Why Did This 11th-Century Woman Have Lapis Lazuli In Her Dental Plaque?

PEOPLE Posted: January 10, 2019 11:01 am

The likely answer not only opens up a new avenue for archaeology, it indicates that a highly-skilled medieval art associated with men (chiefly monks) had female practitioners as well. — The Atlantic

Tracing Bloodlines
The Stephen Petronio Company at Skirball American choreographers in the modern dance world have tended to disavow their heritages as they made new discoveries. In the 1930s, Martha Graham and ... [read more]
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2019-04-18
The Complexity Fetish
Nonprofit Quarterly has a thoughtful overview of complexity and sensemaking as they relate to organizations, the first of a four-part series on the subject. The general idea is that purpose-driven ... [read more]
AJBlog: The Artful ManagerPublished 2019-04-18
Theater tip: go straight to hell
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfer of Hadestown. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Does the Broadway musical have a future? Only if a new generation of ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-18
So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-18
Almanac: Eric Hoffer on power
“The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep.” Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-18
To Be Returned? Met’s Own Notre-Dame Sculpture Figures in Museum’s Program on the Cathedral
In yesterday’s post, I had suggested that the Metropolitan Museum could show its support for the fire-ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral by returning to it the Head of King David now in ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-04-17
The Correct Coltrane Link
A couple of readers have notified us that the link to the album reviewed in yesterday’s John Coltrane post was incorrect. Sorry if you were inconvenienced. This is the correct ... [read more]
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2019-04-17
Snapshot: Blossom Dearie sings Blossom Dearie
Blossom Dearie sings and plays “I Like You, You’re Nice” on an episode of Parkinson, originally telecast by the BBC in 1972. The music is by Dearie, the lyrics by ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-17
Almanac: Samuel R. Delany on power
“What real power can buy, of course, is anonymity.” Samuel R. Delany, Neveryóna ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-17
More joy
I talked in my last post about Steven Isserlis making a concert joyful, because he felt joy himself. Two nights after I heard him, on March 8, went to the ... [read more]
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2019-04-16
My friend Harry
Harry Jenks, for many years the ballpark organist for the Kansas City Royals, died in 1980. He was already mostly forgotten by then, and scarcely anyone recognized his name when ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-16
Lookback: on fact-checking a biography at the last minute
From 2009: A good biographer will do just about anything to comb snippets of apocrypha out of his book. Fortunately, Louis Armstrong almost always told the truth about himself, ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-16
Almanac: Martin Buber on power
“So long as a man’s power, that is, his capacity to realize what he has in mind, is bound to the goal, to the work, to the calling, it ... [read more]
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2019-04-16
Propwatch: the poppet in The Crucible
Last night, as a cat nestled in the crook of my arm and its paws rasped happily over my fingers, I thought: I’m just a step away from a 17th-century ... [read more]
AJBlog: Performance MonkeyPublished 2019-04-16
Coltrane ’58
John Coltrane, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) Every few years, curators of the great saxophonist John Coltrane’s extensive body of recordings come up with yet another retrospective of his ... [read more]
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2019-04-15
Notre-Dame in Flames: What Happened, What’s Next
“We will rebuild it,” vowed French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, after people around the world collectively gasped at the horrific sight of Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames. The sickening collapse ... [read more]
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2019-04-15
Yeast Never Dies
Yeast isn’t a food or an ingredient, except in tiny ways. It plays on food, like a conductor, or a cook. So when you realize that yeast floats in ... [read more]
AJBlog: Out TherePublished 2019-04-15
Joyful music
I heard three joyful classical concerts a month ago, on three successive nights. Such happiness in a single week! I’ll talk now about one of these evenings, Steven Isserlis playing ... [read more]
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2019-04-15
Home Again
Home again.They wereher last words.She neverhad a home.She slept in ditchesunder bridgesnear oldrailroad tracks.She never liked it.She never denied it. She called it home.—JH ... [read more]
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2019-04-15
John Cornford, the tragedy of a faithful communist
Understand the Weapon, Understand the Wound: Collected Writings Edited by Jonathan Galassi Fyfield Books, Carcanet, 238pp., $14.99 The Spanish parliament voted in September 2018 to exhume the remains of ... [read more]
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2019-04-15

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