Author: Matthew Westphal

Grading On A Curve? How The Pandemic Has Changed Jesse Green As A Critic

“At a time when an anonymous newcomer can turn out theater faster than an institutional battleship can, it’s impossible not to feel grateful for even shaggy efforts to keep the art form alive…. As I learn to approach this new material with a new eye, I’ve slowly realized that as much as the pandemic has changed what it means to be a theater critic, it has also changed what I as a critic want and need from theater.” – The New York Times

Sappho — How Much Do We Really Know About Her?

“No other woman from early antiquity has been so talked about, and in such conflicting terms. The sources are as sparse as the legends are manifold, and any attempt to distinguish between the two virtually hopeless. Every age has created its own Sappho. Some even invented a second in order to sidestep the contradictions of the stories.” Judith Schalansky sifts through it all. – The Paris Review

Quarantine Brain: How COVID Pushed The Culture Online And Addled Us All

“Allegedly, events still happened in the real world, but the more privileged among us were locked inside with our guilt and fear and Wi-Fi. We were all extremely online, which felt like hotboxing off bad weed; our brains smoothed into little pearls. … Virtual reality was a reality freshly poured from someone’s brain onto your screen. The internet became more internet — an ever-thickening soup of private derangements and niche dramas.” – Vulture

How Do You Convey Tone Of Voice In A Text? The Kids Are Finding A Way

Tone indicators, formed with a slash and one to three letters (e.g., /j for joking, /hj for half-joking, /srs for serious) and inserted at the end of a comment, developed in various online communities of young people as a way to be inclusive of neurodivergent people, who often have difficulty interpreting subtle clues. But they address a problem most of us have had at some point. – The New York Times

Carnegie Hall Board Chairman In Multi-Million Tax Scandal

“[Robert F.] Smith’s admission that he had failed to report [more than $200 million] of income to the I.R.S. made Carnegie Hall the latest in a line of major cultural institutions that have found themselves facing questions about the actions of the benefactors that they rely on for their very survival. Carnegie’s leaders are standing firmly behind Mr. Smith, even as some philanthropy experts question whether he should remain in the position.” – The New York Times

Renovation Of Toronto’s Massey Hall Turns Into Seven-Floor Multiple-Venue Project

When the 125-year-old concert venue closed in 2018 for construction, the plan was only to renovate the lobby, auditorium and stage. Now real estate developer Allied Properties has made a major investment: Massey will become the anchor for an adjacent seven-story building called the Allied Music Centre that will include additional performance stages and workspace for artists. – Ludwig Van

Flemish Old Master Painting Discovered Hanging On Brussels City Hall Wall

While taking a routine inventory of the Belgian capital’s public art, researchers from the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage determined that a work on display at Saint-Gilles City Hall, long believed to be a copy, is actually the oldest known original version of 17th-century artist Jacob Jordaens’s The Holy Family. – Smithsonian Magazine

Venice Floods Again: They Spent €6 Billion On That Barrier But Didn’t Raise It

Just a couple of months ago, after years of delays and heaps of money, the MOSE floodgates in the Venice lagoon passed their first major test, protecting the city from the acqua alta flooding that had been causing ever more damage year after year. But this past Tuesday, as the tide rose ever higher, MOSE wasn’t raised and the city was inundated. Why not? The Venice authorities don’t yet have the decision power to raise it. – CNN