Today's Stories

Is The U.S. Really Ready To Face The Mythmaking Of Little House On The Prairie?

A new Netflix adaptation would argue that some people - though likely not those trying to ban anything not “positive” in history texts - are so ready. - Salon

Tracee Ellis Ross Makes Her Broadway Debut

“Ross said that it had been a dream of hers to be on Broadway. Instead of throwing a birthday party to celebrate turning 40, she rented stages in New York City and Los Angeles and invited her friends to watch her perform a one-woman show.” - The New York Times

As Yet Another Version Hits Cinemas, Why Are We Still So Obsessed With The Odyssey?

“The Odyssey – the story of a warrior’s homecoming, his long and tortuous journey to reintegrate himself within his own household – has passed into the bloodstream of many storytelling traditions,” from Finding Nemo to Game of Thrones. - The Guardian (UK)

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Wins A Discrimination Case

Pianist Jayson Gillham, who spoke from the stage about Israel killing journalists in Gaza, said “I believe artists should be free to speak with integrity. … This case was never just about me. My principles remain unchanged.” - The New York Times

The New York Times’ Article On Kerri Greenidge Has Weird Timing And Research Issues

“The article offers no convincing explanation for a response this totalizing. It does not solve the mystery. It compounds it.” - Study Marry Kill

The High-Wire Casting Act Of Getting Celebrities To, Kind Of, Play Themselves

“The celebrity-as-celebrity casting is a delicate alchemy with volatile ingredients more likely to explode than create movie magic” - but when it works? It really works. - The New York Times

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Meta Won’t Stop Going After The Author Of Careless People, Proving The Book’s Point Over And Over And Over Again

“The optics of the case speak louder than the niceties of any contract dispute. Those optics advance the narrative that Meta is a heartless and negative force determined to stifle the truth about its misdeeds.” (In other words, buy physical copies of the book.) - Wired

Whistleblowers Accuse The Trump Administration Of Harming The Kennedy Center

“The documents — sent to a Senate and a House committee last month by lawyers for unidentified clients referred to as whistle-blowers — detail how vendors were selected for work without competitive bidding under rationales that are depicted as flawed.” - The New York Times

Some Streamers Sure Are Benefitting From This Men’s World Cup

Viewership is smashing records, especially for Telemundo and Peacock. The Mexico-England game was Telemundo’s most-watched telecast ever. Many English-speaking viewers have turned away from Fox because of its analysts line-up, joining the U.S.-based Spanish-speaking audience. - Variety

What In The Living Heck Happened To Decorated Historian Kerri Greenidge, And Her Most Famous Work?

“A major publisher appeared to pull a prizewinning history book about a prominent South Carolina slaveholding family and its role in the abolitionist movement, after several scholars accused the author of misleading readers” - and it looks like the historian lost her job at Tufts as well. - The New York Times

Meta Installs AI Deepfake Tool For Instagram On Tuesday, Removes It On Friday

That went well. "Just because Meta owns one of the largest social media platforms, and we're forced to use it, it's been taking it as an excuse to violate our consent and privacy again and again.” Uh, oops. - Business Insider

How Many Books Is Too Many Books For A New York City Apartment?

One landlord decided 10,000 was truly beyond the acceptable limit. - The New York Times

When Catcher In The Rye – Yes, That Old Chestnut Of Freshman Year – Saves You

“The great secret of Catcher, though—what gets lost in its reputation—is that Holden’s attitude is itself phony. He’s a tender kid who famously worries about the ducks in cold, icy Central Park, and who adores and hopes to protect his little sister, Phoebe.” - The Atlantic

There’s Science Behind Every Kid’s Addiction To Moana

That’s the animated one, not the new live-action one. - The New York Times

This Artwork Requires Covering The Gallery Floor In Peanut Butter

Smooth, not chunky - the artist wasn’t a monster. - The Guardian (UK)

The Women Inspired By Legally Blonde

“I had always worn pink and been really girly. I stood out in every room I was in. When I watched Legally Blonde, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I can be taken seriously.’” - The Guardian (UK)

At The Proms, A Return To The Family Secrets And Revelations Of Festen

"Given the complexity of the music, the central role of the voices and the challenging subject matter of the opera, how has it been to re-immerse in that sound world and those themes? Has learned anything new during the process of writing the orchestral suite?” - Bachtrack

The Schomburg Center Turns A Century Old

"Growing up in Puerto Rico in the late 19th century, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was told by his teacher that Black people had no significant history or accomplishments.” Just how wrong was that teacher? Very. - The Guardian (UK)

Transgender Teen Drops Out Of Irish Dance Competition After Florida AG Threatens Legal Action

The unnamed 17-year-old, who's been competing in girls’ youth divisions for several years, was enrolled as a contestant in last week's North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando. She withdrew after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened to pursue the competition’s governing bodies for violating state law. - Orlando Sentinel

Anish Kapoor And The Meaning Of The Void

“When Kapoor first made one of these works in Prussian blue, he was stunned to find ‘it wasn’t an empty space painted blue,’ he said. ‘It was full of blueness or, as I say, darkness. What was empty became full. How can that be?’” - ArtNet

By Topic

As Yet Another Version Hits Cinemas, Why Are We Still So Obsessed With The Odyssey?

