Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Romance Writers Of America Rescinds Award Over Genocide Charges
Romance Writers of America, which earlier this month rescinded an award given to the 2020 novel “At Love’s Command” over complaints that it “romanticized...
Why Wikipedia Has A Compelling Need To Transcend Languages
Wikipedia leaders presented a new initiative that could theoretically unify the information presented by all of the other Wikipedias, a proposed language-independent encyclopedia that...
Francesca Harper Named New Artistic Director Of Alvin Ailey II
Her mother, Denise Jefferson, directed the Ailey School from 1984 until her death in 2010. Harper didn’t just attend dance classes at the school; she...
Youth Radio Station Pokes Fun At Older Music Fans In A Tweet (It Didn’t...
“Did it hurt? When you aged out of the youth radio station,” the national youth broadcaster tweeted. - The Guardian
Nation-building Abroad? We’re Not Very Good At It At Home Either
"I know something about this rhetorical vagary because it involves nominally the same efforts America supposedly applies to strengthen its own communities that are...
Facebook Admits: Engagement Might Not Be The Gold Standard
Optimizing for engagement is at the heart of many of the criticisms of social platforms. An algorithm that’s too focused on engagement might push...
Paramount Is Suing Insurance Company Over COVID Shutdowns On New “Mission Impossible”
The film was shut down seven times as a result of the pandemic and now Paramount Studios, the movie’s distributor and producer, is suing...
Italy’s Surreal New Fellini Museum Reconfigures A Historic Downtown
The museum occupies two historic buildings, with a large piazza in between, effectively reconfiguring a significant part of Rimini’s downtown. - The New York...
You’re Right — Things Are Worse Now Than They Were 60 Years Ago
Sixty years after Kennedy’s speech to Congress, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone willing to make the case that accomplishing hard tasks, solving...
The Difficulty Of Organizing University Professors
One challenge many faculty members faced was lack of practical knowledge. Almost invariably, we found faculty unable to think outside of the framework for...
Conspiracy Theory Du Jour: The “Live” Internet Died Five Years Ago
Dead-internet theory suggests that the internet has been almost entirely taken over by artificial intelligence. Like lots of other online conspiracy theories, the audience...
Why We Work Too Much
The ubiquity of overwork is a serious obstacle for many of the ideas about how we might reshape our professional lives in the months...
Disney Doesn’t Want Frank Oz To Make Muppets Anymore
“They don’t want me because I won’t follow orders and I won’t do the kind of Muppets they believe in,” he continued. Just how...
What You Say You Know…
As near as I can figure, when I claim to know something, I am only announcing to myself or to others that henceforth I...
China Restricts Kids’ Video Game-Playing
Gamers aged below 18 will be limited to one hour of online game play, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and...
The Fate Of Artists And Culture Workers Under The Taliban
A vibrant, educated, outward-looking civil society formed, and many Afghans facing Taliban 2.0 have no memory of the shockingly brutal Taliban regime that fell...
Attempts To Fix A Mies van der Rohe Masterpiece – A Disaster As A...
As a museum, it has always been a disaster. Ever since it opened, the New National Gallery has been dogged by cracking windows, heavy...
A Genre Of Books Promises To make You Smarter. True?
Most of the time, thinking sounds like hard work, but add “smart” to the front and it sounds more attractive: hipsterishly mid-Atlantic, vaguely technological...
The Thriving Book Community On TikTok
BookTok is a hashtag on TikTok, where readers post videos of book recommendations, talk about writing novels and make reading-related jokes. The hashtag...
The Societal Benefits Of Public Nudity
According to a series of surveys conducted by researchers at the University of London, not only did those who engaged in naturism have higher...
Rite Of Passage: Now There Are Academic Citations For TikTok
The iconic MLA Handbook has added an entry for TikTok, so Noam Chomsky 2.0s, who need to cite videos from the social media powerhouse,...
Why We Need Poetry Right Now
Indeed, in our age of social media, words are often used as weapons. Poetry instead treats words with care. - The New York Times
Why Artists Need Mentors
Many times when teaching, (especially dance criticism or dance history) I find that many people do not know important and influential dancers, teachers or...
Is There Too Much Music?
he source of discovery is the last 70 years of music. It's all brand new, right now. So you're competing with every song that...
The End Of Fans?
At this tumultuous moment, I think we each have to decide for ourselves which pieces of art to keep, and which to throw out....