He began training his training at age 4 and went on to win the World Championship of Hoop Dance three times in each of three age divisions and tour with Cirque du Soleil for three years. – The New York Times
Tag: 07.19.20
The Drivers Of American Innovation Are Slowing
The coronavirus pandemic and the administration’s botched response to it are damaging the engine of American innovation in three major ways: The flow of talented people from overseas is slowing; the university hubs that produce basic research and development are in financial turmoil; and the circulation of people and ideas in high-productivity industrial clusters, such as Silicon Valley, has been impeded. – The Atlantic
Disabled Performers On Their Place In The Arts Business
“Social movements like #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo have started important conversations about an industry with entrenched disparities. With that in mind, we asked entertainers” — actors Ali Stroker, Marlee Matlin, Micah Fowler, and Lauren Potter, and Leroy F. Brown Jr. of Krip-Hop Nation — “how they have navigated their careers, and where their hopes lie for the future of their industry.” – The New York Times
How Science Fiction Writers Foresaw Pandemics
Science fiction writers have, indeed, always embraced globality. In interplanetary texts, humans of all nations, races and genders have to come together as one people in the face of alien invasions. Facing an interplanetary encounter, bellicose nations have to reluctantly eschew political rivalries and collaborate on a global scale, as in Denis Villeneuve’s 2018 film, Arrival. – The Conversation
Dorothy Parker’s Ashes Are Buried In NAACP HQ. But HQ Is Moving, So…
Parker was a huge supporter of civil rights and gave most of her estate to Martin Luther King (whom she had never met) when she died in 1967. When King died, the estate was transferred to the NAACP and she was buried at Baltimore headquarters. Now the organization is moving to Washington… – The New York Times
The Legacy Of Isaac Stern
At the centenary of his birth, NPR has an appreciation of those he mentored and his influence on the music world of today. “Isaac Stern’s tombstone simply reads, Isaac Stern, fiddler. These three words leave out an awful lot.” – NPR
Dystopian Fiction Was Never Fictional For Many People In The United States
While some authors say the fiction can help people learn how to resist and persist, Black people in the U.S. say it’s more of a mirror. “Assume where America has always been is a tragedy. What is done in hell isn’t romantic; sacrificing bodies to dystopia isn’t beautiful.” (But fiction can still be a teacher of hope.) – Wired
A Poet Contemplates Storytelling, Her Murdered Mother, And Confederate Monuments
Natasha Trethewey, former poet laureate of the U.S.: “When people talk about how getting rid of [Stone Mountain] would be erasing history – well, the monument itself is already an erasure of history. So, I’d be interested in figuring out a way that we can tell the fuller story about exactly why it’s there and exactly what it means.” – The Guardian (UK)
Indonesian Literary Legend Sapardi Djoko Damono, 80
Sapardi, an influential poet and cultural critic, founded the Indonesian Literary Scholars Association and served as a dean at the University of Indonesia. One author: “As long as I’ve known him he had always been a close reader – meticulous and generous, yet critical. … He steadfastly held on to his maxim, ‘Literature is how an author presents an idea, not the idea itself.'” – The Star (Malaysia/The Jakarta Post)
Sometimes Artists, Writers, And Intellectuals Support Dictators
What’s that about? “Are these enablers true believers or just cynical opportunists? Do they believe the lies they tell and the conspiracies they invent or are they simply greedy for wealth and power? The answers … are frankly equivocal.” – The New York Times