“The Odyssey – the story of a warrior’s homecoming, his long and tortuous journey to reintegrate himself within his own household – has passed into the bloodstream of many storytelling traditions,” from Finding Nemo to Game of Thrones. - The Guardian (UK)

The Schomburg Center Turns A Century Old

"Growing up in Puerto Rico in the late 19th century, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was told by his teacher that Black people had no significant history or accomplishments.” Just how wrong was that teacher? Very. - The Guardian (UK)

What Society Is Losing As It Becomes Postliterate

“The literate era will prove to be a brief interlude between the oral and digital ages. Reading shaped the modern mind. Its disappearance will reshape it. Cognitive scientists are starting to understand what these changes might look like.” - The Atlantic

Does Worldwide Modernization Lead To Reduction In Cultural Differences? Not Necessarily

“When researchers have actually tried to document the size of cultural differences over time, the picture is far more complicated – and more interesting.” - Psyche

Who Makes Choices When We ‘Choose’?

“The brain initiates voluntary action unconsciously: our conscious sense that we have decided to act is actually the result of this brain activity.” It’s possible that our only choice is in deciding not to do something. - 3 Quarks

The Effective-Altruism Movement Is About To Make A Comeback, Powered By AI Titans And Their Money

“Since the (Sam Bankman-Fried/FTX) scandal, the movement’s organizations have shied away from the limelight and become extremely concerned with PR. For several years, their growth has been severely curtailed. But they survived. And the new AI money has given EA a chance to come back larger than ever before.” - New York Magazine

Is The U.S. Really Ready To Face The Mythmaking Of Little House On The Prairie?

A new Netflix adaptation would argue that some people - though likely not those trying to ban anything not “positive” in history texts - are so ready. - Salon

The New York Times’ Article On Kerri Greenidge Has Weird Timing And Research Issues

“The article offers no convincing explanation for a response this totalizing. It does not solve the mystery. It compounds it.” - Study Marry Kill

Whistleblowers Accuse The Trump Administration Of Harming The Kennedy Center

“The documents — sent to a Senate and a House committee last month by lawyers for unidentified clients referred to as whistle-blowers — detail how vendors were selected for work without competitive bidding under rationales that are depicted as flawed.” - The New York Times

Meta Installs AI Deepfake Tool For Instagram On Tuesday, Removes It On Friday

That went well. "Just because Meta owns one of the largest social media platforms, and we're forced to use it, it's been taking it as an excuse to violate our consent and privacy again and again.” Uh, oops. - Business Insider

A Lot Of True Believers Sponsored ‘The Chosen’ Before It Became A Money-Printing Juggernaut

But they seem to have been left behind. “A shareholder lawsuit, quietly filed this past week against 5&2 Studios in the Delaware Court of Chancery, alleges that some of those early acolytes were prevented from sharing in the miracle.” - Puck

New York Times, Ziff Davis, The Intercept, Others Accuse OpenAI Of Possible Obstruction Of Justice

As part of their broader lawsuits against OpenAI for copyright infringement for training its software on their media products without consent or compensation, the plaintiffs filed a motion accusing the company of lying during discovery by deliberately hiding evidence that its training datasets and output logs are searchable. - Variety

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Wins A Discrimination Case

Pianist Jayson Gillham, who spoke from the stage about Israel killing journalists in Gaza, said “I believe artists should be free to speak with integrity. … This case was never just about me. My principles remain unchanged.” - The New York Times

At The Proms, A Return To The Family Secrets And Revelations Of Festen

"Given the complexity of the music, the central role of the voices and the challenging subject matter of the opera, how has it been to re-immerse in that sound world and those themes? Has learned anything new during the process of writing the orchestral suite?” - Bachtrack

Pianist Who Made Gaza Speech Onstage Loses Lawsuit Against Melbourne Symphony

After Jayson Gillham made a controversial speech about the Gaza War during a 2024 recital presented by the orchestra, the MSO cancelled his concerto engagement four days later. Gillham sued the organization in Australian federal court, claiming his rights as an employee were violated. The judge has now ruled against him. - The Guardian

