Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Personal Cost Of The Noise Around Us
According to the World Health Organization, noise exposure and its secondary outcomes such as hypertension and reduced cognitive performance are estimated to account for...
China’s Web Novels Are Changing The Way We Read
Having built a thriving multibillion-dollar web fiction industry at home, Chinese web novel platforms are increasingly looking to sell their stories — and the...
How Mort Sahl Changed Comedy And Flamed Out
He became a comedian’s comedian—venerated by other comedians, especially those old enough to know that they wouldn’t be doing what they were doing if...
Campus Threats To Academic Freedom? Maybe Not So Much
None of this is to say that higher education shouldn’t be vigilant about threats to academic freedom and free speech. But let’s not give...
For The Second Year, College Enrollment Falls
Undergraduate enrollment across the board fell by 3.2 percent this fall, echoing last fall’s 3.4 percent decline. Since fall 2019, undergraduate enrollments have dropped by 6.5 percent....
Remembering Conductor Michael Morgan And His Impact On The Bay Area
The scope of Morgan’s outreach was both personal and institutional, both public and below the radar. He made the Oakland Symphony a meeting ground...
Abdulrazak Gurnah Won The Nobel Prize For Literature. Why Wasn’t His 2020 Book Published...
“Afterlives,” which explores the brutality of Germany’s colonial rule in East Africa, came out in Britain in September 2020 and was hailed as a masterpiece....
The Real Questions For Movie-Makers After The Santa Fe Accident
I start to question things I should’ve been questioning harder, earlier. Do we need this stuff? Why does recreational screen slaughter remain America’s number...
Twitter Has 211 Million Users, Up 13 Percent
Revenue of $1.28 billion was up 37%. Twitter sales are advertising based and saw U.S, total sales up 45% to $742 million and ad...
Why Has Gender Become So Contentious Worldwide?
The attacks on so-called “gender ideology” have grown in recent years throughout the world, dominating public debate stoked by electronic networks and backed by...
You’re Writing A Book. How Do Your Choose Names For Your Characters?
When it comes to writing, naming is one of the more fun problems of fiction, perhaps especially speculative fiction, where names can be as...
Museum Shows With A Moral Message? Yes, Actually
So it’s an exhibition with a pointed moral agenda. But it’s not preachy or obvious. It’s smart, it’s thoughtful, and it’s visually compelling. -...
Do Cars Belong In Art Museums?
There's a "danger of treating the car as an art object in itself. It may be art, but it’s a very different kind of...
How Conspiracy Theories Work
“In folklore, we have this law of self-correction. So if something doesn’t quite fit, you go back to the way you heard it from...
Is The Sitcom Dead?
There are a few reasons why the sitcom seems, if not comprehensively deceased, then at least less responsive than it has ever been. - The...
How The Russian Version Of “Married… With Children” Became A Cultural Phenomenon
So successful was the sitcom that they ended up running out of American scripts to adapt and they soon began writing their own. All told, Schastlivy Vmeste ran...
Who’s Listening To Podcasts
In the U.S., 40% of internet users listen to podcasts. In Canada a third (32.8%) listen and in Mexico a quarter do (25.8%). But...
Ron Mercer Collected 2000 Music Instruments. Why?
"I get bored or start counting the same thing twice, so I'd say probably close to 2,000." Two narrow walkways allow Mercer or his...
Why It’s So Important To Figure Out Who Gets To Own Our Data
Our problem today lies in finding a model of data ownership that recognizes the collective interest we have in how personal data is used,...
Journalism’s Obsession With Metrics Is Killing It. The Lessons Apply To Culture
Such dynamics incentivize journalists to craft their reporting according to clickbait criteria that emphasize controversy, conflict, sensationalism, and anything that prompts people to engage...
Orchestras And The Vaccine Requirement
“People are being forced to do this, not invited. I’ve already had COVID, and I had a terrible reaction to a vaccine in my...
Like Sports, Ideas Have To Be Played To Be Tested
Sport is fundamentally about what you do when the chips are down, not what you say or plan beforehand. What matters is how well...
Remembering Bernard Haitink
You went to a Haitink concert fully aware of what to expect, only for those expectations usually to be surpassed. Haitink was able to...
Who Can Speak With Authority On The Pandemic?
Presumably, it would be those of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s rank, or, in other direction, people completely outside of the medical world: artists documenting an...
Only Three Months After Brain Surgery, Michael Tilson Thomas Resumes Conducting
When he resumes activity, MTT will first lead the New York Philharmonic (Nov. 4–7) and then return to San Francisco (Nov. 12–14), where he is music director laureate,...
