“The company’s Instagram and Twitter handles are both still @Madewell1937, and its LinkedIn page says, ‘Madewell was started in 1937 as a workwear company, and we’re always looking to the brand’s roots for inspiration.’ This is, to put it mildly, baloney. Madewell as it stands today has almost nothing at all to do with the company founded by my great-grandfather almost 80 years ago.”
Moscow’s Ferocious Literary Feud Over Solzhenitsyn (Who’s Been Dead For Six Years)
It all started when the editor of Literaturnaya Gazeta and Kultura suggested that Solzhenitsyn voluntarily left the Soviet Union (he was expelled in 1974) and that he “essentially appealed to the Americans to begin a war” against the USSR.
Come Enter The Poetry Brothel (Yes, It’s A Thing)
Founder Stephanie Berger: “Poetry and prostitution are two of the oldest professions in the world and, in my opinion, were always destined to be bedfellows. Both poetry and sex feed the human need for intimacy, fantasy, desire, violence, and freedom.”
Where Are The Real Debates In The Arts?
“I don’t see a lot of honest debate going on in our field – at least not public debate. Maybe it’s happening somewhere, but it isn’t highly visible and readily apparent to me. I wonder if that kind of challenging of assumptions and holding people accountable for their positions is going on out of the public window in our organizations – from funders to researchers to service groups to academia. I wonder if the kind of serious debate that is healthy for arriving at well thought out conclusions on which to base decision making is happening behind closed doors – because I don’t see it happening much in our public arenas.”
No, Practice Doesn’t Make Us Experts (But Here’s Why That’s Okay)
“If we acknowledge that people differ in what they have to contribute, then we have an argument for a society in which all human beings are entitled to a life that includes access to decent housing, health care, and education, simply because they are human. Our abilities might not be identical, and our needs surely differ, but our basic human rights are universal.”
The Unexpected Rise Of Indie Bookstores
“In 2009, the number of independent bookstores in the nation stabilized at around 1,400, and then slowly began to grow. As of last May, the number of indie bookshops in the U.S. was 1,664. Why the turnaround?”
Cincinnati International Piano Competition Gets A New Name, New Format, New Life
“The World Piano Competition will now be known as the Cincinnati World Piano Competition. The Artist Division, which has a top prize of $20,000, will be held every three years, instead of annually. And on alternate years, there will be a Young Artist Competition and an all-new Amateur Competition.”
Julio Bocca Injured In Auto Accident
The former ballet superstar, now director of the National Ballet of Uruguay, suffered “minor traumas” when his car ran off the road and flipped over about 30 miles north of Montevideo.
Can Ballet Depict The Abuse Of Native Children In Residential Schools?
“In one scene, a young residential school student receives crippling blows from a clergyman. In another, he is brutally strapped. His classmate later has her long hair sheared off. This is part of what viewers will see when Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation debuts at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet on Wednesday.”
Could We Reconstruct The Music Of Ancient Mesopotamia?
Composer and musicologist Stef Conner means to try. “The reason I think we can do this is that the language of the poems – their stresses, intonation, and rhythm – provides clues about musical style.”
The Philly Fringe Festival Isn’t Really A “Fringe”, Says Its Founder
Nick Stuccio: “[It] is really not a fringe . … I don’t know what it is. It’s an arts festival, picked by me and Sarah [Bishop-Stone, programming manager], that worked. We call it ‘fringe’ because 18 years ago we really didn’t know what we were doing and we called the whole thing the ‘Fringe’.”
Philadelphia Doesn’t Have To Say Goodbye To Those Thousands Of Sendak Items Forever
“Practically speaking, it doesn’t matter where the Sendak materials live or who owns them. Any exhibition uses only a few dozen items at a time, and loans are common in the world of arts and literature. In theory, if the Rosenbach and the Sendak trustees agreed, a steady stream of Sendak shows could continue to flow through the Rosenbach, and as far as the backstage legal status and residency of the collection goes, the public would be none the wiser.”
