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Why Prosperity Doesn’t Make You Happy

True liberal education is the place where restless hearts can become discerning, and where the closed self can become an open soul. It is a stirring and consistent defense of liberal education. - Hedgehog Review

The Fracturing Of Antagonistic Criticism

The bourgeois public sphere was always limited. And there are forms of fracturing and dispersal that have completely eroded the already fragile prominence of the anointed, generalist intellectual. - The Point

Did Henry VIII Ever Regret Having Anne Boleyn Beheaded?

The mythology that has developed around the Tudor dynasty has made that seem an improbable question, but there are bits of evidence suggesting that, at least at the very end of his life, the King did indeed repent of the prosecution and execution of his second wife. - Mental Floss

“Egghead Paperbacks”, The Publishing Innovation That Changed America

Before 1953, the only paperback books were, literally, pulp novels; the cheap pulp paper on which they were printed gave the genre its name.  Purchasing affordable, durable paperback versions of serious classic or contemporary literature, something we now take for granted, was impossible.  Then came Anchor Books. - The American Scholar

Have NFTs Busted? Not Really

An NFT has value because the buyer and their community believe it has value—which is true for all art and collectibles. And as time goes by, an NFT gains more of its own character, based on factors like who’s owned it and how they’ve used it. - Fast Company

How Working-Class People Are Systematically Shut Out Of Arts Careers

"There are cultural, financial and emotional gaps between working-class creative people and the affluent, networked and mostly private school-educated gatekeepers of Australia's arts ... leading to an entire creative culture that, to an outsider, looks largely monolithic: a lot of white, wealthy people who seem to already know each other." - The Guardian

The Case For Government Investment In The Arts

Does it register, for example, that for every $1 billion turned over in the arts, around 4,300 new jobs are created? Compared to the construction industry where for every $1 billion, just 1,200 new jobs are created? - ArtsHub

Indianapolis Museum Newfields Gets a New Director

Colette Pierce Burnette, who is originally from Cleveland, is the president of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. - Indianapolis Star

Unseen Reliefs And Engravings Uncovered In Ancient Egyptian Temple

Following conservation work that included removing centuries' worth of dust and debris, archaeologists have fully revealed the intricately colored engravings on the walls of the Temple of Esna in Luxor, along with a striking set of painted reliefs on the ceiling. - ARTnews

Are You Still You If You’ve Gone Through A Transformational Experience?

What if a disease transforms your mind, impairing your memory or causing radical personality change? Would this new ‘you’ be a different person entirely than the one who existed before the transformation? - Psyche

It’s Official: The Ringling Brothers And Barnum & Bailey Circus Is Coming Back

Five years after "The Greatest Show on Earth" closed down (it said) permanently, performers are being recruited and rehearsals and logistics are being planned for a 50-something-city tour to begin in September of next year. And it's confirmed: there will be no animals. - The New York Times

The Missing Category The Tonys Really Should Have: Best Ensemble Cast

It's not only that "theater is a team sport."  It's not just that some shows (this season, for instance, Six and Take Me Out) simply don't have lead roles. It's that even star turns can't truly sizzle if the rest of the cast isn't cooking, too. - The New York Times

Despite Years Of House Arrest, Exile, And A Horrendous War, Kirill Serebrennikov Will Keep Defending Russian Culture

"Russian culture is about the fragility of life," says the award-winning stage and film director. "It's about people who are under oppression. Who are fighting for truth or justice. That's real culture. Not ideological culture. Not propaganda. I think it's not good to boycott this kind of culture." - Variety

As War Drags On And Censorship Grows More Strict, Russian Filmmakers Choose Between Flight And Submission

Says one who is leaving, "I can't see how I can be part of a community that will be charged with ideological tasks and has to comply." Many observers believe Putin's government will ramp up production of the sort of films that the Soviet industry used to make. - Variety

If Russian State TV Suddenly Starts Playing “Swan Lake”, Look Out

With rumors flying of Vladimir Putin's deteriorating health, it could happen: going back to the earliest days of Soviet television, the unscheduled appearance of the Tchaikovsky ballet on the airwaves meant something extremely serious, like the death of the leader (or, in 1991, an attempted coup). - Newsweek

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