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Why Hollywood Won’t Quit Guns

In the most heavily armed country, the presence of guns isn’t considered out of the ordinary, especially in states with open-carry laws. That familiarity extends to Hollywood sets, where guns are often treated with nonchalance. - The Atlantic

How Libraries Shape Our Literature

Books reach Americans in multiple ways these days, not only as e-books. They might arrive as audio books, in serialized form through online services, and so on. Likewise, book clubs have remained and even increased their popularity. Yet no matter how we see it, the act of reading is in decline. - LitHub

Ultimate Brag In Social Media: “I Can’t Stop Thinking About…”

If one person shouts that she can’t stop thinking about something, the natural response is not to join in her particular obsession but to yelp that you, too, have something that you are obsessed with. An unspoken competition takes place to see who can profess their passion. - The New Yorker

Reimagining NPR To Serve Everyone

In his new book, Chávez uses media industry data and 50 interviews with public media workers to argue that NPR’s growth has come at the expense of serving Latinx audiences in the U.S. - NiemanLab

Claim: NFTs Are Nothing But A Scam

I think people accurately recognize that just by watching people get involved in crypto. You watch an artist who starts selling NFTs, and over the course of months, their artwork itself shifts and it starts becoming more and more about crypto itself. - Salon

Report: NYC Arts Organizations Serving People Of Color Are Struggling

It’s not as if more money isn’t a goal for these organizations; more often than not, they say, it’s a question of resources and visibility. Seventy-three percent of reportees said that they lacked the staff to apply for grants and cultivate individual donor relationships. - Artnet

The Cultural Framework For Artificial Intelligence: Can Indigenous Frameworks Help?

Such cultural programming is often invisible, unquestioned, limiting and even dangerous when applied carelessly beyond its community of origin. That’s why ethical frameworks for AI are being hastily commissioned around the globe right now, drawing upon as many different perspectives as possible. - Aeon

Jewish Jokes, And Jewish Humor, In A Time Of Increasing Hatred

"Scolds from the Anti-Defamation League … will never end an ancient prejudice, but they could ruin a good time. … That has made me look closer at the disturbing rise in antisemitism today, Jewish culture and identity, and the implications of what we find funny." - The New York Times

Corruption On A Grand Scale (And Explaining Inequities)

Like a Tammany Hall-type of administrative corruption but on a national or even international scale, key actors representing political regimes and multinational corporations conspire to change the rules to protect special interests with the most wealth in financial as well as symbolic terms. - Aeon

The Twilight Of The “Slate Pitch”

"Slate had a whole editorial style that was based around provocative — some would say trolly — articles and up-is-down theses. … Everyone understood what made a pitch a Slatepitch." These days, writes Slate alum Matthew Yglesias, the site has lost its unique character — but so has most online journalism. - Slow Boring

San Francisco Ballet Pulls Itself Apart Over Diversity

A public Instagram account detailed dancers’ and staff members’ accounts of inequities. Amid the fallout, Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale, hired in 2019, stepped down in 2021. - KQED

Here’s The Man With The Key To The Past At Jacob’s Pillow

"As director of preservation (and archivist), Norton Owen oversees exhibitions, the growing online resource Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive, PillowTalks, pre- and post-show lectures, and film programs. Owen describes his motto as having 'one eye looking backward and one eye on what's happening currently." - Dance Magazine

A Music Conspiracy Theory: Tuning “A” To 432

I’d never encountered the 432 Hz phenomenon. Its lore has all the hallmarks of your archetypal conspiracy theories. No one version dominates, but most accounts include a selection of the following tropes. - Van

William Kraft, Who Helped Make Los Angeles A Hotbed Of New Music, Dead At 98

At the L.A. Philharmonic, Kraft was principal timpanist, composer-in-residence, and associate conductor; he co-founded the L.A. Phil New Music Group, with which he started the orchestra's now-famous Green Umbrella concerts of contemporary music. (Kraft was also Stravinsky's preferred percussionist.) - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

How California’s Gig-Economy Law Changed LA Theatre (Perhaps Forever?)

According to a dozen LA-area artistic directors interviewed, the annual budget of small arts organisations has spiked by an average 40%, disproportionately punishing companies operating on less than $300,000 a year, particularly common in a state with a dearth of public funding for the arts. - The Stage

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