THE ORLANDO MASSACRE
Our June 27 cover–which listed the names of every person fatally shot in Orlando, alongside the question “Why did they die?”–moved readers like George Zaver of Los Angeles, who wanted to see a focus on the victims and not the “madman killer.” For Don Wigal of New York City, the cover’s somber and stark aesthetic evoked an older TIME cover, which in 1966 asked a different question: Is God Dead?
Some, like Jon Edwards of Novato, Calif., stressed the importance of language in characterizing the tragedy. The cover question was “insensitive,” he said, for not making clear that the deaths in question were murders.
As for answering that question? Barbara Mann of Frederick, Md., wrote that the victims died because “we as a nation allow assault weapons on our streets.” Others, like Don Vogel of Denver, said LGBT lives are “devalued and discounted by too many.” And Donald Schmit of Fairfield, Iowa, blamed U.S. citizens for allowing an “inept Congress” to do nothing to stop such violence.
Meanwhile, Orlando resident Jan Cannon-Bowers was upset by the implication in the cover story, by Michael Scherer, that the nation might fail to come together in response to the tragedy. “Just look around, Mr. Scherer,” she wrote, “at the tributes and outpouring of love and support from all across the country and the world.”
NEW POWER
Who are the most exciting, boundary-pushing young problem solvers of 2016? TIME and Rolex partnered in presenting 10 Next Generation Leaders, and TIME has profiled them in a series of videos and feature stories. Among the rising stars: Saran Kaba Jones (left, above), who started an organization to help people get access to safe water in her native Liberia; and Irene Kim (left, below), an outspoken, media-savvy Korean-American model and designer who has broken ground for Asian women in the fashion industry. To see the full list and watch the videos, visit time.com/nextgenleaders
INCLUSIVE STYLE
Go behind the scenes with TIME on Suited, an HBO documentary about a company making bespoke suits for gender-nonconforming customers. Daniel Friedman (left) and Rae Tutera try, as Tutera says, to help them “feel as good as they deserve to feel.” Read at time.com/suited
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