Just the last few decades, hundreds of thousands of people speaking hundreds of languages have arrived in New York from heavily minority and Indigenous zones of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At the very moment when languages worldwide are disappearing at an unprecedented rate, many of the last speakers are on the move. - LitHub
While theatre leaders have stressed that they are committed to the safety of their audiences, they have also pointed out that Martyn’s Law – officially, the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill – could stretch the resources of already cash-strapped venues. - The Stage
"Could the Hirshhorn be a major institution? These days, Director Melissa Chiu says it should assume its role as 'the national museum of modern and contemporary art.' The notion would have invited laughs in 1974." - The Washington Post (MSN)
Over the past three days, the streets of Toulouse, France, hosted an urban opera titled The Guardian of the Temple—The Gates of Darkness, in which three massive robotic puppets of mythological creatures performed in several locations around the city. - The Atlantic
"Everyone who works (in the job) has stories about the expensive, delicate, sacred and impossibly large things they’ve had to pack into a crate and ship somewhere:" weird things such as an electric chair, and difficult things like a 3,000 pound pre-Columbian artifact amidst an ice storm. - The Washington Post (MSN)
“I feel very passionately about Halloween music. It’s camp. It’s carnal. It’s macabre. It’s, like, silly. It’s the only holiday where all of those get to exist at once.” It’s also an $11.6 billion business. - The New York Times
"Is it normal for a French visitor to pay the same price ... as a Brazilian or Chinese visitor?" said Rachida Dati, who wants the proposed €5 surcharge to fund upkeep of national heritage sites. "The French people should not have to pay for everything on their own." - The London Standard
The phenomenon — in which bookstores open at midnight on a title's release date, so readers can get their fix as quickly as possible — started with the Harry Potter and Twilight series. Now publishers of serious literature are picking up the practice for some hotly-anticipated novels. - Publishers Weekly
Serial is, after all, a spinoff of long-running public radio hit This American Life. After Serial's massive success, countless people wanted in on true-crime audio, from individuals with home studios to big commercial outlets. The market got flooded, the corporations started cancelling. Is public radio-style funding the way forward? - Nieman Lab
"I definitely did not know that it was this widespread," she said. "I’ve heard from people all over the world, mostly about sexual abuse and harassment in schools and orchestras, but also psychological and physical harm done to people as children, students, and even employees of classical music institutions." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
"While the home is modest in size, researchers say that its decorations — including erotic scenes — are equal to those of much larger nearby residences. Found during recent excavations in the central district of the city, the painted dwelling also exemplifies a shift in Roman building styles." - Smithsonian Magazine
"Gérard Depardieu's trial on charges of sexual assault has been postponed until March because the French actor is in poor health, a court in Paris has said." - BBC
That’s right, tourists (and New Yorkers), there are some ways to find those deals - though not, perhaps, if you want to see Robert Downey Jr or Rachel Zegler. - NPR
Just as Copernicus reimagined the architecture of our solar system five centuries ago, we are once again in a revolution that pivots on planets. A new science called astrobiology has changed the night sky. - Noema
It is a figurative sculpture, rooted in realism, that shows an improbably large pile of human poop on the desk of Nancy Pelosi, then the highest ranking woman in the democratic system, who had to flee for her life while rioters besieged the building. - Washington Post
