“For one thing, there is the complex matter of why an indigenous community might choose to abandon its mother tongue for English (or Spanish or French or Portuguese, as the case may be). … [L]anguage death could be seen as just an extreme form of language change – a natural process that has been going on for thousands of years.”
Tag: 09.09.10
NPR’s Editorial Position on Klingon Opera
“Yes, we realize that Klingons are actually human actors dressed up with prosthetics and make up and that the opera in question is more an artifact of extreme nerdery than a genuine work of an alien culture. Still, due to a gnawing fear of retaliation by people who have access to home-made weapons that look like they could chop off our blog-writing hands, we are treating it as the latter.”
Where’s the Great (Classical) Jewish Sacred Music?
With all the great Jewish musicians the world has known, why does Judaism have no sacred repertoire to match the enormous body of religious classical music that Christianity has spawned? Miles Hoffman has some ideas.
Attention, Starving Book Critics! WSJ Launching Book Review Section
“The book review will be a pull-out section that will be inserted in one of the newly created sections for The Weekend Journal that will launch later this month.”
Confessions of an Ex-Bibliophile
Jack Shafer: “Just a decade ago, I hoarded all of my books, refusing to sell them or give them away, because I didn’t want to gamble that I wouldn’t need them on short notice … [Now, if] I ever need a copy of Drudge Manifesto again, I’ll be able to get it on the Web for a penny, plus shipping.” Or download the e-book …
Hooked On That New Conductor High
“Last year it was Gilbert (New York Philharmonic) and Dudamel (Los Angeles Philharmonic). This year it’s Muti (Chicago Symphony) and Eschenbach (NSO). When your town gets a new conductor, there’s an instant mood of hope. Ask the players in Chicago and Washington right now.”
Canadian Literary Magazines Lose Government Funding
New Federal rules “disqualified publications with paid circulations of less than 5,000 from receiving CPF assistance, with the result that virtually all the country’s literary magazines (among them The Malahat Review, Descant, Grain and Prairie Fire) were removed from government rolls.”
Financially-Ailing Philadelphia Orchestra Gets A $4.5 Million Boost
“The award comes from the William Penn Foundation, which specifically cited the orchestra’s new leadership as an impetus and stipulated that the money be split into three separate allocations.
Dance In The White House. Real Dance. I Mean…
“Tuesday’s inaugural performance of the new White House Dance Series transformed the stately room into a stage for some of the world’s most talented dancers to strut their stuff: Endless pirouettes, gravity-defying leaps, and some crazy one-handed spinning handstands, too.”
Belvoir Castle Selling Poussin To Fund Its Future
“The proceeds released from the sale of the painting will enable us to realise our core aims of securing the restoration and long-term preservation of Belvoir Castle and Estate. Following the successful sale of ‘Ordination’, it is our hope that the four remaining paintings will go back on public display at the National Gallery in London.”