Just capitalism and sheer wackiness, or what? (Paltrow’s “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle costs $75 and sold out almost immediately, for one thing.) But there’s more. “The Goop Lab is streaming into a moment in America that finds Medicare for All under discussion and the Affordable Care Act under attack. It presents itself as airy infotainment even as many Americans are unable to access even the most basic forms of medical care. That makes the show deeply uncomfortable to watch.” – The Atlantic
Tag: 01.18.20
Not just subconscious, but DNA deep
When we talk about organizations, or other forms of collective action by groups of people, we often speak as if we have dominantly conscious control. But evidence from a range of disciplines suggests that we’re not really in conscious control of much — individually or collectively. – Andrew Taylor
How Did The Grammys Go From ‘Step Up’ To This CEO Implosion?
After a male CEO told women in music to “step up” if they wanted to win Grammys, the Recording Academy formed a blue-ribbon task force to reform the organization, hired a woman CEO last August … and then asked her to step down 10 days before this year’s ceremony. There were rumors of bullying, but there’s so much more going on. “Dugan is said to have filed a memo weeks ago with the academy’s human resources department outlining concerns she’d developed over voting irregularities, financial mismanagement, ‘exorbitant and unnecessary’ legal fees and ‘conflicts of interest involving members of the academy’s board, executive committee and outside lawyers.'” Ah. Surely this will end well for the Recording Academy. – Los Angeles Times
Not Telling The Same Old Story Again And Again And Again And Again And Again
Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon created the movie The Big Sick, lightly based on their own lives and romance, and had such success that now they’ve won an Apple TV+ series, Little America, that tells the lightly fictionalized stories of immigrants in unusual situations (or perhaps they’re quite usual – without these stories, how would the public know?). Nanjiani says, “American pop culture is the most widespread in the world, and [pop culture was] selling that second side of America, and we wanted to buy it. You can do what you want to do, be what you want to be. Not everyone in the series believes that, but that’s a key idea.” – The Guardian (UK)
This Author Says This Moment Isn’t As New As We Like To Think
And actually, Jacqueline Woodson says, that’s a good thing to know on a deep level, so that she doesn’t only despair at lead poisoning in Flint or the rise of asthma after 9/11. “It’s so important to know that whatever moment we’re in, we’re not in it for the first time. … Knowing that something like this has happened before, and that we survived it, is really important for me as a writer.” – The Guardian (UK)
Vladimir Ashkenazy Retires Suddenly
His management company announced the conductor’s retirement from public performances. At the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, where he became Conductor Laureate last year, “Ashkenazy launched a three-year program called Vladimir Ashkenazy Masterworks and, as part of the 2020 season, was to have conducted the Northern Lights Festival in May. The SSO said today that the performances will go ahead with a guest conductor to be announced.” – Limelight (Australia)
Life As A Young, Award-Winning Cellist
Sheku Kanneh-Mason has had quite the life in recent years, what with winning the BBC’s Young Musician Award in 2016 and performing at the wedding of Harry Windsor and Meghan Markle. He says, “A lot of musicians like a beer after a performance. I don’t know why exactly – maybe it’s because they enjoy more what’s well-deserved. The classical composers were often drinking a lot and doing crazy things, but I don’t think their music came out of alcohol – it’s more to do with musicianship often not being a well-paid thing, and also that music can take up so much of your mind, thoughts, passion.” – The Guardian (UK)
What A ‘Narrative Performance’ Is – And What It Can Do For An Audience
Helen Shaw breaks it all down: “Our critical function operates differently with the storyteller than with scene-player, because we immediately wonder about truthfulness. … The narrating performer demands the close involvement and even participation of her audience, and so our belief and ability to be persuaded (and betrayed) are her main tools.” – Vulture
Though They’re ‘Chronically Underfunded,’ Libraries Are Vital Parts Of Their Communities
Toronto’s libraries have increased program attendance by more than 30 percent in the past decade, but funding has not kept up – not at all. The libraries say they want to get going on a plan to stay open longer (especially on Sundays) and provide more programs. Will Toronto come through? – Toronto Star
Writing About War, But, You Know, With Women
You’ve probably heard of the French Resistance, but do you know about the great-grandmothers of Ethiopia in 1935? Ethiopian novelist Maaza Mengiste’s second novel (partly) concerns the women who fought back against Italy in its invasion of Ethiopia – and she went to Italy to learn more At a reading, she met a man who said, “‘My father dropped poison on your people. How do I ask for your forgiveness?’ And he started crying. It was at that moment that I said to myself: ‘My God, this history is not done, this war that feels distant but is not distant.'” – The Observer (UK)