George Plasketes, a professor of media studies and popular culture at Auburn University, called the song “almost like comfort food.” Much like “Amazing Grace,” he said, “Silent Night” is one of those tunes that becomes imprinted on every generation, not only because of the lyrics but also the melody. - Washington Post
The real problem was that none of these university leaders made a clear, coherent case for their institutions’ values. So when they did invoke academic freedom, they came across as insincere or hypocritical. - The Atlantic
A terrifying thought occurred to me. “Do you even know how to use a dictionary?” This was my second son, and it turned out that my sureness of having taught him something was often a transplanted memory of having taught that very thing to my firstborn. - The American Scholar
The person who prompted the most trending queries – i.e., had the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2023 as compared to 2022 – was… - Deadline
The date was confirmed by the French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to the site on 8 December, according to the French newspaper Le Monde. - The Art Newspaper
At its simplest, technology can be understood as a tool which enables us to reach a particular end; a chimp using a stick to extract honey from a tree trunk, for example, a means to an end. That approach is crucial to our perception of the place of technology in the modern world. - 3 Quarks Daily
"The most curious part of this is how people working inside the macroculture are the only folks who don’t understand what’s going on." - The Honest Broker
"We went from not having any protections — they would be pulling our members off to go get scanned and think that was OK and they could just use it in perpetuity — and now we’ve put it into the members’ decision. They’re in the driver’s seat now." - Rolling Stone
Ask Montreal composer Sophie Kastner, whose music for Where Parallel Lines Converge "was generated from the type of data NASA scientists usually use to create stunning visual images of deep space." - CBC
On shows like The Jeffersons and Good Times, there were still stereotypes (hotly debated even now), but Lear's "full-rounded view of Black life in America — through characters who had failures and triumphs, struggles and aspirations — helped usher in ... the era of 'social relevance' in television." - The New York Times
"Judge Brian Kennedy ordered the BBC to release more emails - saying the corporation had been 'inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable.'" The emails still haven't been released. - BBC
Artist and CalArts professor Mel Chin "had to pull off something like an art heist in reverse. Instead of stealing art from a well-guarded museum, Chin wanted to smuggle art onto the set of one of the most popular television shows in the world." - Slate
