In ports of call known for their cruise appeal, the disappearance of boat-borne tourism has been greeted with mixed feelings. Many towns and cities depend in part on revenue from these vacationers. But the boats bring problems, too: Critics often cite the industry’s environmental record and dubious economic impact — study after study show that passengers on short stopovers contribute relatively little to the local economy. – CityLab
Tag: 05.20.20
How The Rise Of Individualism Is Related To Plagues
Following the Black Death in the 14th century, outbreaks recurred throughout Europe and the Mediterranean for centuries. The spectre of plague was significant not just in the history of medicine and society but of subjectivity – how we see ourselves and especially one another. Self-reliance became indistinguishable from self-protection. – New Statesman
Why Is Climate Change MIA On America’s Stages?
How many climate-themed works have been presented in the theaters of America, one of the major energy-gouging countries in the world — particularly in our large, well-funded stages? It is any surprise that, given the economic stakes, that it is pretty well nada? – Arts Fuse
Repertory Theatre, Live From An Actual Florida Closet
Rachel Burttram Powers, co-founder and co-star (with husband Brendan) of Tiny_Theatre: “I started cleaning out a back closet because I thought, ‘What would happen if you made a theatre at home?’ We knew everyone was self-isolating. We both have a passion for new plays, and we have a lot of playwright friends who are very well established, and I just thought, ‘Let me just send an email to see if people would be game to play with us.'” Since March 21, they’ve appeared three days a week on Facebook Live, performing work by more than 20 playwrights. – American Theatre
Are We Losing Our Abilities To Read Deeply?
Beyond self-inflicted attention deficits, people who cannot deep read — or who do not use and hence lose the deep-reading skills they learned — typically suffer from an attenuated capability to comprehend and use abstract reasoning. In other words, if you can’t, or don’t, slow down sufficiently to focus quality attention — what Wolf calls “cognitive patience” — on a complex problem, you cannot effectively think about it. – National Affairs
The Atlantic Magazine Cuts 20 Percent Of Its Staff
The 68 staff cuts are mostly attributable to the collapse of the company’s events business, which was one of its strongest pillars for many years.
Why Should It Matter If You Know What You’re Listening To?
Our preconceived ideas about a composer or piece can keep us from listening with fresh ears. An intermezzo by the mighty Brahms? Before you hear a note, you may already have decided it’s great. – The New York Times
Can The “Experience Economy” Survive The Pandemic?
The economy’s reliance on live events has been growing for years. When Disneyland opened in 1955, it sparked a boom in the theme park business. In recent decades, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Great Wolf Lodge water parks and more have emerged to compete for the attention — and money — of American families. – The New York Times
Sampling The World Of Zoom Book Clubs
Gail Beckerman joins a New York literary salon now hosted remotely from Nairobi (“I’d never had the experience of watching in close-up such a large group of people actively listening”), the Quarantine Book Club (it hosts an author a day for regulars from all over the globe), the Borderless Book Club (a new novel in English translation every two weeks), a gathering hosted by the Academy of American Poets, a group devoted solely to Hannah Arendt, and a party where everyone logs on and just silently reads (“It’s mesmerizing, found performance art”). – The New York Times
‘The Wake World’ comes from somewhere, but where?
Time and again while listening to the new recording of David Hertzberg’s opera, I asked myself, What zeitgeist did this arrive from? What cultural phenomenon contributed to why it was written now? And why have audiences responded to it so readily? Here are the pieces that don’t even begin to add up. – David Patrick Stearns