Zachary Woolfe: “For someone who’s never grown quite used to my late-night subway journey home after an opera, it was hard to turn down a performance that would take place a few steps from bed.” – The New York Times
Tag: 02.14.20
The Photographer And The Photos Of A Ballerina Who’s 33 Weeks Pregnant
Photographer Sayuri Ichida and NY Theatre Ballet dancer Maya Oguri formed a fruitful artistic friendship – one that set the ballerina dancing in photos from across the city. That didn’t stop when the dancer got pregnant. – The Paris Review
The Wedding Dress That Cost The Cooper Hewitt Director Her Job
In a reversal of fortune story that seems nigh-on impossible given certain trends in federal government, Caroline Baumann “was forced to resign as director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan last week following an investigation by the Smithsonian’s inspector general into potential problems regarding the procurement of the dress and the wedding space.” – The New York Times
Is E.L. James The Best Writer Of The Past 30 Years?
Or is it Barack Obama? How about Hilary Mantel? That’s right, all of them are squaring off in a new book prize in Britain. (But seriously: Who put the author of Fifty Shades of Grey on the same list as the author of Wolf Hall?) The British Book Awards “celebrate the best of writing and publishing: the books that defined their genre or launched a trend” (in which case, we’re pretty sure E.L. James is the actual winner here). – The Guardian (UK)
Taking Aim Against (Part Of) Amazon With A New Website
Can a new website help indie bookstores compete with the retail behemoth? The American Booksellers Association thinks so. “‘We believe that there are consumers who shop online and would choose to support indie bookstores if there were a visible and convenient alternative to Amazon and others,’ the ABA said when it announced its partnership with Bookshop last month.” – Forbes
Making Art So Big It Can’t Be Ignored
Jordan Casteel paints portraits – huge portraits. And that means something to her subjects. “‘I knew I wanted to use this opportunity to place my mom and I in the art historical canon,’ said Emmanuel Amoakohene, one of Ms. Casteel’s students, who posed with his mother in 2019. The scale of the radiant, seven-foot canvas, he said, ‘makes me feel like I matter.'” – The New York Times
Let’s Talk About This ‘Classical’ Architecture Thing, Strongmen, And Fascism
Dear United States, this isn’t new – but it is alarming. “For centuries, autocrats, authoritarians, and dictators have held a fascination with using architecture as a political tool to glorify their regimes, often while also dismissing modern architectural styles as lowbrow, cold, or weak. The current crop of far-right world leaders with authoritarian impulses is no different—and that now appears to include President Donald Trump.” – Slate
Elizabeth Cullinan, Who Helped Redefine Irish American Literature, Has Died At 86
Cullinan was hired as a typist at The New Yorker when she was 22, but soon the magazine started publishing her stories as well. “Ms. Cullinan helped redefine Irish-American literature, veering away from the male tradition of ‘ward bosses and henchmen, larger-than-life political fixers, tavern social life and father-son relationships,’ Patricia Coughlan, who taught Irish literature at University College Cork, wrote in a 2017 essay in The Irish Times.” – The New York Times
When Plays Explore Trauma, Performers Bear The Brunt Of The Pain
Especially during fringe festivals, playwrights are often performers, and because of the pressure of budget and time, they’re exploring their own experiences and pain. “Rawness can make for heady theatre – it can be exhilarating – but it can also leave you worrying about the psychological implications, the emotional toll.” – The Stage (UK)
Making Sense Of Through Tiny Nuggets Of Narrative
Tropes actually help us all make sense of the world (so writers, calm down; even trying to go against tropes is a trope of its own). Take a famous narrative of the late 1990s and early 2000s: “How do you make sense of something sprawling like Harry Potter? You divide it into digestible pieces. The Chosen One goes to a Wizarding School and forms a Power Trio. He’s opposed by the Evil Overlord who is Only Mostly Dead. The books get Darker and Edgier leading up to a Final Battle and a widely mocked Distant Finale.” – Slate