"Speech, rather than hearing, has been at the heart of deaf exclusion throughout history. People who were born deaf, or were deafened before they learned to speak (prelingually deaf) were placed in a special category" — typically one that treated them as infants or as cognitively disabled. - History Today
"With the overwhelming approval of Proposition 28, California will now lead the nation in funding for the arts in every classroom. ... The passage of the proposition guarantees as much as $1 billion every school year for arts education taken from the state budget without raising taxes." - KPBS (San Diego)
"The jury deliberated for nearly six hours and the unanimous panel of four men and two women awarded the plaintiff, Haleigh Breest, $7.5 million in compensation and recommended punitive damages, which will be decided Monday." - Variety
"Some 250 copy editors, marketing assistants and other employees at HarperCollins Publishers went on strike Thursday, with the two sides differing over wages and benefits, diversity policy and union protection." - AP
"Climate activists targeting masterpieces around the world are not fully aware of how delicate the artworks are, the directors of almost 100 galleries have warned, saying they have been 'deeply shaken' by the attacks." - The Guardian
At the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam last week, members of the activist group Extinction Rebellion interrupted Verdi's Requiem, shouting "We are in the middle of a climate crisis and we are like the orchestra on the Titanic that keeps playing quietly while the ship is already sinking." - Classic FM (UK)
New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak inherits the nation’s shrunken, crumbling pie, desperately searching for easy bits to scrape off. And the arts—international and outward-looking, promoting critical thinking and structural questioning—are hardly the current government’s flavor of the month. - Van
I don’t think you should write 50,000 words in a month in hopes that you will get discovered and Penguin Random House will buy your Next Great American Novel, Gatorade for Lemurs. I think you should do NaNoWriMo to stick it to capitalism. - Slate
“No restitution or repair can undo the damage done by those who would vandalize such a sacred and historical site as White River Narrows, but this ruling demonstrates that such crimes will not be met with a slap on the wrist.” - Hyperallergic
"As the director of the relatively small-scale Regents Opera, I am acutely aware of the risk attached to any attempt on Wagner’s epic saga. Yet, like the lustful dwarf Alberich, so tempted by the Rhinegold that he steals it and forges it into a magic ring, I find myself irresistibly drawn." - The Guardian
A growing body of research has begun to explore the nuanced ways in which technology is influencing the workplace and the workforce, shedding light on both its many benefits and substantial risks. - Harvard Business Review
Concentration on the rhetoric of decline and renewal combines various kinds of phenomena: political leaders who genuinely believe in decline and those who cynically claim decline to gain power; earnest attempts at “restoration” and empty rhetoric about renewal. - Common Reader
Nüshu, a phonetic, syllabic script (as opposed to the standard Chinese ideogram characters) used by and between women, developed in a rural area of Hunan province. It nearly died out during and after the Cultural Revolution, but interest has revived and it's being taught once again. (video) - BBC
Designed by London architecture firm Vatraa, the “monument” was modeled after the Great Trilithon of Stonehenge, but instead of using stones, the architects wrapped three giant piles of plastic bottles in wire meshes and stacked the forms. - Fast Company
Atwood says, "I just want to know how you are going to get around the giant blue penises." McGregor's only response (other than laughter) is "It's not a literal interpretation but a leap of faith." - Financial Times
