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Some Numbers: College Enrollment Slide To Tech, Away From Humanities

The number of students nationwide seeking four-year degrees in computer and information sciences and related fields shot up 34 percent from 2017 to 2022, to about 573,000. The English-major head count fell 23 percent in that time, to about 113,000. History fell 12 percent, to about 77,000. - Washington Post

Turns Out The Glasgow Subway Is Just Like Conservative Florida Schools

No full-body imagery of Michelangelo's David here, the Scots say: "The designs commissioned by the Barolo restaurant were rejected from spaces in the subway over modesty concerns." - The Guardian (UK)

Making Art – And It Doesn’t Need To Be ‘Good’ Art – Is Superb For Mental Health

OK, and this is possibly unexpected, "Coloring within the lines — of an intricate pattern, for example — appears to be especially effective" at dealing with anxiety. - The New York Times

Social Media And Emojis Are Fueling The Return Of An Ancient Filipino Writing System

"One glance at Filipino social media and you will find a recurrent set of waves, twists and inverted heart shapes. They’re more than just symbols — they’re part of the 17-character writing system called Baybayin, which is making a comeback after hundreds of years." - NBC News

Steve McQueen’s New Documentary About Occupied Amsterdam Is Supposed To Be Challenging

"The weight of what happened was so heavy you can’t hold it in your head forever. If you forget things that’s OK because of the magnitude.... It’s a lot to juggle. Like a classical concert, you drift away in one place and come back into another." - Los Angeles Times

In Order To Save Downtowns, We Need To Destroy Them

At least the way they're configured now. The issue: "What to do with office buildings when we don’t need offices anymore?" - Wired

Students Chant In Support Of Hollywood Writers As Head Of Warner Bros. Speaks

"Picketers and audience members broke out in chants, including, 'pay your writers!' as Zaslav spoke about his career experience" at Boston University. - Washington Post

A Spider-Man Mask-Wearing, Hammer-And-Chisel Wielding Guy Attacks BBC Sculpture

This comes after the BBC decided to start restoring the sculpture by pedophile artist Eric Gill, which was also attacked in January of 2022. - The Guardian (UK)

The Person Who Wrote Your Favorite TV Show Is Eating Ramen, Not Caviar

Essayist - and TV writer - Samantha Irby: "Some guy commented on my Instagram that I was destroying the American family, and I was like, me? ... Then I should be richer than this! Like what are you talking about? I’m wearing a shirt from Target! I’m, I’m ruining families." - LitHub

The 1980s Were A Formative Decade For Asian American Cinema

"You have people who are imagining what ‘Asian American’ can be in wildly different ways, that might not adhere perfectly to that sense of needing to be very clearly part of the Asian American movement. ... It was a moment of ‘anything goes,’ that there were no rules." - HuffPost

An Artist On The Rise Who Wants To Slow Everything Down

Njideka Akunyili Crosby will go to many lengths in order to do the research for her paintings. "She spent hours looking through pictures of flora and fauna from Nigeria and L.A., spending time in a plant store and visiting the Huntington art museum’s expansive botanical gardens." - The New York Times

Who Owns This Statue? It’s A Mystery

How did The Wounded Indian, long thought to have been destroyed in the 1930s, end up in Norfolk? And who owns it now? - Washington Post

The Writers Strike Is Opening Some Barely Healed Wounds

To be honest, "as Hollywood has transformed since the 1950s, workers and their unions have contended with endemic insecurity". - Los Angeles Review of Books

Upending A Sacred Broadway Tradition Brought One Musical To A Much Wider Audience

That is to say, fan videos of Six made it a megahit. The closing number was "written specifically to be recorded and shared on social media ... and turns musical theater into a full-on pop concert." - Los Angeles Times

Nobel Prize Winners Demand The Release Of Belorussian Peace Laureate

"More than 100 Nobel laureates, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee, have called for the release of Nobel peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski and said they 'stand with the fearless people of Belarus who continue to fight for their human rights.'" - The Guardian (UK)

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