Why Science Isn’t Just About Data

IDEAS Posted: November 20, 2020 1:01 pm

“Before I drag you any further down what might strike you as a rocky, obscure and unpromising path, let me furnish an illustration of scientiﬁc censorship in action: the case of beauty.” – Aeon

A U.S. “Ministry of Culture” Under Biden? Just Say No, Joe!

Already anticipating a more culture-friendly president than the one who tried to eliminate federal appropriations for the National Endowments of the Arts and for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, some arts advocates are making noises about the creation of a... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-11-25
Snapshot: Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance Romeo and Juliet

Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance the death scene from Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet version of Romeo and Juliet. The score is by Prokofiev: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Snapshot: Margot Fonteyn... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-25
Almanac: Cesare Pavese on suffering

“There is an art in taking the whiplash of suffering full in the face, an art you must learn. Let each single attack exhaust itself; pain always makes single attacks, so that its bite may be more intense, more concentrated. And you, while its fangs are implanted and injecting their... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-25
What are Learning Outcomes For?

‘Bitzer,’ said Thomas Gradgrind. ‘Your definition of a horse.’ ‘Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.’ Thus (and much... Read more

Source: For What it's Worth Published on: 2020-11-24
The Holy Grail of the Beat Generation Neal Cassady: ‘The Joan Anderson Letter’

When Jack Kerouac read Neal Cassady’s spontaneous rush of words, he claimed it was more alive than any piece of writing he had ever seen. In its effusive style, its freewheeling candor, its Proustian (yes, Proustian!) introspection, the letter touched off a response in Kerouac that reshaped entirely his own... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-11-24
Lookback: a Frank Lloyd Wright tour of Milwaukee and Madison

From 2015: Milwaukee contains five buildings designed by Wright, most of them private residences. More often than not, his houses were commissioned by people who had a fair amount of money to spend, meaning that they were either built on large sites that are still surrounded by trees or in... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-24
Almanac: Walter Benjamin on happiness and the past

“Our image of happiness is indissolubly bound up with the image of the past.” Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History Continue reading Almanac: Walter Benjamin on happiness and the past at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-24
An -ing Life

No photo now, or photos. Not of November’s election’s “Dancing in the Streets”: one of my favorites by Martha & the Vandellas, to which we lifted our swaying arms when wracked and strafed Viet Nam was finally left to itself by our wretched and vicious government, like government now. I... Read more

Source: Out There Published on: 2020-11-23
Home fires

I miss Hilary and, I expect, always will. I gather that’s what happens when you lose a partner in the heartbreakingly unexpected way I did. Just the other day I muttered to myself, “Darling, I can’t remember—did you go to that Skin of Our Teeth with me in Stockbridge last July, or... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-23
Loosening a headlock

I’ve written a “Sightings” column for today’s Wall Street Journal about the reason why so few regional theater companies are webcasting their shows. Here’s an excerpt. * * * America’s theaters shut down in March, I’ve been reviewing streaming webcasts of theater productions. Not only have I been consistently impressed by the artistic and... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-23
Just because: Snoopy and Woodstock eat Thanksgiving dinner

A scene from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Just because: Snoopy and Woodstock eat Thanksgiving dinner at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-23
Almanac: Ambrose Bierce on gratitude

“When prosperous the fool trembles for the evil that is to come; in adversity the philosopher smiles for the good that he has had.” Ambrose Bierce, Epigrams Continue reading Almanac: Ambrose Bierce on gratitude at About Last Night.... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-23
Obama’s Return Engagement at the National Portrait Gallery: His “60 Minutes” Close-Up

Watching Barack Obama being interviewed at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) by Scott Pelley of CBS‘s “60 Minutes” brought back memories last Sunday of one of my two Best Press Previews Ever—the NPG’s unveiling of Obama’s portrait by Kehinde Wiley. (My other most memorable press preview was here.) Revisiting those... Read more

Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2020-11-20
Scrutinizing the inscrutable

In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Irish Rep’s webcast revival of Bill Irwin’s On Beckett/In Screen. Here’s an excerpt. * * * It’s a puzzle to me why we have yet to see a webcast of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” Not only is it a small-cast play with a simple... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-20
Replay: Ella Fitzgerald appears on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

Ella Fitzgerald appears as a guest on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show. This episode was originally telecast by NBC on March 8, 1959: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Replay: Ella Fitzgerald... Read more

Source: About Last Night Published on: 2020-11-20
REDUX: The Shithole and the Shithouse

Originally posted Jan. 17, 2018. By now many, many millions of people have seen the rebranded Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Or if they haven't, at least that many have googled it. If you're the one person who hasn't seen it, here it is. And here, not incidentally, is... Read more

Source: Straight|Up Published on: 2020-11-16