Like mattresses and houseplants, sperm donation has been disrupted by the Internet. The market demanded it: Supply at sperm banks is at a historic low, in part because average sperm counts have steadily declined for more than four decades—probably due to environmental factors—and now many men no longer meet the banks' strict standards. And nonwhite donors have always been underrepresented. As an alternative, many people are turning to social media for direct-to-consumer sperm via Facebook groups like USA Sperm Donation, Real Sperm Donors, and Miracle Baby. Their members include potential donors as well as people who want to get pregnant but don't have ready access to viable sperm: infertile couples, queer couples, trans men, single mothers by choice. In the groups, they seek donations from people like Kristian (six-foot-one, slender, hazel eyes, excellent sperm count, recent STD tests) and Alex (six-foot-three, perfect SAT scores, athletic). And then there was this one white man whose name kept popping up. Ari Nagel, forty-six, was tall, with blue eyes, a wide smile, and soft, graying curls. Over the past decade, he'd had more than fifty donor children and was something of a celebrity in the world of sperm donation. He didn't offer his services in the groups because he didn't have to; women sought him out. |
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The End of Southern California as We Know It |
It's impossible to count the number of endless sunny days Rob Lowe and his friends boogie-boarded and bodysurfed and looked at girls and goofed off until the sun went down. He attended Santa Monica High School, ran around on Zuma Beach, and lived the kind of California life that hardly exists anymore. It was an era that has been fading for decades, he said, and that may have been finished off by the Palisades Fire, which started on January 7 and tore through homes and businesses with indiscriminate force. "Reel Inn was one of the first places I remember being able to go to dinner and drink, so it obviously has a very special place in my heart," Lowe said, smiling. "I loved any kind of battered, fresh fish there. I discovered Coronas with lime at the Reel Inn. It doesn't get more California. They always had their menu handwritten on a placard. And that's what I mourn. I mourn everything in Malibu, which is: There's very, very little, if anything, left of the working-class ambience that I grew up in." |
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Anthony Mackie Is Captain America Now. How About That? |
If the superhero stratosphere has anything resembling a sole leading actor, it's the one who plays Captain America. That's Mackie now. Brave New World will kick off a critical new chapter of the MCU, which will culminate with two new Avengers films. Meaning: His life, sure as the stars and stripes on his new suit, is about to change. For Mackie, the achievement—top billing in a major studio blockbuster—feels like validation. The credit due for a quarter-century-long career in which he's been unerringly excellent but never quite broken through to full stardom. By the time he turned thirty, he'd blazed through several films you know by heart: 8 Mile, The Manchurian Candidate, Half Nelson, and Million Dollar Baby. He's worked with legends like Eastwood, Washington, Ford, Demme, and Lee. Played Martin Luther King Jr. and Tupac. His superpower is not that he's very good at what he does but that he's very good in anything he does, no matter the size of the role. He's so consistent that audiences and awards bodies have taken him for granted. "Captain America is my Oscar," he says. "Because I've been overlooked so many times in my career." |
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Every Wardrobe Needs a Cashmere Sweater (or Two, or Three). These 10 Take the Cake. |
When I think of a leading man, I think of his sweater. Mark Darcy's atrocious reindeer number in Bridget Jones's Diary, Harry Burns's cozy cable-knit in When Harry Met Sally ... maybe I watch too many rom-coms. Regardless, a leading man is nothing without his sweater, and of all the sweater styles and variations out there, a good ol' cashmere sweater is a bona fide staple. Below are my ten favorite cashmere sweaters ever made. Whether you're looking to splurge on a designer label or keep it simple with a basic score for under 100 bucks, I've got you covered. Your cashmere sweater does, too. |
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Severance Episode 3 Just Set Us on a Dangerous Path |
Well, here we go! As much as we enjoyed returning to Lumon in the first two episodes of Severance season 2—Kier knows that it inspired many a fan theory—I'm sure you started to wonder exactly where the plot was heading. Episode 1 caught up with the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) crew in the aftermath of the season 1 finale, while episode 2 told us how the Overtime Contingency affected their Outies. Episode 3? Well, the final moments outright tell us this season's A plot: The Great Reintegration of Mark Scout. I'll break down the full scene later on in this recap, but can we just take a moment to appreciate how far Mark has come? His Outie just went from "She's alive!" refers to my infant nephew to rework the entire physiology of my brain so I can see my wife again in a single episode. Meanwhile, Innie Mark's transformation from corporate narc to union steward feels complete. And once again, I just have to show appreciation for Adam Scott's blisteringly human performance as both Marks. Kudos to him and the entire Severance crew. |
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How Much Would You Pay for Inner Peace? |
Meditation is a simple, free, and time-honored practice that focuses the mind, reduces stress, and sits menacingly on my daily to-do list like a terrible chore. Oh, I want to meditate, and I know I'll feel better after I've done it, but the notion of spending quiet time alone with my thoughts has an appeal just under cleaning the gutters. The effects of meditation are profound and positive, but they are also slow and gradual, which is why I say no thanks. I want a monastic level of inner peace, and I want it with the speed of a DoorDash delivery. I am American, after all. So you can imagine my relief when I found out about 40 Years of Zen, a brain-optimization retreat that promises all the benefits of 40 years' worth of meditation in only five days. A chance to optimize my brain, do some serenity maxing, and forge lasting connections with people who have an extra $16k lying around? Let's do this. |
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Welcome to Add to Cart, in which Esquire editors tell you about the clothes, shoes, watches, gear, gadgets, booze, and anything else we're coveting right now. - The Editors at Esquire |
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She deserves the world. Your wife, that is. I will be so bold as to assume that she's an incredible human full of wisdom, laughter, beauty, and emotional complexity. Get her a gift that's so romantic she'll brag about her partner's superior gift-giving prowess. Hey, dream big. |
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No two heads are the same, but these are the most consistent conditioners we've found. |
| Keep these in your arsenal for the coldest days of the year. |
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Right now, Gap's Leather Western Belt is only 30 bucks. |
| And these are the ones worth buying. |
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I have been testing out some dumb devices over the years to try to get a handle on my powerful procrastination. I've had the reMarkable 2 for a few years and the reMarkable Pro for a few months. Though they, unfortunately, have not turned me into a different person entirely, they have indeed helped me. They keep my notes organized in one place, are excellent for annotating PDFs, and help me put words when my laptop just won't do. |
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