If A Japanese Filmmaker Takes Over Iconic U.S. Dreamworks, These Things Are Likely To Happen
“Beyond games featuring DWA characters, SoftBank could also offer DWA video content to its mobile subscribers, according to one investment banker not involved in the deal talks. For DWA, the deal would provide further financial firepower at a time when it has been trying to diversify its business amid disappointing box-office results.”
When We Use ‘Binocularity’ To See Ourselves, Sometimes Things Get Clearer
“Just as we need two eyes that integrate slightly different information about one scene to achieve visual depth perception, being able see ourselves though two fundamentally different lenses, and integrate those two sources of information, can give us a greater depth of understanding of ourselves.”
Does The Atlanta Symphony Lockout Have Its Roots In A Tragedy?
“The symphony’s problems arguably go all the way back to 1962, when more than 100 of Atlanta’s leading arts patrons embarked on a museum tour of Europe. Heading home, their plane skidded off a runway in Paris and burst into flames. Atlanta’s then-Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. acknowledged that almost the entirety of his city’s ‘old money’ philanthropic class perished on that plane.”
Taking The Traditional Book Tour And Making It A (Sometimes Literal) Circus
“Prominent comedians and writers, such as the ‘Portlandia’ star Carrie Brownstein and the novelist Zadie Smith, have thrown their weight behind Ms. Dunham and will appear on her tour as part of a carefully curated cast of artists, along with live music, poetry readings and, naturally, food trucks.”
The Intense Confluence Of Fashion And Art In New York (And In One Designer)
“I like to consider the intersection between subverting personal style, fashion-as-branding and artistry. Technically speaking I work with a lot of color and patterns — mostly that’s a personal preference — but I also think that color and humor are great tools for sticking it to the man; which is ultimately what I’m trying to do.”
Can Movie Theaters Win Back Some Customers With Things Like 4D (Whatever That Is)?
“The seat moved up and down and side to side, like a simulator ride. There were strobe lights; fog seemed to come out of the walls and little jets of water sprayed over the seats. During one scene, bubbles floated down from the ceiling.”
When A Poet On The Page Is Also An Award-Winning Slam Poet
“His ambivalence cut to the heart of the poetry world’s own resistance to performance poetry, which Miller described as ‘a fight between the poet who does his best work standing up, who finds his greatest eloquence on stage, and the poet who does his best work sitting down, who finds his greatest eloquence on the page.'”
Preparing To Live The Life You Really Should Be Living (In Ballet)
“‘Sometimes if you want something so badly you become your own worst enemy,’ she says. ‘I’ve often tried to make things work instead of letting them happen. Now I’m learning to let go.'”
The Crowd, Editing Books Before They’re Published
“With the author and other readers encouraged to respond to suggestions, the editing turns into a group conversation, potentially creating a real buzz in the runup to publication.”
Yes, Television Shows Can Save Lives (Maybe Yours)
“Can a TV show save lives? Can cisgender actor Jeffrey Tambor be enough of a first stepping stone for transwomen who’ve waited forever for any kind of representation? Could a transphobe somewhere see this show and feel something shift?”
The Bed, The Body, The Artist – Tracey Emin On Just About Everything
“That’s what I’m trying to understand. Where does that girl go? Where does that youth go? That thing that’s lost, where has it gone? I’m looking for it in the pictures; I’m looking for it in the paintbrush.”
How To Deal With A Sudden, Massive Influx Of Tourists At Your One-Of-A-Kind Artistic Wonder
“Orchestrated by filling in black-and-red line drawings with bright mineral pigments, the paintings in Cave 85 and the rest of the grotto complex are a rich trove of Buddhist art, illustrating sutras, parables and myriad other aspects of the religion. But their significance extends far beyond that, for the illustrations are important sources of historical information.”
Are The Two Sides In The Atlanta Symphony Lockout Heading To Arbitration?
Or not? “The fractured communication seemed to have reached its zenith on Saturday night when the administration and players released contradictory statements about their acceptance — or lack thereof — of the help of a federal mediator to restart stalled negotiations.”