NYT Magazine | Do I Tell My Father That My Brother Might Not Be His Son?

Should you tell an aging parent your brother is not his son? View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, November 30, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Do I Tell My Father That My Brother Might Not Be His Son?]( By KWAME ANTHONY APPIAH “I am the executor of my father’s will. He is 82 years old and frail, and lately I have been troubled by a question. My brother may not be his child, and my mother and siblings all know this (including the brother in question), but my father does not. My parents are divorced and not on good terms. My mother is fairly sure that my brother is not my father’s child, but a DNA test would have to be done to be certain. If my brother is not my father’s child, does my dad deserve to know this before he dies?” [Read the Ethicist’s answer here.](  [48 of the Coolest Kids in New York]( By MARCY SWINGLE We sent a photographer to look for the most fashionable kids in the city. She began on the first day of school and shot for two months. Here are the standouts. ADVERTISEMENT [In Donald Trump’s Census, Who Counts?]( By EMILY BAZELON How the Trump administration’s plan to add a controversial new question to the 2020 census could transform a pillar of American democracy. ADVERTISEMENT More from this week’s issue:  [New Sentences: From ‘Winners Take All,’ by Anand Giridharadas]( By SAM ANDERSON Why do we pretend that understanding business means understanding everything else, too? [Mike Birbiglia]( Sally Montana for The New York Times Talk [Mike Birbiglia Thinks You Don’t Know How to Tell a Story]( Interview by DAN AMIRA The comedian and filmmaker on his Broadway show about not wanting to have a child – and what his daughter will think of it someday. [President Trump in the Oval Office in October.]( Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Notebook [On the Trump-Mood Beat — But Why?]( By MARK LEIBOVICH Making sense of the president’s emotional state is now a media obsession, but how much is there really to understand? Illustration by Radio Tip [How to Survive a Flu Pandemic]( By MALIA WOLLAN Get a mask — in advance. Get to know your neighbors — in advance. Illustration by Tim Enthoven [China’s Mixed Messages on the Global Trade in Endangered-Animal Parts]( By BROOK LARMER Will the growing interest in traditional Chinese medicine — at home and abroad — doom some of the world’s rarest species? [Young soldiers march in Asmara during Eritrea’s Independence Day celebrations, as the country went on alert for possible war over a border dispute with Ethiopia in May 1998.]( Associated Press Photos/Sami Sallinen [‘They’re Going to Come for Us’: A Teenage Girl Caught in a War’s Riptides]( By SALEM SOLOMON In 1998, tens of thousands of Eritreans were kicked out of Ethiopia and forced to start over in a country they barely recognized. She was one of them. Stay in touch:  Follow us on Twitter ([@NYTmag](  Enjoyed this email? Forward it to a friend and help us grow. Loved a story? Hated it? Write us a letter at [magazine@nytimes.com](mailto:newsletters@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback%20NYT%20Magazine). Did a friend forward this to you? [Sign up here to get the magazine newsletter](  Check us out on[ Instagram]( where you’ll find photography from our archives, behind-the-scenes snippets from photo shoots, interviews on how we design our covers and outtakes that don’t make it into the issue. We’ve got more newsletters! You might like At War.  Learn more about the experiences and costs of war. [Sign up for the At War newsletter]( to receive stories about conflict from Times reporters and outside voices.  FOLLOW NYTimes [Twitter] [@nytmag]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's The New York Times Magazine newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018