Gestures such as incorporating a Ukrainian flag into one’s username may be merely symbolic, but when users lobby politicians online, donate money, or even offer up their own homes to refugees, their engagement with the war begins to have real-world consequences. - The Guardian
"A rare 16th-century book offers 'compelling evidence' that William Shakespeare's Cymbeline was inspired by a now-lost play by Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier and writer, new research claims." - The Guardian
It’s essentially a turf war. Only Latino authors can write novels about Latinos. Only Holocaust survivors can convey the truth of the Holocaust. Only disabled people can portray disabled people. Everyone else is out. - The New York Times
"All have trained in Spain with esteemed maestras. Launching their unique international careers, they utilize flamenco as the basis for traditional and experimental work. Like the impasse facing Black ballerinas, they are on a path posted with 'no trespassing' signs. Yet, they persist." - Dance Magazine
"What is happening in this country in terms of banning books in schools is unparalleled in its frequency, intensity, and success," said Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America's Free Expression and Education program and lead author of the report. - Business Insider
"The Surrendered Wife's popularity highlights how an insular religious group with carefully preserved boundaries can in fact be quite porous to outside influence — particularly to views popular on the American Christian right. ... (Because) the idea of female surrender as a virtue is a foreign import." - MSN (The Atlantic)
Or, to put it more clearly, how the new streaming service — into which the previous bosses had poured hundreds of millions — was shut down ten days after CNN officially became part of the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate (and why Discovery couldn't signal its concerns beforehand). - The New York Times
"Some of those experiments, like Headline News (now HLN), paid off in a big way; others were here and gone in about a year. But all of them started ... from the roots of a network that itself was a wild bet when it first started." - Tedium
A report by the French daily Libération uncovered serious allegations of racial and sexual harassment, and even assault, at six of the 14 museums run by the municipal government. Mayor Anne Hidalgo has ordered that all cases be handled expeditiously and that preventive measures be implemented. - Apollo
"The first heritage task force of its kind, the Blue Helmets includes officers from Italy's specialist police force for art crime, and ... art historians and restorers. Its main tasks include assessing damage to heritage, planning conservation, and preventing looting and trafficking after terrorist attacks or natural disasters." - The Art Newspaper
The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, a 75-member ensemble assembled with the support of the Metropolitan Opera and Polish National Opera, will visit nine European cities, New York, and Washington in July and August under conductor (and Ukrainian-Canadian) Keri-Lynn Wilson (wife of Met general manager Peter Gelb). - The New York Times
"The incident crystallised several Jeffersonian themes: televised glamour, Black entertainers, and the question of how to behave in public." (In short, Smith and Rock both "are definitely too old ... for these shenanigans.") - The Guardian (UK)
In the past three years, the net number of moves out of Manhattan has increased tenfold. In every urban county within the metros of New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, immigration declined by at least 50 percent from 2018 to 2021. In downtown Detroit and Long Island, deaths actually exceeded births last year. - The Atlantic
Bourne’s 2017 research found that across four major British ballet companies — the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Northern Ballet, the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet Company — 2.2 percent of employed dancers were Black. - The New York Times
“Comedy survives every moment.” And good thing it does, Stewart said, because “comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether. We’re the banana peel in the coal mine. When society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first.” - Washington Post