Ravinia Festival’s Concert Pavilion Reopens After $70 Million Overhaul

The open-sided Hunter Pavilion, where the Chicago Symphony performs every summer, has had changes made both for the audience (fewer but wider, ADA-compliant seats) and the orchestra players (LED lights and new ventilation to reduce onstage temperatures, improved onstage acoustics). - AP

Anthony Hopkins (Yes, The Actor) Releases First Recording Of His Classical Music — Conducted By Dudamel, No Less

The 88-year-old two-time Oscar-winner and acting legend says music was his first love, and Decca will release his first album, Life Is a Dream, on August 21. The disc, performed by London’s Philharmonia Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel, includes pieces composed over the entire course of Hopkins’s adult life. - The Hollywood Reporter

Competition Which Discovered Gustavo Dudamel Awards No First Prize This Year

The jury of the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, which Dudamel (in his first time leading a fully professional orchestra) won in its inaugural edition in 2004, decided not to name a winner for only the second time in the event’s history. The €20,000 second prize went to 31-year-old Polish conductor Jakub Przybycień. - Moto...

This Artwork Requires Covering The Gallery Floor In Peanut Butter

Smooth, not chunky - the artist wasn’t a monster. - The Guardian (UK)

Anish Kapoor And The Meaning Of The Void

“When Kapoor first made one of these works in Prussian blue, he was stunned to find ‘it wasn’t an empty space painted blue,’ he said. ‘It was full of blueness or, as I say, darkness. What was empty became full. How can that be?’” - ArtNet

The Bayeux Tapestry Arrives In Britain, Under Armed Guard, For The First Time In A While

Where “a while” equals 900 years. - BBC

The Bacteria That Causes Legionnaire’s Disease Has Been Found In The Guggenheim’s Cooling Tower

But, er, don’t freak out, New York. “The building remains safe for employees and visitors, according to both the museum and the union that represents its workers.” - The Art Newspaper

Bayeux Tapestry Arrives Safely At British Museum

“The secretive operation was the result of years of negotiations, tricky logistical planning and multiple technical studies to ensure the integrity of the 70-metre-long (230ft) medieval artwork.” - The Guardian

Have Two English Preservation Societies Been Exaggerating About ‘Witch Marks’ On Old Buildings?

One architectural historian might go even farther: “Anything on a stone building that looks like a design gets picked up as these damn things now. There’s absolutely no evidence they were ever used like that.” - The Guardian (UK)

Meta Won’t Stop Going After The Author Of Careless People, Proving The Book’s Point Over And Over And Over Again

“The optics of the case speak louder than the niceties of any contract dispute. Those optics advance the narrative that Meta is a heartless and negative force determined to stifle the truth about its misdeeds.” (In other words, buy physical copies of the book.) - Wired

What In The Living Heck Happened To Decorated Historian Kerri Greenidge, And Her Most Famous Work?

“A major publisher appeared to pull a prizewinning history book about a prominent South Carolina slaveholding family and its role in the abolitionist movement, after several scholars accused the author of misleading readers” - and it looks like the historian lost her job at Tufts as well. - The New York Times

How Many Books Is Too Many Books For A New York City Apartment?

One landlord decided 10,000 was truly beyond the acceptable limit. - The New York Times

When Catcher In The Rye – Yes, That Old Chestnut Of Freshman Year – Saves You

“The great secret of Catcher, though—what gets lost in its reputation—is that Holden’s attitude is itself phony. He’s a tender kid who famously worries about the ducks in cold, icy Central Park, and who adores and hopes to protect his little sister, Phoebe.” - The Atlantic

Reckoning With Beat Poet Allen Ginsburg’s Complicated Legacy

The great poet of Howl and defender of free speech has one (pretty huge) legacy problem during his centennial celebration: His defense of, and membership in, the North American Man-Boy Love Association. - The Guardian (UK)

Dinaw Mengestu Resigns As President Of PEN America After Only Seven Months

“Mengestu declined to provide further details. PEN America confirmed that he had resigned and also declined to say more. The organization has been on shaky ground in recent years because of backlash from writers and activists over its response to the war in Gaza.” - The New York Times

The High-Wire Casting Act Of Getting Celebrities To, Kind Of, Play Themselves

“The celebrity-as-celebrity casting is a delicate alchemy with volatile ingredients more likely to explode than create movie magic” - but when it works? It really works. - The New York Times

Some Streamers Sure Are Benefitting From This Men’s World Cup

Viewership is smashing records, especially for Telemundo and Peacock. The Mexico-England game was Telemundo’s most-watched telecast ever. Many English-speaking viewers have turned away from Fox because of its analysts line-up, joining the U.S.-based Spanish-speaking audience. - Variety

