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Nepal Bans TikTok To Protect “Social Harmony”

Communications and IT Minister Rekha Sharma said the decision was made because some content shared on the app "disturbs social harmony and disrupts family structures and social relations." Opposition politicians say the move lacks "effectiveness, maturity and responsibility." - Al Jazeera

Adapting Narnia Is Ridiculously Difficult

"The idea of Gerwig shaking the architecture with a spikier take on Narnia has a real zing to it, given how careful previous film-makers have been." - The Guardian (UK)

Read A New Play By Anna Deavere Smith: “This Ghost Of Slavery”

"For this work, Smith’s decision to blend her contemporary interviews with historical accounts of Maryland in the mid-1860s is apt. The echoes of history reverberate loudly, revealing the power of historical trauma to shape behavior in the present day." - The Atlantic

America’s (Unnecessary) Fear Of Black History: Lonnie Bunch

"In all my years doing research at the National Archives, I had never cried. …" The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and co-founder of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture writes about the implications of his research into the post-Civil War Freedmen's Bureau. - MSN (The Atlantic)

The Fisk Jubilee Singers And The Birth Of The Spiritual

Vann R. Newkirk II, based on the diaries of Ella Sheppard, the group's first pianist and composer, and on materials in the historically black university's archives, recounts how the group came together in the 1870s to help save the impoverished school — and created a great American genre of music. - MSN (The Atlantic)

Kevin Wynn, Choreographer And Beloved Teacher, Is Dead At 67

"A choreographer of complex maelstroms that moved at lightning speed and an uncommonly dedicated teacher who influenced generations of dancers," He impressed critics and audiences with his company, the Kevin Wynn Collection, but had a greater impact in his 30-plus years as a professor at Purchase College. - The New York Times

Boring? Nobody Calls Our Public Radio Station Boring!

"Leading WPLN's mission to stamp out boring public radio is its midday news show This Is Nashville. 'We loosened it up to give it more of a personality and an edge,' (COO Robert) Sanchez says. '... And it’s paid off.'" - Inside Radio

At Newfields/Indianapolis Museum Of Art, CEO Is Out After Only 15 Months

Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette came to Newfields in August 2022, in the wake of an outcry over a racially fraught job description for director of the art museum. No reason was given for Burnette's abrupt departure, and this story includes a correction of an earlier version reporting that she resigned. - Indianapolis Star

SuperAgent Andrew Wylie And Defining The Elite

“I thought, Well, I wonder if you can build a business based exclusively on what you want to read,” he says, understatedly. “That led me to understand, I think correctly, that best sellers were overvalued and works that endured forever were undervalued.” - The New York Times

James Burrows On How TV Sitcoms Have Changed

“I think it is niche television now because you don't have to get the rating that you got when there were only three networks … and 30 great comedy writers. You had to do shows that appealed to a massive audience. Now, there are 300 networks and 30 great comedy writers. …”  - KCRW

A Tale Of Two Very Different Ancient Romes

In one, painted by the male elite, Rome under the emperor becomes a nightmare vision of a world turned topsy-turvy. In the other, articulated by the tombstones of cooks and tasters and wet-nurses, imperial structures provided opportunities for new hierarchies, and new avenues to distinction, to develop. - Washington Post

Why Are We Still Lonely When We Have Loving Friends And Family?

Loneliness, it seems, is an existential hazard, something to which human beings are always vulnerable – and not just when they are alone. - Aeon

Progress On Mapping The Brain Has Been Painstaking. AI Might Change That

Guided by connectomic and other data to optimize thousands or even billions of parameters, machine-learning models could be trained to produce neural-network behaviour that is consistent with the behaviour of real neural networks — measured using cellular-resolution functional recordings. - Nature

How Barbra Streisand Redefined Diva

As a diva, Streisand has consistently defied instructions not to do something by doubling up her efforts. For example, at the start of her career when she was auditioning for record labels, one of the executives said she had a nice voice but was “too ethnic”. - The Conversation

A Remarkable Life Of Service: DC Schools’ Music Man Lyn McLain, 95

He brought classical music into the lives of tens of thousands of young people and was credited with diversifying the ranks of symphony orchestras across the United States. - Washington Post

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