One letter, signed by 2700 authors and entertainers, calls for a boycott of Israeli cultural institutions that are “complicit in violating Palestinian rights,” while another letter, signed by 1000 authors and entertainers, claims, “boycotts of creatives and creative institutions simply create more divisiveness.” - The New York Times
Or at least, that’s how Millennials remember the Book It! program, which is - shockingly - still going strong, 40 years in, with personal pan pizzas for kids in K-6th grade who read a certain number of books. - The New York Times
That’s a rise of 200 percent over 2023, which was already a huge year for organizations that rub their hands in glee as they try to stop kids from reading. - The New York Times
Anne Michaels, author of the spare, gorgeous Held says, "You can use brutal language to describe brutality, but that’s a lie; language can’t represent brutality. It’s exactly the same when I’m trying to get at the most beautiful, profoundly intense experience of intimacy.” - The Guardian (UK)
A package of articles considering some of the most important examples (including forgotten ones) of the style, from Eero Saarinen's Tulip table (the man detested table legs) to Isamu Noguchi's Akari lamps to the Eames Shell chair to Charlotte Perriand's modular shelving units to the city of Columbus, Indiana. - Dezeen
A two-part essay by Ben Davis in which he considers (Part One) what exactly it is about a work that can give someone the physical response he calls "aesthetic chills" and (Part Two) why visual art doesn't seem to induce those chills as often as other art forms do. - Artnet
"(This will be) the first time since at least 1888 the newspaper won’t have even one reporter dedicated to covering the city’s cultural life," said the paper's union. "The Sun will continue to cover news developments in the arts and food industries, but ... (not) the soul of features reporting." - TheWrap (Yahoo!)
"Everyone who works (in the job) has stories about the expensive, delicate, sacred and impossibly large things they’ve had to pack into a crate and ship somewhere:" weird things such as an electric chair, and difficult things like a 3,000 pound pre-Columbian artifact amidst an ice storm. - The Washington Post (MSN)
Gavin Newsom "declared his intent to expand the annual tax credit to $750 million, up from its current total of $330 million, which would make California the top state for capped film incentive programs, surpassing even New York.” - Los Angeles Times
“Reading books is a battle in a way that, once upon a time, it wasn’t. That is to say: it’s never a battle while I’m inside the activity itself but granting myself permission to get inside it can be.” - Tom Cox
The blackmail plot cost millions. “The state’s objective was to prevent the leak of photos, videos and audios that revealed King Juan Carlos I’s infidelity with actress and TV star Bárbara Rey. Public knowledge of the affair would have put the stability of the monarchy in jeopardy.” - El País
Bernadine Evaristo, Booker winner for Girl, Woman, Other, is “paying it forward” by hosting writer residencies at her house. “We need to build a more supportive infrastructure to help writers from every background thrive and, in doing so, keep literature in all its life-enhancing manifestations, alive.” - LitHub
The reopening is barreling toward its reopening date, and “while visitors to the most notable cathedrals in neighbouring countries, including Spain, Italy and Britain, routinely pay for the privilege, France’s Roman Catholic church is fiercely opposed to the idea.” - The Guardian (UK)
She had spent decades as a TV and public radio journalist and host, and, this past February, she suddenly found herself unable to utter anything but gibberish. Here's how her neurosurgeon identified and remedied the problem and how she and the therapists recovered her ability to speak. - The New York Times
"Recently, I was playing guitar and singing a cute little country ditty that required no vocal skill. My sister-in-law, who was listening, exclaimed, 'That was so beautiful. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard your real voice.' She’s been hearing me sing for 40 years." - The Atlantic (MSN)
"Because publishers can’t rely on surprise bestsellers like Hillbilly Elegy, they find themselves playing a game of 4-D chess every fourth fall: How can they schedule their busiest season in an attention vacuum? And more confoundingly, what should they publish in the face of an uncertain outcome?" - Esquire
Why is Blair Kamin doing this? "I’m a realist, and I realize that, given who the Tribune is owned by now and given the realities of the business model of journalism having collapsed, either somebody was going to do something, or nothing would get done." - Medill Local News Initiative
Yes, the Met tops the list (by Post art critics Philip Kennicott and Sebastian Smee), and museum aficionados will have heard of the others, but the order of the rankings may surprise you. - The Washington Post (MSN)
For years, the Connelly Theater has been performing in two auditoriums at a Catholic school in Manhattan’s East Village. In recent months, the Archdiocese of New York has started scrutinizing scripts and denying permission to stage in the building anything deemed contrary to Catholic teaching. - The New York Times
