Sean McElwee

Writer

De Blasio's "Tale of Two Cities" rhetoric has angered many of the city's hyper-wealthy, who aren't looking forward to paying higher taxes for dumb stuff like "affordable housing" and "education."

Tarajia Morrell

The Lovage

What began with one New Yorker opening an antique store on Warren Street in the early '80s, has become a stampede of cultured and affluent city folk, opting for quieter, more bucolic lives. If you join that stampede, book a table at Fish & Game as your reward.

Jesse Pollak

Co-founder, Clef

Aloneness is a noun that describes the physical state of having no one else (or no friends) present. Loneliness is a noun that describes the aching sadness one can suffer from feeling alone. The two are often conflated in modern society -- but they don't have to be.

Jeanne Zaino

Professor of Political Science at Iona College; Adjunct Professor of Campaign Management at New York University, School of Continuing & Professional Studies

What does it really take to be mayor of New York City or president of the United States? Are we measuring the candidates based on those criteria or something else entirely? If the answer is the latter, we are destined to keep getting officials who are very good at campaigning, but perhaps not as skilled at governing.

Wilborn Hampton

Author, theater critic

Domesticated, a caustic, often funny, but ultimately rather superficial new play by Bruce Norris at Lincoln Center Theater, is basically a news update from the front lines of the War Between the Sexes.

John J. Healey

Author

Now I am back and living in New England and after giving it very little thought for the longest time, I have suddenly rediscovered baseball. Out of deference to the past I am still a Yankee fan.

Judith Greenberg, Ph.D.

Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU

Not voting reinforces rather than defies corporate power structures. Distinguishing his "indifference and exhaustion" from apathy, Russell Brand suggests that abandoning our voices will silently (telepathically?) send a message for utopian change. Hardly.

Fern Siegel

Deputy Editor, MediaPost

Let's give it up for two accomplished actors and pianists -- Jeff Blumenkrantz and Brett Ryback -- who utilize all the conventions of a cozy malice domestic to make Murder For Two hugely farcical and fun.

Rob Taub and Aristotle Tziampiris

The Jets are a corrective to the spoiled brat, indulgent, I want it all now, mentality that is way too prevalent in our age. The Jets teach patience, perseverance and how to grapple with disappointment.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Economist and CEO, Center for Talent Innovation

New Yorkers are ready for an inclusive politician -- not just because he/she will tackle de Blasio's healing social agenda (increasing income equality, expanding affordable housing, establishing universal pre-school) but because they believe that inclusion is good for prosperity and growth.

David R. Jones, Esq.

President and CEO, Community Service Society of New York

We call on the Metropolitan Museum to commit to clear and unambiguous signage (in big letters) informing all visitors that its fee of $25 is only recommended and that any monetary contribution will be acceptable for admission.

Michael Giltz

Freelance writer

It's just a fancy, but one can't help imagining that after the hellish experience of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, director Julie Taymor has been waiting to exhale for quite some time. That release comes in a burst of creativity for this production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Jason Sattler

Executive Editor, National Memo

Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) is trudging down the George W. Bush path to the presidency -- and no one seems to be noticing.

Ralph Nader

Consumer advocate, lawyer and author

Lois Gibbs did not shrug her shoulders and say "I don't have the time or what difference would it make?" when calamity struck her and her neighbors. It's easier than we think to start turning things around. We have to believe so and show up.

David Finkle

Writer, Drama Critic

We may never know what Hilary Clinton was thinking during the 1998 Monica Lewinsky episode or how Silda Wall Spitzer was reacting when Eliot Spitzer strayed or whether Huma Abedin was severely stand-by-your-man-tested over Anthony Weiner's vigorous sexting. We might never know any of this, but Bruce Clybourne Park Norris has some ideas.

Vivian Diller, Ph.D.

Psychologist and author, 'Face It'

The good news? Guys have begun to see advantages to enhancing their appearance, a focus once considered outside their domain. The not-so-good news? Men may soon head down a perilous path that women have been traveling for decades.

Scott Wooledge

Writer and activist

Initially, Russia Forum New York billed this event as sponsored by the Office of the Mayor of New York City. Then the NYC.gov presence on its website began to disappear. Reached for comment on Friday, the press secretary for the mayor's office confirmed, "We are not a sponsor."