Its students are deeply relieved. One said, "This school is my sanctuary from the stress of life as a Syrian refugee in Turkey. ... I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to it." - NPR
"We arrive before the sun comes up. Most often to a large studio parking lot or enclosed garage that is called the 'holding area' filled with folding chairs and long picnic tables. ... We eat, sleep, contemplate our life decisions — and on some lucky days, forge new friendships." - Los Angeles Times
A ban now "could deal a massive blow to the entertainment industry, forcing movie studios, record labels, casting directors, Hollywood agents, and actors to radically shift the way they do business." - Washington Post
Victoria Alonso's lawyer says that Alonso, "a gay Latina who had the courage to criticize Disney, was silenced." Disney, on the other hand, said it was because Alonso promoted an Oscar-nominated documentary on rival Amazon Prime. - Los Angeles Times
At Ben and Jerry's one night in Melbourne, Florida, it was the opening of the Banned Book Nook. Then there are the little free banned book libraries, the bookstores fundraising in order to give books away for free, and more pro-book activism. - NPR
"Reena Esmail acknowledged the irony that we were talking about her new choral work — 'A Requiem for Water,' inspired by California’s water crisis — in the midst of a deluge. She was wearing galoshes, as were many members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale." - Los Angeles Times
When a journalist doesn't find the story he wants, the thing to do probably isn't to write a long piece that pokes fun at the writer, his writing, the food in Utah, the writer's family, the writer's fans, and what the writer wears. - LitHub
The novel? Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin. The irony? The novel is partly about women not getting enough credit for their own game design. - Washington Post
The newly revamped space "is a boon for a New York dance scene still recovering from the setbacks of the pandemic. But it’s also an opportunity for an institution that was once central to dance in New York to regain importance, a possible realignment with a storied past." - The New York Times
The dialogue is abysmal, but experiments point "to a future where programs like ChatGPT don’t actually write movies, but generate plot ideas that could help human screenwriters out of trouble." - The Guardian (UK)
Ling Ma won for her short story collection and Isaac Butler for his nonfiction work The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act. - Los Angeles Times
The oldest son of Andrew Lloyd Webber had "a protracted battle with gastric cancer," representatives said. "We are all totally bereft," said Webber, who missed a Broadway opening to be with his son's family. - Seattle Times (AP)
As book banning efforts intensify—along with assaults on women’s bodily autonomy and on the AP African American studies curriculum—old-school feminist bookstores and new intersectional feminist stores alike are drawing customers seeking safe spaces for buying books and gathering information. - Publishers Weekly
