Unknown and afterthought

This article is published in issue 2 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 17 January 2023

There are two ways to start this 2023. The first, the more optimistic, is to draw up lists of resolutions, places to visit, diets to do, workouts to undergo, habits to change, people to hang out with ( or stop attending), of goals to be achieved.

The second, however, the more pessimistic, is to get overwhelmed by the worrying and not exactly positive facts which have dampened the enthusiasm of the end-of-year celebrations and which are already overshadowing the twelve months to come.

This number of Vanity Fair works as a remedy to these two extremes. I advise you to start reading with the two new guests of our newspaper: Andrea Colamedici and Maura Gancitano. Some of you probably already follow them on social networks and know them as Tlon. We have entrusted them the address book Take it philosophicallya philosophical and countercurrent point of view on news events and on the questions that haunt us most. Their advice on performance anxiety and resolutions? Forgetting, at least a little, about our presumed perfection and opening up to the unknown and to second thoughts.

Unknown and afterthought. In the following pages you will find many interviews and some surveys dealing with these two themes. The unknown, for example, of genetic tests, those that predict diseases and syndromes we could run into (is it worth doing them? And if so, when? And who has to do them? An investigation by Nina Verdelli tells you about it on page 54). On the other hand, on second thoughts: where are we with the #metoo and with the emancipation of women not only in cinema, but throughout the contemporary world? Valeria Golino, our cover star, and the cast of the film Women Talking they analyze the phenomenon and its developments in a new light, venturing into a different and perhaps more promising vein: a gentle revolution.

One more time: unknown and afterthought. Start the year by substituting these two terms for safeties and good resolution lists. And don’t mistake it for a surrender: education in the unknown is a principle of reality, a training to never get caught up in performance anxiety. The will to rethink, on the other hand, is the ability to always see things from a new point of view, without relying too heavily on what we think we already know.

Happy reading and happy 2023

PS I want to thank the writer Eshkol Nevo who kept us company for a year with his stories and who, from this issue, will be replaced by the column Take it philosophically by Andrea Colamedici and Maura Gancitano.

Keep writing your thoughts, advice and reflections to me [email protected]

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