AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Happy Thanksgiving!
Here is the turkey edition of AJ highlights: First, ever wondered what it takes to wrangle a giant balloon down Broadway on turkey day? Slate MSN floats a revealing, windblown dispatch from inside the Macy’s Parade (Slate MSN). Politics and the arts intersect, as ARTnews previews Mayor-elect Mamdani’s star-studded committee imagining a new direction for New York City’s cultural policy (ARTnews), and Texas Monthly investigates a literal rewrite of Alamo history (Texas Monthly).
On the creative front, The Spectator swoons for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s peerless sound (The Spectator), while Mother Jones asks: are AI-written children’s books a blessing or a literary blunder? (Mother Jones). Finally, if you can put down your phone long enough, Washington Post presents a new study on how constant device-checking saps our minds (Washington Post).
The rest of today’s stories below.
- What It’s Like To Wrangle A Giant Balloon In The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Katie Shepherd had wanted to be a balloon handler in the parade since grade school — since, believe it or not, she watched on TV the mess of 1997, when gale-force gusts wrought havoc on the balloons. In 2021 (and in calmer weather), Shepherd finally got her chance. – Slate (MSN)
- A Straightup Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition
<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2025/11/a-straightup-thanksgiving-its-a-tradition.html" title="A Straightup Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition” rel=”nofollow”> - Mamdani Names Culture Transition Team
The 28-member group includes curators, art dealers, journalists, and arts and nonprofit administrators. It ranges from Elizabeth Alexander, the president of the Mellon Foundation, which sits on an endowment of $7.7 billion, to Hannah Traore, who launched a 3,000-square-foot gallery on the Lower East Side not four years ago. – ARTnews
- Making Sense Of Sylvia Plath’s Suicide
Carl Rollyson: “After writing three biographies of Sylvia Plath, what more could I possibly say about her suicide? Yet … in Plath’s case, (there are) very different circumstances that separate her suicide attempt in 1953 from her second, fatal one nearly a decade later.” – The Hedgehog Review
ISSUES
- The Art Market Is Designed To Inflate Markets. But Here’s What Artists Need To Know
The structure itself is tilted toward collectors, dealers, and institutions. It is not designed to support artists. But artists who understand the language of the market can sometimes turn that knowledge into a form of protection. – Hyperallergic
- Exactly What Is This Odd New Group That Just Picked America’s Venice Biennale Artist?
If no one has heard of the Tampa-based AAC, this is because it was founded only in July of this year. The press release is so poorly edited that it repeats the same quote by executive director Jenni Parido twice. – Artnet
- Philadelphia Art Museum’s Ex-Director Of HR And DEI Indicted For Theft
“Latasha Harling, 43, was arrested in July and charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, and related crimes about six months after she quietly resigned from her job as the chief people and diversity officer for the museum.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- L.A. Times Art Critic Christopher Knight Is Retiring
“After 45 years, 36 of them at the Times, art critic Christopher Knight is retiring from daily journalism. His final day is Nov. 28. In 2020, Knight won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Art Journalism from the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation.” – Los Angeles Times
- Why The Record Sale Price For The Frida Kahlo Painting Is Nothing To Celebrate
In the rush to map cultural issues like gender disparity onto high-level financial trading, we’re forgetting that this has nothing to do with gender at all, and even less to do with art. – Artnet
MEDIA
- What It’s Like To Wrangle A Giant Balloon In The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Katie Shepherd had wanted to be a balloon handler in the parade since grade school — since, believe it or not, she watched on TV the mess of 1997, when gale-force gusts wrought havoc on the balloons. In 2021 (and in calmer weather), Shepherd finally got her chance. – Slate (MSN)
- Mamdani Names Culture Transition Team
The 28-member group includes curators, art dealers, journalists, and arts and nonprofit administrators. It ranges from Elizabeth Alexander, the president of the Mellon Foundation, which sits on an endowment of $7.7 billion, to Hannah Traore, who launched a 3,000-square-foot gallery on the Lower East Side not four years ago. – ARTnews
- Texas State Leaders Are Literally Rewriting The History Of The Alamo
“Months before top Republicans forced out the widely respected leader of the Alamo’s $500 million redevelopment for being too ‘woke,’ a close political aide to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick undertook a literal rewrite of the heritage site’s three-hundred-year history.” – Texas Monthly
- Federal Court Rules Unconstitutional Trump’s Dismantling Of Institute of Museum And Library Services
“A U.S. District Court (in Rhode Island) ruled in favor of 21 state attorneys general suing Donald Trump over the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and several other small federal agencies.” – Book Riot
- The Real Origins Of Disneyland
So perhaps it’s more accurate to say that, with Disneyland, it all started with a holiday to Chicago. – Los Angeles Times
MUSIC
- AI-Written Children’s Books Are Flooding The Marketplace. Is This Bad?
How big a threat is AI to quality children’s publishing, and does it also threaten children’s learning? In a sense, my questions—not all of which are answerable—boil down to this: What makes a good children’s book, and how much does it matter if a children’s book is good? – Mother Jones
- Writers At The New Yorker Are Furious Over The Firing Of A Fact-Checker
“The abrupt firing earlier this month of a senior fact-checker and New Yorker union member, Jasper Lo, has set off a swell of outrage among magazine staffers and contributors, including some of the most famous writers in America.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
- How Does Winning A Booker Prize Affect An Author’s Career Long-Term?