There’s Science Behind Every Kid’s Addiction To Moana

That’s the animated one, not the new live-action one. - The New York Times

The Women Inspired By Legally Blonde

“I had always worn pink and been really girly. I stood out in every room I was in. When I watched Legally Blonde, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I can be taken seriously.’” - The Guardian (UK)

LGBTQIA Film Representation Hit A Depressing Low In 2025

Mid-budget and horror films had some decent rep, but trans characters? There were none in 2025 films, says a study, and all other queer rep continued to decline. - The Guardian (UK)

Why So Many US English-Speakers Are Watching World Cup Matches In Spanish

“The math is simple. Census figures show that about 20% of the U.S. is Hispanic, yet Telemundo points to Nielsen ratings to show that roughly half the World Cup viewers in the U.S. have watched at least some portion of some matches in Spanish.” There are a number of reasons for this. - AP

Transgender Teen Drops Out Of Irish Dance Competition After Florida AG Threatens Legal Action

The unnamed 17-year-old, who's been competing in girls’ youth divisions for several years, was enrolled as a contestant in last week's North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando. She withdrew after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened to pursue the competition’s governing bodies for violating state law. - Orlando Sentinel

The Groundbreaking Dance Trio A Turns Sixty

“By eschewing music and narrative in favor of seemingly pedestrian motions—toe taps, limbs folding and unrolling—that don’t repeat, challenged dance tradition when it premiered in 1966. It requires performers to maintain what Rainer describes as an ‘uninflected continuity.’”- Dance Magazine

Nina Ananiashvili On Dancing And Choreographing Odette And Odile In “Swan Lake”

“For me, the key has always been to make Odette the embodiment of pure femininity, sorrow, refinement, and forgiveness — but never weakness. ... Odile, by contrast, should be explosive, feminine, bold, daring and wicked — but never vulgar. You know, without steam coming out of her nostrils.” - Gramilano (Milan)

How U.S. Dance Companies Have Been Approaching Patriotism For America250

Some companies have embraced outright celebration; a few are pointedly grappling with what they see as troubling issues in the country’s history and present. Many are highlighting the huge body of American choreographic work, both ballet and modern/contemporary. - Dance Magazine

When Tamara Rojo Danced With Robots

Such an opportunity was bound to present itself to the director of San Francisco Ballet in the 2020s. It’s no surprise that she took the opportunity — but what she has to say about the experience, while quite perspicacious, isn’t much of a surprise either. - The Times (UK)

Why ‘Trashy’ Ballet Is Actually Good, At Least For Bringing In Audiences

“Call it ballet-qua-haunted house. … Audiences came in-kind on opening night, sporting black lace, corsets, velour, brocade and, in at least a couple cases, a top hat and a waxed mustache.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo)

Tracee Ellis Ross Makes Her Broadway Debut

“Ross said that it had been a dream of hers to be on Broadway. Instead of throwing a birthday party to celebrate turning 40, she rented stages in New York City and Los Angeles and invited her friends to watch her perform a one-woman show.” - The New York Times

Broadway Theaters’ Cleaning Workers Reach Contract Agreement, Avoiding Strike

“The cleaners, represented by 32BJ of Service Employees International Union, reached a tentative deal that includes $5 an hour wage increases, a 21% increase from the current rates, by the end of the new four-year contract, as well as improved paid leave and protection for its employer-paid family health care.” - The Hollywood Reporter

How Many Parody “Heated Rivalry” Musicals Can The World Handle?

There are already at least four this summer, with more in production. "With the show’s success – all perky keisters, swanky hotel shags, a secret sex cottage and just a smidgeon of hockey – reckons it was inevitable.” - The Guardian (UK)

Four London Theatres Listed As At Risk Of Closure

Borough Hall, Streatham Hill Theatre, Tottenham Palace Theatre, and the Intimate Theatre have been deemed “at risk of closure, redevelopment, or demolition.” Three of them are being eyed for conversion into churches or other sites of worship. - The Standard (London)

The Origins Of Performance Star Carmelita Tropicana

“What resulted was not just an outré and out lesbian ‘Latin spitfire,’ in words, but also decades of film and theater work on topics ranging from racism and homelessness to revolution to questions of identity.” - Hyperallergic

More Reporting On the Troubles At Arena Stage Under Ousted Director Hana S. Sharif

And, for balance, this report also includes on-the-record favorable comments from one high-level staffer who worked with Sharif at Arena — Reggie D. White. who followed Sharif to DC from the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. - DC Theater Arts

Frida Kahlo Hadn’t Intended To Be An Artist (A Biographical Refresher)

Because she’s even more ubiquitous than usual this year — a blockbuster show at Tate Modern, a bio-series at Netflix, a fantasy opera about her at the Met, a new record ($54.7 million) for a woman artist at auction — here’s a recap of her life. No mention of the affair with Trotsky, though....

