“A performing arts center can sometimes feel intimidating. What we do with our community engagement programs is give people a taste. Sometimes that will open the door for someone to come see a show or enroll their child in one of our arts education programs.”
Tag: 08.04.16
The Wars Over The Singular ‘They’ Have Been Raging For Centuries
“For some word purists, the singular they is the linguistic equivalent of an ingrown hair, but for others, the solutions for getting around the problem are way messier. … It may be the most controversial word use in the English language – because it highlights a hole in the language where a better-fitting word should go. … And there has been a lot written about it. Here’s another piece of tinder to throw on the fire.”
An Outsider Artist’s Disneyland-In-Detroit
“[Dmytro] Szylak’s installation is hardly noticeable from the sidewalk in front of his former home, but if one approaches from the alley and garages of Klinger and Sobieski Streets, Hamtramck Disneyland looms like a Cubist carnival.”
‘The Interpretation Of Dreams’, 1,700 Years Before Freud
“Enter Artemidorus of Daldis, the world’s first true dream researcher. He was a citizen of Ephesus during the second century A.D. … He did what any good researcher would do: he went out into the field, and gathered dreams. … Artemidorius made himself into an empiricist of fantasy, and he compiled his findings in a book called the Oneirocritica, or the Interpretation of Dreams.”
When Zora Neale Hurston And Langston Hughes Took A Road Trip
“Here on St. Joseph Street [in Mobile, Alabama], on July 23, 1927, one of the most fortuitous meetings in American literary history occurred. … When Hurston invited [Hughes] to join her expedition – in her little car, nicknamed ‘Sassy Susie’ – Hughes happily accepted.”
‘Library Anxiety’ – It’s A Real Thing For College Students, And (As Always) Librarians Are There To Help
“The phenomenon, which involves feeling intimidated, embarrassed, and overwhelmed by libraries and librarians, was first identified by Constance A. Mellon in 1986.” The problem is worse in 2016, with a generation who grew up with the web: “As soon as you need to use scholarly resources, Wikipedia isn’t going to cut it.”
Finally, We’re Getting A Better Idea Of What Peter Zumthor’s New LACMA Building Will Look Like
“The Swiss architect has been working with LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan for years on an ambitious and controversial new building to hold the museum’s permanent collection. But details – architectural and financial alike – have been hard to come by” – until now. Christopher Hawthorne has a look.
Intellectuals Are Smart. What They Aren’t Is Typical
“My point is that people who specialize in the life of ideas tend to be extremely atypical of their societies. They — we — are freaks in a statistical sense. For generations, populists of various kinds have argued that intellectuals are unworldly individuals out of touch with the experiences and values of most of their fellow citizens. While anti-intellectual populists have often been wrong about the gold standard or the single tax or other issues, by and large they have been right about intellectuals.”
Who Created This Mysterious ‘Moon Ballet’?
“The picture of two ballet dancers soaring across a simulated lunar crater comes from the set of Destination Moon, a 1950 space adventure film. But the dance is not in the film. The context of the photograph is unknown, and the identity of the dancers a mystery — one that William Higgins, a radiation safety physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has been trying to solve since he first stumbled across the photo seven years ago.”
So How Good Is The New Harry Potter Book, Anyway?
“The appeal of all fantasy, including Rowling’s original series, comes from answering the question “What if?” What if magic existed? What if an owl delivered an invitation (to you!) to learn magic at a secret school? What if jelly beans came in every flavor, including earwax? What if you had to die to save the world?”