Yes, of course a Booker leads to soaring sales of the book that wins, but what about an author’s subsequent works? – The Bookseller (UK)
- Why Publishing Can’t Get Over Its Addiction To “Buzzy” Stories
Publishing, argues Isen, was once an industry that offered room for experimentation and long bets; now it’s haunted by the tyranny of short-term judgment. – The Walrus
- The Man Who Helped Determine The American Literary Canon
Determining what the nation did and did not read was the through line of Malcolm Cowley’s career. He was a great discoverer and nurturer of talent: Jack Kerouac, John Cheever, and Ken Kesey were among the writers he championed, and, of the critics he commissioned to produce reviews at The New Republic. – The New Yorker
PEOPLE
- Happy Thanksgiving!
Here is the turkey edition of AJ highlights: First, ever wondered what it takes to wrangle a giant balloon down Broadway on turkey day? Slate MSN floats a revealing, windblown dispatch from inside the Macy’s Parade (Slate MSN). Politics and the arts intersect, as ARTnews previews Mayor-elect Mamdani’s star-studded committee imagining a new direction for New York City’s cultural policy (ARTnews), and Texas Monthly investigates a literal rewrite of Alamo history (Texas Monthly).
On the creative front, The Spectator swoons for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s peerless sound (The Spectator), while Mother Jones asks: are AI-written children’s books a blessing or a literary blunder? (Mother Jones). Finally, if you can put down your phone long enough, Washington Post presents a new study on how constant device-checking saps our minds (Washington Post).
The rest of today’s stories below.
- What It’s Like To Wrangle A Giant Balloon In The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Katie Shepherd had wanted to be a balloon handler in the parade since grade school — since, believe it or not, she watched on TV the mess of 1997, when gale-force gusts wrought havoc on the balloons. In 2021 (and in calmer weather), Shepherd finally got her chance. – Slate (MSN)
- A Straightup Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2025/11/a-straightup-thanksgiving-its-a-tradition.html" title="A Straightup Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition” rel=”nofollow”>
- Mamdani Names Culture Transition Team
The 28-member group includes curators, art dealers, journalists, and arts and nonprofit administrators. It ranges from Elizabeth Alexander, the president of the Mellon Foundation, which sits on an endowment of $7.7 billion, to Hannah Traore, who launched a 3,000-square-foot gallery on the Lower East Side not four years ago. – ARTnews
- Making Sense Of Sylvia Plath’s Suicide
Carl Rollyson: “After writing three biographies of Sylvia Plath, what more could I possibly say about her suicide? Yet … in Plath’s case, (there are) very different circumstances that separate her suicide attempt in 1953 from her second, fatal one nearly a decade later.” – The Hedgehog Review
PEOPLE
- Happy Thanksgiving!
Here is the turkey edition of AJ highlights: First, ever wondered what it takes to wrangle a giant balloon down Broadway on turkey day? Slate MSN floats a revealing, windblown dispatch from inside the Macy’s Parade (Slate MSN). Politics and the arts intersect, as ARTnews previews Mayor-elect Mamdani’s star-studded committee imagining a new direction for New York City’s cultural policy (ARTnews), and Texas Monthly investigates a literal rewrite of Alamo history (Texas Monthly).
On the creative front, The Spectator swoons for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s peerless sound (The Spectator), while Mother Jones asks: are AI-written children’s books a blessing or a literary blunder? (Mother Jones). Finally, if you can put down your phone long enough, Washington Post presents a new study on how constant device-checking saps our minds (Washington Post).
The rest of today’s stories below.
- What It’s Like To Wrangle A Giant Balloon In The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Katie Shepherd had wanted to be a balloon handler in the parade since grade school — since, believe it or not, she watched on TV the mess of 1997, when gale-force gusts wrought havoc on the balloons. In 2021 (and in calmer weather), Shepherd finally got her chance. – Slate (MSN)
- A Straightup Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2025/11/a-straightup-thanksgiving-its-a-tradition.html" title="A Straightup Thanksgiving — It’s a Tradition” rel=”nofollow”>
- Mamdani Names Culture Transition Team
The 28-member group includes curators, art dealers, journalists, and arts and nonprofit administrators. It ranges from Elizabeth Alexander, the president of the Mellon Foundation, which sits on an endowment of $7.7 billion, to Hannah Traore, who launched a 3,000-square-foot gallery on the Lower East Side not four years ago. – ARTnews
- Making Sense Of Sylvia Plath’s Suicide
Carl Rollyson: “After writing three biographies of Sylvia Plath, what more could I possibly say about her suicide? Yet … in Plath’s case, (there are) very different circumstances that separate her suicide attempt in 1953 from her second, fatal one nearly a decade later.” – The Hedgehog Review
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Study: Constant Checking Of Your Phone Feeds Cognitive Decline
A study by the Singapore Management University found that frequent interruptions to check our devices lead to more attention and memory lapses. Unlike total screen time, the frequency of smartphone checks is a much stronger predictor of daily cognitive failures. – Washington Post
- Scientist: AI Creativity Is Mathematically Limited To Amateur Status
The study provides evidence that large language models, such as ChatGPT, are mathematically constrained to a level of creativity comparable to an amateur human. – Psypost
- Study: Our Brains Have Five Major Eras In Our Lifetimes
The study mapped neural connections and how they evolve during our lives. This revealed five broad phases, split up by four pivotal “turning points” in which brain organisation moves on to a different trajectory, at around the ages of nine, 32, 66 and 83 years. – The Guardian
- Those Eureka Moments And Why They’re So Remarkable
You never feel as if you’re getting warmer; rather, you go from cold to hot, seemingly in an instant. Or, as the neuropsychologist Donald Hebb, known for his work building neurobiological models of learning, wrote in the 1940s, sometimes “learning occurs as a single jump, an all-or-none affair.” – Quanta
- If Machines Do Most Of Our Writing, What Will Happen To Human Writing?
If you’re more likely to read something written by AI than by a human on the internet, is it only a matter of time before human writing becomes obsolete? Or is this simply another technological development that humans will adapt to? – The Conversation
