Stories

Why The Bayeux Tapestry Thrilled Ancient Audiences

If we look at the meanings incorporated into different objects during the early medieval period, we see that the Bayeux tapestry is a visual form of the scop, an early medieval storyteller who told tales of heroes and great deeds, helping to preserve the oral tradition of the early English peoples. - The Conversation

Have We Wrecked Childhood?

This doesn’t sound like a very nice life, does it? It’s an existence in which you’re micromanaged and surveilled, given almost no freedom or privacy, and put under constant pressure while, at the same time, being seen as incompetent and lazy.  - The New Yorker

Twilight Of The Oxford Dons

These same dons disdained Britain’s provincial universities—known pejoratively as Redbrick—as well as academics in the U.S., whom they scorned for going about their business with “woefully unnecessary seriousness.” A don, by contrast, was effortlessly successful. - The Wall Street Journal

This May Not Be The Great American Novel, But It’s Got To Be The Great American Manuscript

That would be the 120-foot scroll of architectural tracing paper on which Jack Kerouac typed — single-spaced — his original draft of On the Road. He produced the whole megillah in three very caffeinated weeks. - AP

Vancouver Police Break Into Gallery Mistaking Sculpture For Person In Distress

According to the VPD, a caller reported seeing a person’s feet sticking out from behind a counter and believed medical assistance was needed. - Vancouver City News

Iconic Salt Lake City Temple Has Been Transformed. Now A Rare Look Inside

After years of extensive renovation and structural upgrades, the LDS Church will open its signature temple April 5 to the public — Mormons and non-Mormons alike – for six months of unprecedented tours. - CNN

Far-Right German Party Attacks Iconic Bauhaus School

Attacks on Bauhaus by Alternative for Germany, also known as AfD, come as Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany is about to vote in an election that could see a far-right party take control of one of the country’s states for the first time since World War II. - AP

In Some Places, Congress’s Defunding Of Public TV And Radio Is Literally Dangerous

“Public television stations are not only broadcasters. They are physical infrastructure inside FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System — one of the pathways that pushes AMBER Alerts, severe-weather warnings, and evacuation orders to the phone in your pocket.” And if rural communities lose their public stations, those alerts disappear. - The Hollywood Reporter

What Makes Good Writing For Video Games?

“The kinds of writing that players encounter in games comes as a direct result of the medium’s competing needs and origins." - Washington Post

What Will Become Of Broadway’s Ed Sullivan Theatre Now That Colbert Has Left?

What will happen to the stage where Elvis’s swiveling pelvis was kept demurely out of frame, where the Beatles made their American debut, where Jackie Mason may or may not have flipped the bird at the host, where Topo Gigio found inexplicable fame? - Curbed

Cleveland Orchestra Musicians Authorize Strike

 The bargaining committee said it’s far apart from management with regard to compensation, repetitive stress injuries and gaining a voice in the orchestra’s artistic direction. - Ideastream

How City Arts Funding In Chicago Stacks Up Against That Of Other Big U.S. Cities

“Across the country’s five largest cities, Chicago was the only one to cut the funding for its local arts agency during its most recent budget cycle. And while its spending dwarfs that of the larger Los Angeles, and trails only behind New York per capita, the pressure is mounting to do more.” - WBEZ (Chicago)

The Most Successful Work Of Art About 9/11? A Canadian Musical

“In the quarter-century since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the horror of that day has inspired novels, films, television shows, paintings and sculpture. But the most enduring artistic response has been … Come From Away, about a small town with a big airport where nearly 7,000 travelers were diverted.” - The New York Times

Michael Sheen’s Welsh National Theatre Takes On A Subject That, Shockingly, No One Has Done Until Now

That subject is the Welsh nobleman Owain Glyndŵr, who led a major rebellion against the English in the 15th century. Despite his fame, Sheen says, Glyndŵr’s story wasn’t taught in Welsh schools and nobody had ever staged it on a large scale before. - The Guardian

Enormous Hoard Of Viking Silver Found In Danish Guy’s Garden

“The anonymous homeowner was planning to build a new terrace in his garden when he found … a trove of 700 Viking Age silver objects and fragments. … The hoard contains numerous silver bars, as well as bracelets, 47 whole coins and fragments, a small Thor’s hammer, and various cut silver objects.” - ARTnews

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