— isn’t just for religious fundamentalists. The doctrine of literalism flourishes in a variety of American endeavors. – Chronicle of Higher Education
Category: issues
WRITING TO IMPRESS
Great ideas don’t necessarily translate into great writing. But obscure writing shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking obscurity translates into profundity. And yet that’s the kind of writing some of today’s philosophers seem to want to hide behind. – Prospect
VOYEURS FOR VIOLENCE
New classes examining violence: “Starting in Violence 101, ‘Introduction to the Comparative Study of Violence,’ and on through ‘The Causes of Crime and Violence’ and ‘Violence in Film and History,’ students are encouraged to look at history, arts and sciences through a single lens: the infliction of injury and death.” But are such classes anything more than voyeuristic rubbernecking? – Salon
ARTS CUTS?
Whether in reaction to the Brooklyn Art Museum fiasco or to woo the state’s conservatives for the impending Senate election, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is said to be ordering up cuts in the city’s arts budget. Arts funding defenders are gearing up. – Backstage
CULTURE CENTRAL
Chicago has invested millions in a cultural building boom downtown. But the downtown institutions are of a type – and where are the African-American, Latino and other minority cultural institutions? And why aren’t they complaining about being shut out? The answers are confusing and complex. – Chicago Tribune
JUST WHEN DID THE MEDIA START HATING ARTISTS?
Was it art’s “difficult characters?” The big-money 80’s art markets? “The biggest part of the problem may be the front-of-the-book/back-of-the-book structure that ghettoizes all arts coverage, whether news or reviews, in the back pages or special sections. But news is news, and the art(s) worlds are huge industries that demand far more sophisticated news coverage than they receive.” – Media Channel
THE “McDONALD’S SCHOOL OF APPLIED PHYSICS”?
Not only are most academic institutions not run like businesses, but many academics disdain the tools of American business discourse, writes English professor Michael Bérubé. Ah, but imagine if successful business practices were applied on campus and schools were run like corporations. The stock of education would soar. – Chronicle of Higher Education
THE SERIOUS SIDE OF POP CULTURE
Not all frivolous or violent or shallow. “The ‘pop’ in pop culture is its universality, its mass appeal, its accessibility. In its form — its all-encompassing vastness, now magnified by the Internet — as well as in its content, pop culture is mostly a force for good.” – MSNBC
SELF-TICKETING
- Ticketmaster announces plan for customers to print their own tickets at home on their own printers. Barcodes would ensure tickets are real. – New York Times
DEBATING ARTS EDUCATION
This week education directors from around the US will gather in Los Angeles to talk about the current state of arts education – what works, what doesn’t, and what to do. – Orange County Register