“Newspaper style has long been to omit that final comma. But every stylebook that allows omission of the Oxford comma includes a caveat, often forgotten: Once the sentence moves beyond a simple series, that comma might be necessary for clarity.”
Tag: 03.21.17
Between ‘Trainspotting’ And ‘T2 Trainspotting’, Danny Boyle Says He’s Become A Worse Director
Yes, that’s despite Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, and Steve Jobs. In a Q&A, he tells Kevin Lincoln what on earth he means by that.
Shrine At Site Of Jesus’s Tomb Reopens After Nine-Month Restoration
The historic structure, known as the Edicule, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem had fallen into such disrepair that the Israeli government declared it a safety hazard and closed it. Now, after $4 million worth of work, the Edicule is open to pilgrims again – and the cage of iron girders that had surrounded it for 70 years is gone. (includes video)
Lessons On Male Insecurity (And Indigestion) From Walt Whitman’s Men’s-Health Column
Oh yes, he did. Starting in 1858, Whitman (under one of his man pseudonyms) wrote an advice column for the New York Atlas titled “Manly Health and Training.” Dan Piepenbring suggests that, behind Whitman’s vigorous exhortation, his advice betrayed more than a bit of insecurity about masculinity.
Are Our Classrooms Set Up Wrong? Studies Show Kids Need To Move!
“We fall into this trap that if kids are at their desks with their heads down and are silent and writing, we think they are learning. But what we have found is that the active time used to energize your brain makes all those still moments better,” or more productive.
Siobhan Burke Talks About How Dance In America Is Changing
“Dance tends to be marginalized in our culture. For many people, it’s not as much a part of everyday life as movies, TV, music or books. I have friends who are incredibly knowledgeable about art and literature, but when I mention major dance figures like Isadora Duncan or Merce Cunningham, they don’t know who they are. For dance writing to be more viable, dance needs to be more centralized somehow, so it’s not seen as esoteric and inaccessible, or, on the flip side, as purely fun and entertaining — though it can be all of those things.”
Did An Artist Opportunity High Atop The World Trade Center Turn Into Artist Exploitation?
“To do a project on the 69th floor of the World Trade Center has been beneficial to a lot of us. You’ve gotta be pretty dumb not to think the floor’s not going to get rented out eventually, and that whoever probably took it wasn’t going to want the artwork. Of course they’re going to want the artwork. But never did Silverstein say they were ever going to use it for marketing to rent the place.”
Deborah Borda On Leaving LA And On Saving The NEA
Here’s the great irony: the budget of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is now about $120 million a year. The total amount of money we get from the National Endowment for the Arts is about $150,000. So it’s less than one percent of our budget. So we — the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic — both of these orchestras will move ahead because that’s about the level that big orchestras receive from the NEA. Who is going to be terribly hurt are the smaller organizations in this city and especially in rural America.
A Few Thoughts About British Actors Playing American (And African-American) Roles
Richard Brody considers Samuel L. Jackson’s controversial comments about the casting of black British actors in African-American roles (in particular, Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out and David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King in Selma) – in particular, how Jackson may have a point.
There’s A Backlash Against Online Teaching. That May Not Be Fair
“The stereotype that online instruction is less rigorous, or that students cannot be engaged in it with appropriate rigor, isn’t borne out by my experience. Anyone who’s taught an on-the-ground class has looked out into the classroom and seen boredom or disconnection. By comparison, my online students were choosing when to log on to do their work. They seemed very tuned in when they did.”