“Like ‘feminist,’ ‘censorship’ has to be interpreted in context. Censorship really has two effects: symbolic and actual suppression of material. Since Beres’s print became a cause célèbre after it was censored, it is not being actually suppressed, only more widely circulated.”
Tag: 11.13.12
Philip Roth’s Advice To A Young Novelist
“Really, it’s an awful field. Just torture. Awful. You write and write, and you have to throw almost all of it away because it’s not any good. I would say just stop now. You don’t want to do this to yourself. That’s my advice to you.”
When The ‘Dance’ Disappears From Contemporary Dance
“But [traditionalists’] snorts of ‘this isn’t dance! I didn’t see a single pas de bourrée!’ shouldn’t be taken lightly. Do they have a point when they opine that many contemporary choreographers have removed themselves so far from the notion of dance in a traditional sense, that the remaining performance qualities should perhaps be considered as something else altogether?”
Benjamin Zander Starts New Boston Youth Orchestra After Forced Departure From NEC
“Benjamin Zander, one of Boston’s most prominent classical music figures, is back leading a youth orchestra. Watching him now, one could find it hard to imagine that less than a year ago, his four-plus decades at New England Conservatory came to an ugly end.”
Piracy As A Force For Good
“I’m more bothered about the fact that if you look at Disney’s pattern of acquisitions, they’re acting like Procter & Gamble, they’re acting like a packaged goods company. In fact, less innovative than a packaged goods company.”
Spokane Symphony’s Labor Impasse Is Really An Existential Crisis
“Might we all at least agree that no one can live on $15,000 a year? And might we also agree that if the SSO is to attract the kind of talent that has transformed what at one time was, at best, an upscale community orchestra into what it is today, a musical organization worthy to performing in the Martin Woldson Theater, our underpaid musicians at least need time to supplement their income.”
Women Lead In Governor General’s Book Awards
“Women dominate the winner’s circle for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Awards, with authors Linda Spalding and Susin Nielsen, and illustrator Isabelle Arsenault among this year’s English-language laureates.”
What Does The Random Penguin Merger Say About Publishing’s New Model?
“Ever since Amazon began ripping apart the book business, the largest houses have been looking for a way to fight back. If this merger is any indication, they have chosen an old-fashioned strategy: Size.”
The Personal Biography Problem – How Close Should A Writer Get?
“The challenge of writing a biography about a person who is still alive is that an author must first establish trust and a comfort level with a subject, to get access and a free flow of information. But the biographer is still expected to evaluate and expose unsparingly.”
Zaha Hadid: On Being Arab And An Architect
“Being an Arab woman and a modern architect certainly don’t exclude each other – when I was growing up in Iraq, there were many women architects. You cannot believe the enormous resistance I’ve faced just for being an Arab, and a woman on top of that. It is like a double-edged sword. The moment my woman-ness is accepted, the Arab-ness seems to become a problem.”