How The Letter “Z” Got Co-Opted By The Russian Army Invading Ukraine
In short, the letter Z (which doesn’t actually exist in the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia) has been transformed and made toxic; it’s a remarkable...
The Inventor Of The Animated GIF Just Died
While he claimed to have “never got 1 cent” for creating the GIF technology, his invention transformed the internet ecosystem and the ways in which people...
What Did Jefferson’s Call To “The Pursuit Of Happiness” Really Mean?
Jefferson’s Enlightenment contemporaries fully understood. They accepted happiness as our greatest good. But only in theory. And theory, as they were often quick to...
Twelve Masterful Literary Descriptions Of Food
Even in the hands of the greats, food scenes can seem less than central to a story, more filler or filigree than substance. - The...
What We Learned At America’s Biggest Writers’ Convention
This year’s conference was generally low on jargon, but there were still notable moments of turbidity in the conference guide. - Los Angeles Times
Which Museums Have Recovered Visitors As COVID Eases
As elsewhere in the world, the US museums that struggled the most in 2021 were the big names: the world-famous museums in the big...
How A Couple Of Philadelphia Stations Invented The Local TV Newscast (And Messed Up...
In 1965, KYW-TV debuted Eyewitness News, followed in 1970 by WPVI's Action News, creating many of the local newscast conventions still in place today....
Social Media’s Impact On Teens
Many researchers say things like Instagram and TikTok probably aren’t entirely bad for all adolescents. They’re not entirely good, either, and can cause documented problems with...
MIT’s Robot Dog Is Now Patrolling Pompeii
"Spot is agile enough to inspect narrow passages and traverse uneven surfaces, and will collect terrain data alongside a laser-scanning drone released to fly...
A Defiant Wall Mural That Has Galvanized Belarus
Before the battle over the mural became a symbol of the nation they would call New Belarus, there were just three nondescript buildings in...
What It’s Like To Take Over Heidi Schreck’s Role In “What The Constitution Means...
Cassie Beck: "I started to make choices in my mind and see where my sense of humor might infuse it a little differently. I...
Surprising: Museums Haven’t Yet Embraced TikTok
The total number of followers on TikTok for all 100 museums is 1.3 million. That is compared to a total of 55.3 million followers...
Valentin Silvestrov, Ukraine’s Leading Composer, Is Now A Refugee In Berlin
"I don't know how we lived to see this," said the 84-year-old of the Russian invasion. As ensembles all over are performing his works...
Why Giving Grades Is Counter-Productive
They are demotivating, they don’t actually measure learning and they increase students’ stress. - The Conversation
Restoring Notre-Dame With Tools Its 12th-Century Builders Would Have Used
Experimental archaeologists Rick and Laura Brown have reconstructed the human-powered cranes that lifted huge objects during the Middle Ages and replicated the timber-framed roof...
Utah Choreographer Hit With Multiple Accusations of Sexual Harassment
When dancer Sybley Wozmak put up an Instagram post about her experience with a well-connected Salt Lake City choreographer, she got 250 responses in...
Nostalgia For Big-Box Bookstores? Really? Yes, Really.
"Chain box stores were big businesses, sure, but they were also a crucial third space for casual hangouts and serendipitous run-ins that metro suburbs,...
As The Pandemic Hit, Which Funders Came To The Rescue?
With so many venues losing earned income by closing their doors as COVID spread, individual donors and foundations increased their giving, but government emergency...
Nielsen, The Media Ratings Giant, Is Sold To Hedge Fund Group
"In a deal valued at $16 billion, Nielsen has agreed to sell itself to a consortium of private equity firms led by Evergreen Coast...
The World’s Most Visited Museums In 2021
Topping the list as usual is the Louvre, followed by the State Russian Museum (Mikhailovsky Palace) in St. Petersburg. (Where's the National Museum of...
Anne Parsons, Longtime Detroit Symphony CEO, Dead At 64
Over a 17-year tenure, she stabilized the orchestra's finances; led it through the Great Recession, a bitter 2011 strike, and COVID; saw the appointment...
Towards A New Definition Of Scholarship
“We believe the time has come to move beyond the tired old ‘teaching versus research’ debate and give the familiar and honorable term ‘scholarship’...
The Difficulty Of Telling History
There is no one past. There are countless pasts. Mine. Yours. The billions, or at least millions, of people who were alive at any...
Why This Moment Of Crises Is An Opportunity For Artists
Change is an act of creation, and that’s what artists do: Through a process of imagining, trying and building, artists create experiences that connect us...
A San Francisco Dance Powerhouse Turns 50
The dance school offers an array of classes that are now both virtual and, finally, in-person. The theater offers some 150 performances a year...
