That includes Stephen King, who testified at an antitrust trial against the merger. Industry insiders agree. The president of the Authors Guild said, "Reduced competition will likely make the sector even less diverse, and that's bad not just for authors, but also for readers." - NPR
"There is no doubt that this is a violation of copyright. Not only did RGV Productions and The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries of McAllen not obtain rights to perform the show in its entirety, but also didn’t receive permission to change the text." - OnStage Blog
Merini was "the voice of the marginalized. The lady of the Navigli. The mad poet. Alda Merini didn’t like these labels, but as one of Italy’s most celebrated literary figures, she couldn’t escape them." - The New York Times
The UK's arts access card for disabled audience members has been delayed until 2024. In the meantime, "It's the Wild West out there for disabled consumers. There's no consistency." And "During the course of the research, a number of theatres agreed their websites were confusing." - BBC
Julie Benko, who replaced Beanie Feldstein at 26 performances before being tapped to take over between Feldstein and Lea Michele, "has established herself in theater-loving circles as a performer worth seeing." - The New York Times
"Enjoying a book alfresco is one of summer’s simple, iconic joys, right up there with running through a sprinkler, spotting the evening’s first firefly or scraping a flat wooden spoon across a freezer-burned cup of Italian ice." - The New York Times
The 6th Street Viaduct, which has been reviled in its three weeks of life, gets a full design diary by Carolina Miranda. "The police presence is high. ... But the vibe is chill: Clutches of people are out for walks, taking selfies and shooting video." - Los Angeles Times
The e-waste workers of India, taking apart our discarded cellphones to make new machines: "No doubt we are at constant risk here, but what other option do we have?" - Slate
In the 1980s, "Barrett offered a new portrait of her father: droll, self-effacing, with an unspoken perfectionism that would doom him to bitterness in old age but that for four decades of maturity pushed him to dazzling artistic achievements, along with attentiveness to his family." - The New York Times
For decades after WWII, Oberammergau "resisted calls from prominent American and European intellectuals to tone down the play’s classic anti-Semitism. The Jewish people continued to be portrayed as a bloodthirsty mob" and much worse. Now, it's very, very different. - The Atlantic
Normal country; everything is fine: "Residents of Jamestown Township voted to defund the Patmos Library by a 25-point margin, after a local conservative group led a campaign against the inclusion of LGBTQ+ books." - Vice
"Five years almost to the day after it began, Hollywood’s evangelistic fervor for streaming has been extinguished this week by the Batgirl imbroglio." - Variety
If life in the 1930s was marked by a Great Depression, and the 2010s by a Great Recession, one might say our current decade is marked by a Great Regression. This return to childhood manifests in the things we consume, in how we spend our time, even in the ways our societies are governed. - Aeon
“Guests in love, please understand — most of the exhibits in our museum are objects ‘born’ many years ago and subject to completely different moral standards … We do not expose them to discomfort!” - Hyperallergic
