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Have We Given Liberal Arts Institutions Too Much Credit?

While liberal arts institutions do have intrinsic value, that doesn’t mean they are entitled to be socially favoured or economically exceptional for ever. A particularly stubborn myth is that liberal arts education has a monopoly on cultivating critical thinking. - The Guardian

Why Perfectionism Is Killing Our Culture

This fetishization of perfection might not be surprising, but that doesn’t make it any less damaging. You cannot learn or grow while trying to appear as if you have everything figured out. You cannot talk to God by trying to avoid doing something wrong. Perfection is stagnation. - The New York Times

Tom Stoppard, Man of Ideas

A man of consummate urbanity who lived like a country squire, he was a sportsman (cricket was his game) and a connoisseur of ideas, which he treated with a cricketer’s agility and vigor. - Los Angeles Times

Museums Struggle To Reinvent In A Shifting Landscape

As public funding evaporates, political scrutiny intensifies, and donor behavior shifts, museums are confronting a turning point: adapt or risk irrelevance. The museums best poised for the future are those willing to embrace collaboration, transparency, and experimentation. - Artnet

Carrie Soloway, The Real-Life Person Who Inspired Prime’s ‘Transparent,’ Has Died At 88

“Dr. Soloway went to red carpet events related to the show,” but she didn’t love them. “She was very humble in terms of publicity; she wasn’t interested in it. … She loved the show and us and the character, but sometimes she wasn’t in the mood to be everyone’s favorite trailblazer.” - Chicago Sun-Times

How The Classical Guitar Becomes One Of The Most Complex Instruments, In A Good Musician’s Hands

“What’s distinctive about the classical guitar is its simplicity. Ultimately, it’s basically a wooden box with strings attached and a fretted neck, a bridge, a saddle, and tuning pegs. Classical guitar has no inbuilt amplification, and the sounds are produced very directly.” - Aeon

What Will This French City Do If Its Famous Comic Book Festival Fails?

Angoulême is where graphic novels and comic books are normally celebrated in a huge festival each year. But maybe not in 2026. “Criticized for financial opacity, harsh management style and the firing of an employee who had filed a rape complaint, the company 9e Art + has found itself cornered on all sides.” - Le Monde English (Archive Today)

Fighting To Save Britain’s First Multiplex Movie Theatre From A Housing Development

“As a shot of commercial and architectural adrenaline, it revived British cinema-going, welcoming more than a million visitors in its first year, and impelling the subsequent proliferation of multiplexes.” - The Guardian (UK)

How Did Tom Stoppard Fund His Playwriting?

Hollywood. “At one point in the early 1990s, Stoppard earned $500,000 for a five-week stretch polishing various projects for Universal Pictures. … He seemed to have a particular fondness for dog movies, contributing to both Beethoven and 102 Dalmatians.” - The New York Times

Ethan Hawke On Playing The 5-Foot-Tall, Combover-Laden Lorenz Hart

“Hawke shaved his head and stood in a trench to appear shorter than his co-stars. This literally gave him a fresh view on the world.” - The Guardian (UK)

Clueless Colleges Are Preparing To Harm Their Students In The Name Of ‘Preparing’ Them For A World Of AI

“Based on the available evidence, the skills that future graduates will most need in the AI era—creative thinking, the capacity to learn new things, flexible modes of analysis—are precisely those that are likely to be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.” - The Atlantic

Video Games Are Feeding A Deep Well Of Conspiracy Theories

“In the fiction of Assassin’s Creed, humanity is descended from ancient aliens; ... world events influenced by a shadow war between two secret societies; the media exists to manipulate the public. This makes for an exciting series of video games” — but it echoes real-life conspiracy theories. - Slate

Daniel Woodrell, The Author Of Winter’s Bone, Has Died At 72

Woodrell was “a novelist known for prose as rugged and elemental as the igneous rock of the Ozark Mountains, his birthplace, which he returned to just as his artistic craftsmanship peaked.” - The New York Times

The Oxford Word Of The Year Is Probably Something You Experience Every Day

You know what clickbait is, right? Well, the word of the year is its anger-fueled cousin, rage bait, "manipulative tactics used to drive engagement online, with usage of it increasing threefold in the last 12 months.” - BBC

There’s A Lot Of History, And Art, Beyond Art Basel Miami Beach

Getting beyond the tent walls means understanding just how much the Cuban diaspora means to the city. - The New York Times

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