"In yet another major win for freedom to read advocates, a federal judge has ordered the Crawford County Public Library in Arkansas to stop segregating books deemed inappropriate by some local residents into special 'social sections,' and to return the books to general circulation." - Publishers Weekly
In 2022, fewer than half of adults reported reading a book in the past 12 months. Furthermore, only 38 percent reported reading fiction or short stories, a rate that has fallen a worrisome 17 percent over the past ten years. But digging into the data, I also found reasons for hope. - National Endowment for the Arts
Over the course of the concert, nearly a dozen musicians played for Adam Abeshouse. Each one embraced him after performing. At least for one afternoon, joy supplanted pain. - NPR
Within the Largest 50, the number of dancers within these companies ranges from 9 to 104, with the median number of dancers at 40.5. Within the Largest 10, the number of dancers within these companies ranges from 55 to 104, with the median number of dancers at 61. - Dance Data Project
During experiential fusion with music, you temporarily lose awareness of yourself as an individual entity separate from the music; you and the music have become one. If someone touched your hand and asked you, “Are you aware that you’re in a jazz club?” you’d almost certainly say, “Yes.” - The Walrus
An oral history: current and former Post staffers, along with people involved with the incidents in question, talk about how they come up with the headlines, reveal which ones were too much even for the Post, and flesh out the stories behind them. Yes, this includes "Headless Body in Topless Bar." - Esquire
Perhaps we’re wearing a mask that others are too inattentive to peer behind; or maybe we’re just too deep to know. There are many variations on a central theme: others sail to our shores, they even disembark, but they never quite venture into our unexplored interiors. - The New Yorker
Often, their authors are all too clearly estranged from the full resources of the English language: What should be putty in their hands is tough, fibrous, unworkable. Or they just can’t be bothered. They plunk down words one after the other like inopportune Tetris blocks, mismatched, ill fitting, and in the wrong order. - Hedgehog Review
The chattering classes – another useful Britishism – have a persistent desire for ostensibly clever ways to say stuff. They have borrowed from Wall Street, Silicon Valley, teen culture, African American vernacular, sports and hip-hop, and they increasingly borrow from Britain. - The Guardian
The four-member Tokyo-based company called Wozme isn't the first all-female butoh troupe, but it's the only one currently active in Japan — and, there as in the West, most people's image of butoh is a slowly-moving, near-naked man covered in white powder. - The Japan Times
The dense Mukogodo Forest, one of the largest in east Africa, is the traditional home of the Yaaku. Originally hunter-gatherers, they looked after the 300 sq km forest, using it for hunting, rituals and to collect plants and honey. “If we lost the language, we have lost the culture, we have lost the forest." - The Guardian
Listening to instrumental or familiar music in the background competes less with a study assignment than music with lyrics or unfamiliar music. Instrumental music also seems to interfere less with reading comprehension and assignments requiring verbal and visual memory than does music with lyrics. - The Conversation
The pianist has filed legal proceedings in the federal court, alleging MSO management cancelled the 15 August concert in Melbourne in an attempt to silence him over his stance on the conflict in Gaza. - The Guardian
"A band with 12 Sudanese members now lives with thousands of refugees in Egypt. The troupe, called Camirata, includes researchers, singers and poets who are determined to preserve the knowledge of traditional Sudanese folk music and dance to keep it from being lost in the ruinous war." - AP
"Insulated from mainstream Hollywood and decidedly idiosyncratic in their production — (faith-based films) are overlooked relative to their consistent success. We'll explore the rise of the faith-based film industry, tracing its historical roots and exploring the distinctive economics of these projects." - Stat Significant
