Nostalgia is a universal malady for which there is no effective remedy, and throughout its long history it has served politically diverse ends. - Washington Post
“It’s really good for learning receptive skills: listening, reading, learning about grammar and vocabulary, so it can be a great place to start. But oftentimes people struggle with production: speaking and writing. Studies have shown that again and again." - The Dial
Mohammed Rasoulof had been imprisoned for his work before, and he knew that his The Seed of the Sacred Fig — which ultimately got a 13-minute ovation and a special jury prize at Cannes — would land him there again. Yet he felt compelled to do it. - The New York Times Magazine
Murakami’s approach to consciousness is less representational than literal, with many of his characters literally being transported to a realm created by (or wholly inside of) their minds. - Esquire
In 1984, the first year for which data is available, 35 percent of 13-year-olds reported reading for fun “almost every day,” according to NAEP. By 2023, that figure was down to 14 percent, and 31 percent of respondents said they never read for fun at all. - Vox
“Every technology affects the way that we think, behave and interact. AI is not going away. It will become a part of our humanity, and therefore a part of our art-making.” - The Guardian
The leader of the group Declare Emergency, Donald Zepeda, got 24 months for destruction of government property, while group member Jackson Green got 18 months. They must also pay more than $58,000 in restitution. - Artnet
Eric Nuzum said he’s relieved NPR is trying to “correct audience erosion issues that should have been addressed years ago.” But he also concluded that it’s too little too late and that research shows that listeners say NPR is too boring. - Current
Lately, various writers with meaningful personal resources—money, followers, notoriety—have struck out on their own or made nontraditional arrangements. - The Atlantic
My guess is that there are thousands of A.I. accounts, commenting on one another to drum up attention. When the gambit works, it draws real fans of this kind of content. Who in turn are joined by another group clicking in to gawp at rubes interacting with fake stuff or to try to warn people it is A.I. -...
Macquarie Dictionary defines the word as "the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking." - The Guardian
The word saw an enormous spike in searches on the site in August, thanks to a TikTok video by a creator named Jools Lebron that went viral. - Smithsonian Magazine
The Georgia Congresswoman has been tapped by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new House subcommittee working with the pair's not-yet-created Department of Government Efficiency. She said, "We'll be looking at everything from government-funded media programs like NPR that spread nothing but Democrat propaganda." - Salon
"It was 1987, three years before Nelson Mandela walked free. ... We saw apartheid lasting till the crack of doom. It seemed impregnable. The law had once banned 'miscegenation'. And here I was directing Othello, a play about miscegenation, at Johannesburg’s Market Theatre." - The Guardian
"(He) was a celebrated wordsmith, a leading voice in literature in Afrikaans — an offshoot of Dutch that was developed by white settlers (in South Africa) — and a fierce critic of apartheid that was imposed against the country’s Black majority between 1948 and 1990." - AP
