hums with efficiency, which is all the more remarkable considering that Rwanda remains one of the poorest nations in the world. Even on a Saturday morning, platoons of women in white gloves rhythmically swept the streets, softly singing to themselves. I passed the Union Trade Center mall in the middle of town, where traffic circulates smoothly around a giant fountain. There was no garbage in the streets and none of the black plastic bags that get tangled up in the fences and trees of so many other African cities — Kagame’s government has banned them. There were no homeless youth sleeping on the sidewalks or huffing glue to kill their hunger. In Rwanda, vagrants and petty criminals have been scooped up by the police and sent to a youth 'rehabilitation center' on an island in the middle of Lake Kivu that some Rwandan officials jokingly call their Hawaii — because it is so lush and beautiful — though people in Kigali whisper about it as if it were Alcatraz. There aren’t even large slums in Kigali, because the government simply doesn’t allow them." (NYTimes)
"Tatiana Santo Domingo married Andrea Casiraghi, the grandson of Grace Kelly and son of Princess Caroline of Monaco and the late Stefano Casiraghi, in a private ceremony in Monte Carlo on Saturday. The Colombian heiress walked down the aisle in a V-neck Missoni bespoke dress, with flowers in her long, curly, brown hair. An al fresco lunch was served by the palace’s pool to 400 guests, including Prince Albert and wife Princess Charlene, Karl Lagerfeld, Charlotte Casiraghi, the Missoni family, Bianca Brandolini and Eugenie Niarchos. Later, a party was held at the Hotel de Paris. The pair had been dating for seven years and have a 5-month-old son, Sacha." (PageSix)
"Everyone loves to hate The Hamptons. Too nouveau riche, too entitled, too indulged, too disconnected, too extravagantly ridiculous. Not to mention too many white-tented 'charity parties' under the guise of 'giving back' when a lot of it is simply pretentious PR. Too many pictures and reports of Alec Baldwin and Donny Deutsch with assorted middle-aged women in too many micro mini sundresses with fat thighs and inflated lips. But love it or leave it, many still take their annual masochistic Hamptons pilgrimages as renters or house guests. Personally I left the Hamptons thirty years ago and have refused to make a return visit. I remember when you could make a left hand turn anywhere in downtown South or East during July and August, and many of my writer friends had modest get-away bungalows. Kind of like Jackson Pollock's painting shack which still stands as a shrine to what it all was and meant so long ago." (NYSocialDiary)
"Looking for that final push to get on the Bill de Blasio team? Here, mm hmm, here are a ton of billionaires complaining about paying slightly greater taxes so as to fund all-day pre-K for New York City's children! I just climbed entirely off that fence and am about to go to de Blasio campaign headquarters and become one of those crazies who doorknocks and whatnot. 'Anybody who proposes raising taxes in the city of New York is barking up the wrong tree,' is the money quote from Peter Solomon—former Lehman Brothers vice-chair. Oh do tell us more about how finance should work, Mr. Lehman Brothers. New York City's taxes suck, quite unbelievably, yes, and are really pretty terrible for small business owners and middle class people! But you know what's not a hardship? 'For the 27,300 city taxpayers earning $500,000 to $1 million, the average increase would be $973 a year.' LOL. Maybe just don't buy that set of sheets and go to bed happy that you've changed a child's life. Whatever. Pony up, dog!" (TheAwl)
"With scene-stealing parts in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Anchorman and Girls, actress Kathryn Hahn is known for playing the hapless best friend or the harried working mother. This month, Hahn transitions from character actress to leading lady in Jill Soloway's Afternoon Delight as Rachel, a Silver Lake housewife who makes a misguided attempt to help a stripper named McKenna (Juno Temple). Here, we talk to the actress about her star turn." (Papermag)
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