Artists and writers have interpreted and reinterpreted George Armstrong Custer, who died in a storied battle that just had a major anniversary. - The New York Times
“Translators like to say, we discover our authors,” writes translator and novelist Anton Hur. “But maybe we’re wrong. Maybe the books choose us.” - American Scholar
When a tool reliably performs a cognitive operation, the internal capacity for that operation tends to weaken with disuse. People who know they can look up something on Google develop weaker memory for the information itself, and habitual GPS users show measurable decline in hippocampal-dependent spatial navigation. - Aeon
Classical music in the United States is borrowed from Europe, and that borrowing was initially ambitious and impressive. An apex was attained around 1900. - The New York Times
These 1,800 papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum, the only such library collection from ancient Rome to survive, were carbonized by the Vesuvius eruption; the scrolls would crumble if physically unrolled, so scientists are using X-ray and AI technology to decipher them. The first scroll to be completely readable is a text about Stoicism. - Smithsonian Magazine
My latest column, about the Ojai Music Festival, is my last. Although the musical scene exhilarates me more than ever — contemporary composition is eternally vital — I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. - The Rest is Noise
Give people an hour with nothing scheduled, and many fill it with thoughts of to-dos: the unanswered email, the errand that’s been put off, the project due next week. Free time is sometimes less a chance to rest than an opportunity to take inventory of our obligations. - The Atlantic
Researchers generally agree that the relationship between music and learning is complex. The effects of music on studying and other cognitively demanding tasks appear to depend on the type of task performed, the kind of music and the students themselves. - The Conversation
“The Bridge Teatre in London, opened in 2017 by the former National Theatre duo Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, has been acquired by Trafalgar Entertainment,” which owns more than 20 venues in Britain and elsewhere - The Guardian
Reading comprehension was significantly lower when the students read on screens. The researchers also found that the number of “transitions,” where students would go back and re-read the text before submitting their answers, more than doubled—and in some cases tripled—when kids read on screens. - Time
Australia’s theatre industry is in desperate need of tax reform to keep it alive, experts have warned the federal government, after two major touring musicals and a $20m opera cancelled shows in the space of a week, citing skyrocketing costs and soft box office sales. - The Guardian
Oh, Brad Bird, say it ain’t so: "Ratatouille director Brad Bird revealed he’s putting the kibosh on any sequels to that delightful, delicious film.” (Could we at least get the musical? Remember that from the early days of the pandemic?) - Vulture
“The Cultural Fund will be forced to reduce the number of grants it had been expecting to distribute in the coming year, from 332 to 232. It has changed its eligibility requirements, eliminating grants to a pool of midsize organizations.” Mural Arts, meanwhile, is reducing its budget by 26%. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Oja Kodar, the American film-maker’s partner and collaborator, has given her blessing to the project led by archives in France, Spain and Italy, along with the Munich film museum, to produce a coherent film out of 30 hours of footage scattered among them.” - The Guardian
“The Culture Ministry announced in May that it had acquired the fresco panels, dating from the 4th century, from members of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’s ancient noble families whose vast collection of antiquity has long been kept out of the public domain.” - AP
