The poem is made up (artfully) of lines from corporate emails. One stanza:
“Feeling Fiesta today? Happy Taco Tuesday!
Calories don’t count during a pandemic
Grocers report flour shortages as more people are baking than ever!
As you know, many people are struggling.” – The Guardian (UK)
Tag: 04.12.20
Tom Hanks, In His Kitchen, With A Camera, Defines The Spirit Of The Time
It seems unthinkable that Saturday Night Live could go on right now, but April 11’s show may mark something of a milestone – and a cultural record that should prove to be invaluable for the future. As is normal with SNL, some sketches were good and some went on way too long. But “what carried the entire experiment through was the can-do, show-must-go-on spirit, a reminder that comedy can still thrive under the strangest of circumstances.” – The Atlantic
The Show Is Delayed, But That’s OK With The Artist
Deborah Roberts, 57, who was set to have her first solo show in September, says, “My daddy hated art and said it was never going to be nothing. He would say, ‘What are you doing that for?’ … Nothing anyone can tell you is ever going to make you stop doing it.” Not even a pandemic that pushes your show back until January. – The New York Times
How To Become An Opera Star From Rural South Africa
Soprano Vuvu Mpofu grew up surrounded by music in church choirs and school, but when she first heard an aria when she was 15, “the girl plunged into the library to find out where the music came from, what it was that had just penetrated her heartbeat and that would mark her life.” – El País
What Have We Learned About Wellbeing So Far In Our Isolation?
Wellbeing isn’t individual; it’s social. And in this, the Great Pause, we see that “It’s not quite a revolution, but it’s an epic conceptual awakening. … In some ways it’s like a blissed-out stoner’s dream of what the world might be.” – The Observer (UK)
Irish Scholars Have A Rather Large Bone To Pick With A ‘Hatchet Job’ In The New Yorker
Who decided messing with Edna O’Brien was a good idea? Ian Parker of The New Yorker, that’s who. But “after a complicated relationship with her home country – in 2015 President Michael Higgins made an official apology for the scorn formerly heaped on her by the Irish – O’Brien is now regarded as a national treasure in Dublin” and Irish literary scholars have responded to Parker in kind. – The Observer (UK)
Bollywood Grinds To A Standstill, Halting Movies And Careers
No, that’s not different from the U.S. or Nigeria, but Bollywood stars, directors, production companies, dancers and everyone else are trying to figure out what to do next. “Given the speculation that the [21-day] lockdown will be extended, producers are already anticipating major changes to the way Bollywood will operate.” – BBC