Contributors

Kiese Makeba LAYMON

"ALONE, TOGETHER" P. 42

As he describes in his column this month, Laymon developed a lot of new obsessions over the past eight months to help pass the time. "I started wondering, really wandering, about how absolute changes in the world might necessitate new or absolutely different pathways to pleasure and sentimentality," says Laymon. "I wanted to work to a different kind of horrifying 'happy' conclusion."

Michelle RUIZ

"BECOMING AOC" P. 44

Ruiz witnessed Alexandria OcasioCortez's star power firsthand at an event in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. "Women were coming up to her crying, hugging, and asking for selfies," says Ruiz, recalling a staffer who likened her to Beyonce. Still, there's work to do with her younger constituents. "When I asked a few little kids if they knew who she was, they were like, 'Nope!'" Ruiz says.

Tyler MITCHELL

"BECOMING AOC" P. 44

Mitchell, who photographed this month's cover, says it is rare to collaborate as closely with a politician as he did with OcasioCortez. " I wanted to make images of her that felt elegant, fresh, optimistic, and heroic—that might expand how political figures can be imagined."

Sandi TAN

"THE LONG WAY HOME" P. 58

"She's the epitome of Saturday-morning lazy cool," says Tan of director Chloe Zhao, who joined their video chat from her Southern California home with two dogs and three chickens. "Every morning, her dog Taco eats up all the figs that have fallen from her tree overnight and has gained a ton of weight," says Tan. "She was laughing, and saying, 'I pray for fig season to end!'"

Emily Jane FOX

"THE PRINCESS AND THE SHAMAN" P. 78

When senior reporter Emily Jane Fox started reporting on Princess Martha Louise of Norway, she was looking for a respite from covering political characters. "Not only did I find my break, I found a perfect Vanity Fair Mad Lib: Goop's shaman, European royalty, tricky love affair," says Fox. "The story constantly surprised me, challenged me, and took on new meaning."