This Little Light of Mine: The inimitable Mr. Cummings speaks to the League’s annual meeting about how the arts has the power to change lives. “As I march toward the twilight of my life, there’s nothing more important to me than seeing children have opportunities. – YouTube
‘Judy Punches Back’ — Creating A Feminist ‘Punch And Judy’ Show
“[Puppeteer Sarah] Nolen wanted a new challenge: save Judy from centuries of unfair abuse and repurpose her story as an empowering allegory for audiences of all ages.” Roxanna Myhrum, artistic director of the theater where Nolen developed Judy Saves the Day, writes about how it all went down. – HowlRound
How Jaap Van Zweden Used Music To Get His Autistic Son To Speak
Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes talks to the conductor and his wife, Aaltje, about how their son Benjamin, now 29 and able to speak Dutch and English, was uncommunicative until they found a way to use songs to help him speak. The van Zwedens went on to start a foundation and a residential facility for seriously autistic young people. (includes video) – CBS
Soprano Measha Brueggergosman Hospitalized, Awaiting Emergency Heart Surgery
As she posted on Facebook, “Nearly ten years to the day of my aorta exploding, I woke up in Calgary on the day I was meant to fly home to Nova Scotia” — for her father’s funeral, no less — “with severe chest pain.” Brueggergosman, 41, is expected to have a coronary double-bypass. – Ludwig van Toronto
How The National Orchestral Institute Is Preparing Diverse Young Musicians For The Orchestra World (And Vice Versa)
Anne Midgette: “Preparing young musicians for a career in music looks different now than it did in 1988, when NOI began. A big part of instrumentalists’ training has always been learning to play orchestral excerpts as best they can, to land a job in an orchestra. But in today’s world, orchestra jobs are ever harder to come by, and orchestras are struggling with their identities, trying to figure out ways to become more diverse in their personnel and their programming. Institutions like NOI can play an active role in that kind of shift.” – The Washington Post
Again, Sergei Polunin Tries, And Fails, To Explain His Way Out Of The Doghouse
He told Italy’s Corriere della sera, “Men must get up and rediscover the force to assume responsibility, whether they are gay or straight, and not become lazy. If women start to think that they can do without men, then they lose their purpose in life.” (And there’s more.) – Gramilano (Milan)
A Mysterious And Shadowy Literary Fellowship That Existed In Secret And Then Was Abruptly Canceled
“I remember more experienced writers telling me that I should say yes to every opportunity until I had earned the privilege to say no. But hope is both a strength and a weakness; it takes time to learn the difference between those who feed it and those who feed off of it. I wish someone had told me that early-career writers are the cheap gas on which much of the writing business runs.” – The New Yorker
Marin Alsop On Being A Pioneering Woman Conductor
Despite the progress made in recent years, she said, female conductors were still judged differently from their male counterparts while on the podium. “The thing about conducting is it’s all body language,” she said, and “our society interprets gesture very differently from men or from women.” – The New York Times
How Independent Bookstores Are Becoming Hip Again
Across Britain and Ireland indies are doing what they do best: hosting readings and signings, cooking up literary lunches and generally feeding curiosity. Bookshop crawls are quite the thing now and you can join one locally or engage in literary tourism farther afield. – The Observer
New Berlin “Super-Museum” Gets Delayed
The opening of a €600m super-museum in Berlin has been postponed to next year, raising sceptical eyebrows among locals wary of the German capital’s growing tendency to deliver large public building projects late and over budget. – The Guardian
How The Trump Era Has Changed Comedy
“When satire is doing a good job, it’s not just punching up. It’s reminding us of our complicity.” But there’s no double meaning in outrage: “Outrage tells you, ‘Here is the thing, here is the thing that’s bad, here is the thing that’s good. … It says exactly what it should conclude. You don’t have to draw conclusions.” – Politico
Genius From A Different Time: Elon Musk Is A Throwback Entrepreneur
“His personality isn’t so different from one of those determined entrepreneurs from the 1900s who wanted to stick a motor on a carriage and get people moving without having to hitch a horse. For grizzled industry veterans, Wall Streeters, and Musk critics, he can be tough to take. But he’s not usual, in the history of people who start car companies.” – Business Insider
Too Many People Want To Go To Burning Man
Burning Man organizers had proposed raising the current 80,000 limit as high as 100,000 in coming years. But the Bureau of Land Management said in releasing the final environmental impact statement on Friday its preferred alternative for the proposed 10-year renewal of Burning Man’s special recreation would stick with the cap that’s been in place since 2017. – Washington Post