Author: Matthew Westphal

Net Neutrality’s Biggest Enemy Is Leaving The FCC Early

“U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said he’ll leave the agency Jan. 20, eliminating the possibility of a holdover Republican majority at the agency that could have temporarily stymied changes sought by the incoming Biden administration. Since being elevated to the chairmanship by President Donald Trump in 2017, Pai, a Republican, has led the commission in dismantling net neutrality regulations.” – Bloomberg

Biden’s Cabinet Needs A ‘Dr. Fauci For The Arts’

Peter Marks: “Now, more than ever, we need a secretary of arts and culture. As President-elect Joe Biden rolls out his circle of close advisers, the notion is gaining momentum among leaders and advocates of nonprofit groups and for-profit companies: that someone should be named to coordinate arts funding, unite assorted agencies and underline the value of arts and entertainment to the nation’s financial, social and psychological well-being.” – The Washington Post

Mixed-Race Ballerina Tells Of Discrimination And Harassment At Berlin State Ballet

Chloé Lopes Gomes, a Frenchwoman whose father came from Cape Verde, joined the corps of Staatsballett Berlin in 2017 after studying at the Bolshoi and dancing in companies in Nice and Lausanne. She says that she suffered harsh and repeated racial harassment from the ballet mistress in charge of the corps; when she reported the issue to top management, she was told that nothing could be done because that ballet mistress had a lifetime contract. – Pointe Magazine

Boy Thrown From Tate Modern’s Deck Can Now Walk, Says Family

The victim, visiting London with his family from France, was 6 when he was hurled from the museum’s viewing deck by a deranged 17-year-old (now imprisoned) in August of 2019. The boy’s family says that he can now walk with a cane and breathe well enough to speak in words rather than syllables, though he still suffers from chronic pain and memory loss. – CNN

Remorseful American Tourist Returns Ancient Marble Fragment She Stole From Rome

“The National Roman Museum recently received the piece of stone, which was inscribed in black marker, ‘To Sam, love Jess, Rome 2017.’ ‘I feel terrible for not only stealing this item from its rightful place, but writing on it,’ said the note accompanying the item. ‘It was a big mistake on my part and only now, as an adult, do I realize just how thoughtless and despicable it was.'” – Artnet

America’s First Science-Fiction Novel Is Now 200 Years Old — But Who Wrote It?

Symzonia; Voyage of Discovery, published in 1820, follows a ship-captain/seal hunter to the South Pole (still undiscovered at the time), where there’s a portal to the interior of Earth (which is hollow), where lives a different race of beings. It’s a satire of colonialism and American self-regard, though a few newspaper writers at the time thought the book was non-fiction. But Symzonia was published anonymously — and here Paul Collins, with the help of JGAAP software, works out who the likely author was. – The New Yorker

Camilla Wicks, One Of World’s Leading Violinists In 1940s and ’50s, Dead At 92

She performed her first Mozart concert at age 7, debuted at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic at 18, and played the Sibelius concerto for the composert himself, who called her performance the best he’d heard. Her fame faded after she retired to raise five children, yet, wrote Henry Fogel in 2015, “Her technique is as close to flawless as humans get, and her intelligence and interpretive breadth are clearly those of a major artist.” – The Washington Post