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Americans Are Abandoning Big Cities

In the past three years, the net number of moves out of Manhattan has increased tenfold. In every urban county within the metros of New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, immigration declined by at least 50 percent from 2018 to 2021. In downtown Detroit and Long Island, deaths actually exceeded births last year. - The Atlantic

The UK Dance Company Working To Create Opportunities For Dancers Of Color

Bourne’s 2017 research found that across four major British ballet companies — the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Northern Ballet, the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet Company — 2.2 percent of employed dancers were Black. - The New York Times

Comedy Dying? I Think Not, Says Jon Stewart

“Comedy survives every moment.” And good thing it does, Stewart said, because “comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether. We’re the banana peel in the coal mine. When society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first.” - Washington Post

The Demons Inside The Internet

There are ways in which the internet really does seem to work like a possessing demon. We tend to think that the internet is a communications network we use to speak to one another—but in a sense, we’re not doing anything of the sort. Instead, we are the ones being spoken through. - Damage Magazine

How 20th Century Literary Analysis Came To Be

In the prewar period, university professors were apt to make vague aesthetic judgments about a book’s “beauty” or “soul” before lobbing in a few comments about the author’s mother or the publishing practices of the time. Richards’s students, by contrast, were asked to exclude all such background blather. - The Guardian

Writing About Nature: Science Or Poetry?

Natural history can certainly accommodate a profusion of perspectives – indeed, it will always benefit from greater diversity in how we look and think. But I wonder if there are unhelpful dichotomies in play, where we pit ‘knowledge’ against lived experience, against emotional engagement... - Aeon

That Obnoxious Nissan Youth Orchestra Ad? This New Brunswick Orchestra Films A Perfect Response

The musicians’ response, recorded April 4, 2022, at the Imperial Theatre in St. John, New Brunswick, proves that age isn’t a barrier to playing the iconic work well. It also gets in a dig at the auto company with its title, “An INFINITY of Young Talent.” - Your Classical

Real Inflation: Concert Ticket Prices

Ticket prices increased 11% in 2021 relative to 2019, and 14% in North America, according to Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest concert promoter. And demand remains strong, the company says, with concert ticket sales up 45% through mid-February compared with 2019. - The Wall Street Journal

Man Threatened To Bomb Merriam-Webster For Changing Definitions Of Gender

He sent anonymous comments and messages to Merriam-Webster, which publishes a widely used online dictionary, condemning the company for changing the definitions of words including “boy, “girl” and “trans woman.” - The New York Times

Gen Z: Not So In To Traditional Work

Many have taken to declaring how they don’t have dream jobs since they “don’t dream of labor.” This buzzy phrase, popularized on social media in the pandemic, rejects work as a basis for identity, framing it instead as an act to pursue out of financial necessity. - Vox

The Librarians Fighting Book Censorship

"Libraries, principals, school boards, superintendents are just fending off not only formal complaints that have been filed, which is what ALA was counting, but also informal complaints, email complaints, comments at school board meetings. The atmosphere is one that’s very difficult." - Slate

Need A Laugh? Head To The Library Of Congress

That's where you'll find the papers of Neil Simon: "7,700 manuscripts, letters and other material that Simon’s widow, Elaine Joyce, has donated to the Library of Congress." - Washington Post

For An Audiobook To Be Good, It Needs More Than A Good Narrator

While the good narrator (or narrators) is essential, truly good audiobooks also need the right atmosphere - and sometimes the right music. - NPR

Regret Can Be A Positive Feeling

 Of course, "there’s a reason we put so much effort into denying regret: The feeling can be corrosive." But instead of regretting lost symphonies, paintings, hikes, books, the question remains: "How can you improve yourself in the days to come?” - The New York Times

Handwriting Has A Power That Computers Can Never Create

"When you’ve written something by hand, the only person who could have done it is you. It’s unmistakable you wrote this, touched it, laid hands and eyes upon it. Something written by hand is a piece of your personality on paper. Typed words are not a fair swap." - LitHub

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