Fans of Russian lit will know Vladimir Mayakovsky as the great poet of the early Soviet era, but in 1925 – 100 years after the journey that led to Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America – he traveled to the United States (with stops first in Cuba and Mexico) and published his dispatches in Russian newspapers. (Mayakovsky did see the U.S. through Soviet eyes, but he loved New York City.)
Tag: 11.28.17
On The Morality Of Plants (And Of People Of Course)
“Human beings and other animals are, like plants, living things. In all three cases, Philippa Foot urged, there is room for speaking of healthy or unhealthy, excellent or defective specimens of their kind. This means that there is room to speak of the qualities conducive to their being healthy or excellent or otherwise. The vocabulary of human virtues and vices – courage, temperance, justice and so forth – belongs among the same structure of concepts. The human virtues, she proposed, are natural excellences, while human vices are natural defects.”
The Bookstore With The Designer Tote Bags (And How It Got That Way)
The Strand, on Union Square in Manhattan, is known for many things, including its book selection. But its consistent place in the world of tote bags might be equally famous – and now it has offered more than 100 designs. Why? “Books and tote bags go together naturally — one is an object to be carried, the other carries it. So it makes sense that Strand customers would gravitate toward the bookstore’s bags. The appeal of a tote, however, goes beyond mere utility.”
Arts Organizations Are Being Priced Out Of The Bay Area. Here’s How Some Are Trying To Help
The model in question finds CAST working with real estate developers, city government, local arts commissions and other stakeholders to help arts nonprofits navigate an out-of-control real estate market. Solutions include acquiring properties for lease/buyback by arts organizations, master leasing to sustain affordable rents, and building the capacity of nonprofits to afford them a permanent asset without jeopardizing their core operations.
What Exactly Are The Ballets Trockadero Parodying?
“New Yorker critic Arlene Croce [once] asserted that the Trocks weren’t addressing gender roles, but ballet roles, an altogether different topic: ‘a ballerina isn’t a woman but an abstraction of one.’ This distinction is politically and analytically useful: It aligns the Trocks squarely with high art, and makes clear that they aren’t – as some critics have said drag does – making fun of women. But it’s also wishfully tidy.”
Boston Globe Ends Use Of Freelance Critics
“Think about it for a moment. Will there ever be an editorial fiat decreeing one person write all of the newspaper’s political commentary? A demand from the newspaper’s publisher (and Red Sox owner) John Henry that the Globe’s sports chat be limited to the speculations of one man or woman? Somehow, when it comes to the stage, and to the arts in general for that matter, decades of tradition are being obliterated as if there was no reason for criticism in the first place. Why?”
Criticism In The Age Of Crowdsourced Opinion
“The predominance of singular authority has diminished. Wikipedia has replaced Encyclopedia Britannica. With rising healthcare costs, many only consult a doctor after they’ve tried to diagnose and treat themselves via WebMD. And when we have a question, all we need to do is ask the Facebook hive mind. For better or worse, technology has given everyone the opportunity to amplify their own voice, and even the most powerful individual will not be able to compete with the shouting of the masses. This will elevate some voices and diminish others, while forcing us all to better discern who we will trust.”
Lack Of Diversity Among Our Theatre Critics Is Hurting The Theatre
“The lack of diversity in theatre criticism not only does a disservice to the field and the readers, but also to the playwrights and productions. Certainly such artists as Suzan-Lori Parks and Ayad Akhtar, and others artists of color whose work speaks particularly to questions of identity, deserve to have their work scrutinized by a more diverse group of critics. In the age of Hamilton fanatics in New York, Chicago, London, and beyond, audiences have proven that there is not just space but a hunger for stories by and about people of color that work to rewrite, expand, or totally replace the white canon. So where are their peers in criticism?”
The Long, Surprising History Of Dinosaur Art
“Works of paleoart – a genre that uses fossil evidence to reconstruct vanished worlds – directly shape the way humans imagine the distant past. It’s an easy form to define but a tricky one to work in. Paleontological accuracy is a moving target, with the posture and life appearance of fossil species constantly reshuffled by new discoveries and scientific arguments. Old ideas can linger long after researchers have moved on, while some artists’ wild speculations are proved correct decades after the fact.”
How Dana Gioia Composes His Poems (Very Physically)
BBC World Service’s In the Studio visits the California poet laureate and former NEA chairman at his hilltop retreat, where he talks about how he feels a poem coming on physically and has to walk around as he’s composing it – as well as the origin of the ballad he wrote about the death of his Mexican-American cowboy grandfather in Wyoming. (audio)