I am not from California, but I am always interested in the problems and promises that are shaping that state and often go on to inform what goes on in other parts of the country—the tech we use, the culture we take in, and the politics and politicians voters anoint. This year we’ve encountered some wild Californian characters searching for that anointing. Reality star Spencer Pratt’s failed outsider campaign for mayor dominated a lot of that conversation, but at the same time the Republican candidate for governor, Steve Hilton, was mounting his campaign. VF contributor Harry Lambert spent the last weekend of the primary campaign with Hilton, and now, looking forward to the general in November, Lambert explores how far reinvention can take a man and whether Hilton’s story offers a window into the modern Republican Party.
Elsewhere, Kenneal Patterson chats with five Hollywood trailblazers about how queer filmmaking has changed since the ’80s.
