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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 in to exaggeration and fearmongering. - InsideHigherEd

For The First Time In Over A Decade, The Paris Opera Ballet Has A New Full-Length Story Ballet

Le Rouge et Le Noir, based on Stendhal's novel, has choreography, costumes and set design by Pierre Lacotte, 89, who's been with the company since starting as a student in 1942. He's known for his reconstructions of 19th-century classics such as Philippe Taglioni's original La Sylphide. - Pointe Magazine

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. - Inside Higher Ed

The Real Skill Behind A Great Magician’s Show (It’s Not How The Tricks Are Done)

Joshua Jay: "In my craft, unlike filmmaking, I have to find the intersection of suspense and surprise, and that's difficult. In a two-hour movie, you get to alternate. You can have some surprises and lots of suspense, but in a magic show you have to have them together." - Salon

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 and collaborative partner for all kinds of local musical organizations. - San Francisco Chronicle

How’s This For Brave? A Complete Wagner ‘Ring’ Cycle, Set In Samoa, Performed With Orchestra In A Parish Church Hall

That's exactly what the London-based collective Gafa, run by Samoan-British singers, is doing for the next four Saturdays, in a costumed concert staging. The concept is that, like the Norse gods, the old Polynesian gods are facing their twilight as Europeans arrive. - The Guardian

Abdulrazak Gurnah Won The Nobel Prize For Literature. Why Wasn’t His 2020 Book Published In The US?

“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. But it failed to reach a wide readership and wasn’t even published in the United States. - The New York Times

Urdu And Hindi Are Basically The Same Language. Why Do Hindu Nationalists So Violently Hate Urdu?

It's not as simple as Urdu=Muslim and Hindi=Hindu. Not only did the two languages — which share all their grammar and most of their vocabulary — develop in tandem, but Hindi got many of its most basic features, including its name, via Urdu from Persian. - Scroll (India)

Haunted House Attractions Are Immersive Theater. What Distinguishes The Good Ones?

Really, it's the same things as with any other theater: good actors with good material matter more than special effects. As Halloween approaches, Alexis Soloski talks with actors at two notable attractions about what works. - The New York Times

Meet The Great-Grandson Of One Of The Benin Bronze Sculptors, Who Still Runs A Foundry In Benin City

Monday Aigbe has a statue of his ancestor in the middle of his complex, where craftsmen continue to cast bronzes and carve sculptures and ornamented doors using traditional methods. He's eagerly awaiting the return of his great-grandfather's artwork. - BBC

This Is The Second Most Popular Talk Radio Show In America (You May Never Have Heard Of It)

"Like much of talk radio, The Ramsey Show sits in a murky zone between journalism and entertainment. It is not quite a news program, religious service, reality show, infomercial, or financial advice; it is somehow all five." - Columbia Journalism Review

In Chicago, Nearly Half Of Small Performing Arts Orgs Can’t Or Won’t Reopen Yet

The Donnelly Foundation surveyed 91 of its grantees (organizations with budgets under $1 million) and found that 44% of them either can't return to in-person performances this season or are unsure if they should. Among the issues: venues too small for social distancing. - MSN (Chicago Tribune)

After A Century, The Last Tsar’s Palace Is Restored And Reopened

The Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo near St. Petersburg, where Nicholas, Alexandra, and their five children lived before being shipped off to Yekaterinburg to die. The decade-long restoration required an astonishing amount of detective work to determine the original colors and patterns. - The New York Times

So It Continues: Hong Kong Passes China-Style Film Censorship Law

The legislation bans any film deemed against the national security interests of the People's Republic of China, with violators subject to three years in prison and $130,000 in fines. The law is expected to hasten the decline of Hong Kong's once-vibrant movie industry. - The Hollywood Reporter

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 most influential cultural export? - Chicago Tribune

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