Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
What It Takes To Be A Conductor
“I didn’t know this when I started down this path, but leadership, charisma, group psychology and the ability to motivate people and manage egos...
Edinburgh Fringe Cancels Comedian After He Made Audience “Uncomfortable”
Jerry Sadowitz, 61, an American-born Scot, is a veteran of the Fringe and known for his provocative stand-up shows. The venue said it received...
How “Gangnam Style” Opened Korean Culture To The World
This goes some way to explaining the surprising Western enthusiasm, in the decade since “Gangnam Style,” for not just Korean popular culture but Korean...
Study: We Make More Virtuous Decisions When We Read On Paper
For example, participants who read their options and made a selection on paper were significantly more likely to give money to charity, choose a...
Salman Rushie, The Man, The Words
What makes the story so tragic, and the comic-television moment so illustrative of his nature, is that Salman, to those who knew him—no, know him—as a...
The Attack On Rushdie Is An Attack On Freedom Of Speech
The fatwa threatened not only Rushdie and those associated with The Satanic Verses, but freedom of expression more broadly. If Khomeini and the government of...
The Purpose Of Learning, The Links To Creativity
We accumulate what the philosopher Ruth Garrett Millikan calls “dead facts” — knowledge about the world that is useless for daily living, like the...
Movie Theatres: We’re Back!
The enthusiasm for movies adds to the list of prepandemic experiences people are embracing, such as going to concerts, gambling in casinos and traveling aboard...
How Teens Are Getting Around Book Bans
Students have formed banned book clubs like the one at Vandegrift High School, organized with statewide groups, and even overturned bans, like the students at Central...
Colored Statues — Did The Ancients Just Have Bad Taste?
The supposed whiteness of ancient statuary is intertwined with larger ideas of Whiteness in European culture, and the sense that colorizing the statues somehow...
Is The Out-Of-Town Tryout Done?
There’s a certain romance in the bygone days when shows would play Boston, Philadelphia and New Haven before turning up in the Big Apple,...
Why Facts Mostly Don’t Change People’s Minds
For many people, a challenge to their worldview feels like an attack on their personal identity and can cause them to harden their position....
Dances With Chairs: How A Wheelchair Artist Conquered Australian Stages
One day a dance tutor, Catherine Chappell, came to show the children a video about “mixed ability” dance. She invited Rodney Bell to play harmonica...
Gen Z Dilemma: What Actually Is A Healthy Relationship With Social Media?
Because young people have grown up with online communities, they have a more inextricable relationship with platforms and their identities. This changes the idea...
The Publishing Eco-System Is Consolidating, Narrowing What Americans Read
The Justice Department argues that the resulting merged company would control close to half of the best-seller market, continuing a longer history of publisher...
Salman Rushdie Attacked On Stage
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being...
Steve Martin Is Busier Than Ever. Retirement?
What these projects have in common — and what distinguishes them from Martin’s early days as the only guy onstage — is that he...
Disney Passes Netflix In Number Of Subscribers
Disney’s numbers include Disney+ (152M), ESPN+ (22.8M) and Hulu total, including Live TV, at (46.2M). - Deadline
Our Ever-Evolving Definitions Of What’s Obscene
Many words we consider, at best, crude were medieval common-or-garden words of description and were not considered obscene. To say ‘I’m going to piss’...
Why The Role Of Poet Critics Is Different From Other Critics
Most often the role of the poet-critic is neither to delineate nor disseminate, but rather to illuminate. In such manner the main subject of...
Does Life Have A Purpose?
There is no controversy in saying that a single organism wants to remain alive. Even bacteria purposefully move toward where there is more sugar....
Ah, Soviet Architecture. How Stylish! Stalin’s Architect Had To Make Compromises (You Think?)
Rather than not build at all, he was prepared to build what the dictator demanded of him. As a result, Boris Iofan is now...
Streaming Services Are Consolidating Or “Rebundling.” Maybe Not A Good Idea
We live in an age when identity is intimately tied to cultural consumption. Trying to be everything to all people is a risky strategy...
Spotify Starts Selling Concert Tickets With Its Playlists
The site lists gigs that are available to book on the home page, and under the My events section, users can see their past...
Pew Study: Teen Social Media Use Has Doubled Since 2015
The share of 13- to 17-year-olds who say they're "almost constantly" online has nearly doubled, from 24% in 2014-15 to 46% today. Among Black...