Louise Lasser, Star Of “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” Is Dead At 87

Her deadpan performances in Woody Allen’s early films (she was his second wife) first brought her to public notice, but she achieved real fame as the pigtailed, gingham-wearing, put-upon suburban heroine of Norman Lear’s soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which aired 325 episodes over its 18-month run in 1976-77. - Deadline

Richard Glanton, Combative Former Head Of The Barnes Collection, 79

“The problems at the Barnes were so obvious,” he told The New York Times in 1993, “Ray Charles could see them in a swamp at midnight.” - The New York Times

Theatre Historian Robert Kimball, 86

Robert Kimball, a musical theater historian and champion of American popular song who unearthed hundreds of pieces long thought to be lost and helped rediscover the work of the seminal Black Broadway songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. - The New York Times

Mike Wallace, Who Wrote ‘Gotham’ And Gave New York A Textured, Bottom-Up History, Has Died At 83

Wallace was "a self-proclaimed radical historian whose magisterial, unvarnished biography of New York, Gotham, written with Edwin G. Burrows, won the Pulitzer Prize and inspired two more door-stopper volumes about the city.” - The New York Times

That’s Right, Actor And Director Olivia Wilde Took That Last Name To Honor Oscar

She’s from the US, but her family (like a whole lot of people in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and other diaspora landing spots) also claim Ireland. - Irish Times

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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Wins A Discrimination Case

Pianist Jayson Gillham, who spoke from the stage about Israel killing journalists in Gaza, said “I believe artists should be free to speak with integrity. … This case was never just about me. My principles remain unchanged.” - The New York Times

What In The Living Heck Happened To Decorated Historian Kerri Greenidge, And Her Most Famous Work?

“A major publisher appeared to pull a prizewinning history book about a prominent South Carolina slaveholding family and its role in the abolitionist movement, after several scholars accused the author of misleading readers” - and it looks like the historian lost her job at Tufts as well. - The New York Times

LGBTQIA Film Representation Hit A Depressing Low In 2025

Mid-budget and horror films had some decent rep, but trans characters? There were none in 2025 films, says a study, and all other queer rep continued to decline. - The Guardian (UK)

Will The Kennedy Center Survive This ‘Open,’ Empty Time?

“What’s left has the air of a ghost ship, as the center’s board prepares to reconsider to what degree the building will remain open. The Kennedy Center declined to comment.” - Washington Post

ABC, Fighting Back Against The FCC, Says That ‘The View’ As A News Show Is Long-Settled Law

“The F.C.C.’s focus on The View plays on longstanding grudges held by the president against the show and some of its hosts, and thrusts a talk show started by the ABC journalist Barbara Walters as a breezy kaffeeklatsch into a molten national debate.” - The New York Times

We Need To Talk, Again, About That Possibly AI-Generated Award-Winning Short Story

“While nothing that he writes is of much interest, Nazir himself is shaping up to be an oddly appealing character. He’s a cultural chancer.” (And wow, Commonwealth Prize jury, what were you doing?) - Slate

More Reporting On the Troubles At Arena Stage Under Ousted Director Hana S. Sharif

And, for balance, this report also includes on-the-record favorable comments from one high-level staffer who worked with Sharif at Arena — Reggie D. White. who followed Sharif to DC from the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. - DC Theater Arts

The Legit Classical Composer Who Can Sell Out Madison Square Garden

Joe Hisaishi developed his huge following with his scores for Hayao Miyazaki’s animated films for Studio Ghibli. Yet he’s long had a parallel career as a conductor of standard orchestral repertoire in Japan. Now he’s shifting his focus to classical music, and he’s been appointed the Philadelphia Orchestra’s composer-in-residence. - The New York Times

Trump’s White House Excoriates The Smithsonian National Museum Of American History

“The White House condemned the  for what it said was a failure to celebrate the nation’s heritage, arguing it had become a political tool intent on denigrating the American story.” No First Amendment red flags here at all. - The New York Times

Can Anyone Save Wikipedia?

Elon Musk and a MAGA army, not to mention AI, not to mention (other) authoritarian governments, are sure coming for the little nonprofit that could. - The New York Times

The MAGA-Reviled Smithsonian Museums Saved Many Lives On The Fourth

Did someone hit a big flashing “irony” button for our timeline? - The New York Times

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