Stories

2,800-Year-Old Bone Flute Discovered In Ruins Of Troy

The relic is the first musical instrument found at the site in 156 years of excavations. - Smithsonian Magazine

After 20 Years, “Spring Awakening” Creators’ Second Musical Is Finally Making Its Mark

With their Broadway debut a smash hit, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik expected their next musical, Nero (about the Roman emperor), would go far But, after a 2006 production in San Francisco, the piece got nothing more than workshops and showcases for producers. At long last, Nero is having its London premiere. - The Guardian

Defining The Artificial State

We have not a single piece of meaningful legislation in the United States Congress about artificial intelligence. We have essentially nothing about social media. This is something that we’re now battling out in the courts.  - The Walrus

The Telephone’s Role In Changing Intimacy

This may strike you as a little paranoid. The rise of the telephone, in the past century and a half—from the rotary diallers at home and the boxes in the street to the smartphones in every pocket—is associated with a change that, broadly speaking, we consider positive. - The New Yorker

Physical Witness Becomes More Important In The Age Of AI

For a time, the photograph or moving image acquired its own evidential authority: seeing something recorded was, with reasonable caveats, grounds for accepting that an event had occurred. - The Conversation

Previously Unseen Writing By Harry Houdini Is Published

“Houdini, whose real name was Eric Weisz, was a prolific author, with more than two dozen books, short stories and plays to his name. One of them, an article titled ‘An Interesting Scrapbook,’ ... appears for the first time in print on Saturday” — the centennial of his death — “in Strand magazine.” - The Guardian

Virginia, DC, Sue To Stop Construction Of Trump’s Arch

The 45-page lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia called the project "flagrantly unlawful," attorneys general Jay Jones of Virginia and Brian Schwalb of the District of Columbia wrote. - NPR

Naming That Sense Of Civic Disconnect Of Values

How do we give shape to this disquiet? We might call it fatigue, burnout, or ‘just needing a break from the world’, but often it’s grief – mourning for a faith we once had in fellow citizens to recognise a certain decency or sense of fairness. It isn’t partisan; it’s human, and it has a name. - Psyche

How One Dancer Brought Ballet To A Post-Industrial English Town

In the early years, Darius James said he would cover the word "ballet" on the van they took to do community workshops because he feared it would put people off before trying. - BBC

Federico García Lorca Has Finally Become A Queer Icon In Spain Itself

While the Anglosphere has long seen the poet-playwright as a gay icon, that side of his life and work was for decades suppressed within his homeland. Any scholar who dared discuss the subject would be denied access to the family archives (and likely harassed by the Franco regime). That has finally changed. - The Guardian

New NEA Data On Americans’ Arts Participation

The dataset now spans 2003–2025 and includes newly added data from 2024 and 2025. It is available through the NADAC website for free download and online analysis. - NEA

How American History Became Divisive

Under this rigid order, there’s no room to interrogate our rocky history, let alone change it for the better. There’s just one nation, under God, indivisible—now, always, and forever. - Mother Jones

Google Says It Will Shut Off Search For Schools That Reject AI

A.I. features are now a standard part of Google’s commercially available search engine. “Search and A.I. are deeply integrated.” If a school has banned A.I., he added, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.” - The New York Times

How An Indian Classical Dancer Embodies An Ancient Nonbinary Character

Hindu mythology includes several figures described as third-gender, mixed-gender or genderless. Bijayini Satpathy, one of the great living practitioners of Odissi dance, had never played any of those characters before creating her new solo piece, and she wasn’t sure she would even know how. - The New York Times

Phoenix Symphony Management And Musicians Say They’re Making Progress On A Comeback

“In a joint statement, the unionized musicians, board and staff say the meeting discussed fundraising progress over the past week, and a possible plan to resume performances as early as this month.” - KJZZ (Phoenix)

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