Little people are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word “midget” on broadcast TV.
Tag: 07.05.09
All A-Twitter – A Book Review In 140 Characters
“History’s first case of Twitter-induced book feuding started last weekend with The Boston Globe’s review of Alice Hoffman’s 21st novel, The Story Sisters, and the author’s ludicrously over-the-top response in a series of tweets.”
Building A Dance Boom, One Student At A Time
“A passionate group of dance instructors is nurturing the fast-growing line-dance community by offering affordable lessons at churches, libraries and community centers. In the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, more people used to go out to dance and enjoy themselves. So we are trying to get people to come out and dance again. And it’s working. With insanely low rates -just $3 per class.”
Jersey Orchestra Finds Success Gigging
“We’ve been going out to towns for the last couple of years, really proactively saying, ‘Here we are’.
In the last three years, the orchestra has turned around its fortunes. Since then, the group started a more extensive program of all-access concerts, and has since ranked in a public poll as one of the most popular orchestras in the state.”
Communities Struggle To Find Creative Uses For Vacant Big Box Stores
“As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, more communities across the country are having to confront not just the eyesore of giant empty stores, but also the loss of jobs and tax revenue that follow. Many are trying to find creative uses for those near windowless monoliths.”
Albright-Knox Museum Cuts Back Operations
“The Albright-Knox Art Gallery says it will reduce expenses by closing on Wednesdays, starting July 15. The museum will open Thursday through Sunday. In May, the century-old modern art gallery closed for one week and the entire staff went on unpaid furlough. The museum says its revenues have dropped 24 percent and its operating endowment is down 21 percent. It raised admission in January from $10 to $12.”
Michael Jackson Memorial Lotto Gets 1.6 Million Requests
“The more than 1.6 million fans who registered for tickets to Michael Jackson’s memorial service will finally get word Sunday on whether they will be among the lucky few to get tickets for the ceremony.”
The Moral Flaw Gene – Why The Moralizers Fall
“Why is it that people who set themselves up as moral paragons seem to have the hardest time living up to their own standards? It’s an apparent paradox. After all, even if the beliefs weren’t deeply held, even if those espousing them were utterly cynical, the special vehemence that the public reserves for scolding hypocrites should be deterrence enough.”
The Essential English (Whatever That Means)
After decades of immigration, “what does it mean to be English and who gets to call themselves English? JB Priestley assumed that anyone who came here would buy into certain things – Shakespeare, Magna Carta, free speech and so on. He had not envisaged that there would be people who would look beyond these shores for their identity, and he would have had great difficulty grappling with the notion that some people’s identity would be bound up in religion.”
More Women In The Theatre? Sure, But…
“Shouldn’t the gender category have withered away by now? As the only first-string female New York theater critic for an indefensible number of years, I would have loved to pretend these disparities were illusions. And with a heartening new infusion of women on the aisle (there are now a record four of us in the 20-member New York Drama Critics Circle), we just might be able to test for unconscious, perhaps inevitable, gender bias in reviews.”