Joanna Payne, founder and director of the London club called Marguerite: “In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need all-female spaces of any kind … But [for] all the time that the ‘ideal world’ is still very much just that, I think that we do.” – London Evening Standard
Tag: 03.10.19
We’re Trying To Teach People That Failure Is Just An Opportunity To Improve. But What If It Isn’t?
According to the theory, if students believe that their ability is fixed, they will not want to do anything to reveal that, so a major focus of the growth mindset in schools is shifting students away from seeing failure as an indication of their ability, to seeing failure as a chance to improve that ability. As Jeff Howard noted almost 30 years ago: ‘Smart is not something that you just are, smart is something that you can get.’ – Aeon
George Stade, Literary Scholar And Satirical Novelist, Dead At 85
“[He was] a Columbia University literary scholar who became an early champion of ‘popular’ fiction within the academy and worked as a critic, editor and novelist, most notably with the grisly satire Confessions of a Lady-Killer … But he was probably best known for helping to spearhead the study of popular fiction in the classroom, and for his frequent — and frequently acerbic — reviews and essays on contemporary literature.” – The Washington Post
How A Dance Photo Went Viral And Became An Issue In Algeria’s Presidential Election
On Friday, March 1, 17-year-old Melissa Ziad performed a few classical dance steps in front of a large Algerian flag at a demonstration in the country’s capital city of Algiers. The steps, like her outfit – ballet shoes with jeans and leather jacket – caught people’s attention. – France24
Propwatch: the tooth in ‘Dinomania’
It’s not a real iguanodon tooth, I don’t think. Though in a story about how to interpret the material world and humanity’s place within it, identification is an unusually fraught subject. – David Jays
Monday Recommendation: Dominic Miller
Dominic Miller: Absinthe (ECM)
Abetted by producer Manfred Eicher’s canny guidance and ECM’s flawless sound and studio presence, Miller draws on inspiration from painters of France’s impressionist period, delivering power and subtlety in equal measure. – Doug Ramsey
The Rebirth Of British And Irish Political Folk Music
It’s Brexit Week (or maybe it isn’t; find out as the week goes on), so here are some artists to help add music to politics: “We could call this explosion ‘woke’ folk – though there’s much more to this disparate collection of acts than a slogan. … They sing in recognisable voices, without varnish and sheen, delivering messages straight and sure about who we were, and who we are now.” – The Observer (UK)
How Should Europe Come To Terms With Its Bloody, Violent 20th Century?
A multi-year project can’t figure out how Europe can reconcile all of the mass graves, no matter how many memorials and museums are built. And things are scary: “After all the truth commissions, all the resolutions of the UN, the international tribunals, we are returning to new forms of fascism, to new, very primal antagonisms.” – El País
What Pianist Donald Shirley Was Really Like
Music writer David Hadju says that though the musician bore some resemblance to Mahershala Ali’s Oscar-winning portrait of him in the movie Green Book, there was a lot more to the man – including this exchange: “I asked him how he would feel about being portrayed on screen. ‘Damn foolishness,’ he said. ‘I want nothing to do with it!’ – The New York Times
Americans Love Donating Things To Museums, And Now Museums Need To Clean Out Their Basements
Curators have to ask themselves, “Has this ever, does this now, and will this ever spark joy?” (Ha ha, kidding. What they have to ask is more like, “What letter grade would I give this Marc Chagall painting?”) – The New York Times