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Where Does Responsibility Lie For Things We Do Wrong?

On the one hand, if we are solely responsible for the things we do wrong, some genuinely malevolent parties get off scot-free. On the other, if we locate responsibility entirely outside the individual, we relegate ourselves to sentient flotsam buffeted by currents beyond our control. - The Guardian

National Gallery Of Canada Names An Interim Director

She’s taking over from Sasha Suda, who has been at the gallery’s helm for three years but is leaving for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Angela Cassie previously served as the gallery’s chief strategy and inclusion officer. - Toronto Star

What To Do If You’re Being Canceled

So, this is my answer: if I am being canceled I want my friends — and this includes not only my closest associates, but anyone who considers themselves friendly to me — to stand by, remain silent, and do nothing. If you care about me, let them eat me alive. - The New York Times

Upending Contemporary Native American Art

Cannupa Hanska Luger’s theory is that it has to do with their trauma of becoming American, which meant severing all ties to their own ancestral lands — a trauma that has left them with a longing for what Luger calls a “deep time connection” to the land they now inhabit, which is, of course, someone else’s ancestral land. - The New...

George Lamming, Giant Of Caribbean And Post-Colonial Literature, Dead At 94

Returning to Barbados after university in England, "(he) became a moral, political and intellectual force for a newly independent country seeking to tell its own story. ... His calling was to address the crimes of history, unearth and preserve his native culture and forge a 'collective sense' of the future." - AP

Screw Up Your Courage. This Is A Great Time To Read “The Greatest Book Ever Written”

This would be Ulysses, by James Joyce, which came out 100 years ago, and has been commonly heralded as the Best Novel Ever Written. I feel like I should underline and bold that for effect, or you can just imagine me using my best voice-of-God impression. - The Smart Set

Vienna Philharmonic Musicians Reveal The Secrets Of Their Orchestra’s Unique Sound

There are plenty of factors, and these people are oh so proud of them all (despite the fact that one of them is subtlety).  And there's an explanation of what exactly they do with the waltz rhythm that nobody else gets quite right. - Euronews

Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre Is Being Renamed. But First We Should Remember Atkinson

For close to 62 years, the Brooks Atkinson Theatre has stood on West 47th Street, so it did 34 years previously as the Mansfield. On June 9, 2022, its current owner, the Nederlander Organization announced that this fall it will be renamed in honor of the distinguished performer Lena Horne. - Theatre Scene

Reclaiming The Lindy Hop’s African-American Roots

It's named after pioneering pilot Charles Lindbergh, it was a staple of social dancing in the 1930s, and it regained popularity in the swing revival of the 1980s and '90s, but — as Black Americans today are reminding us — the Lindy Hop was born in the Harlem Renaissance. - KQED (San Francisco)

Has Streaming Made Us Forget How To Watch Movies?

That’s how most movies are experienced today. They are not, as they were for most of their history, seen. They are watched—on TVs, computers, tablets, phones. If you’re an average American, Gallup says, you saw (in theaters) exactly one movie in 2021, and it was probably the new Spider-Man. - Wired

Amphitheatres Are Popping Up — Er, Down — All Over Great Britain

From Pitlochry in Scotland to the Cotswolds to Sutton Hoo to Cornwall (well, that one's been there for 92 years) to north London, old Greco-Roman-style outdoor theatres are opening — and the few that have survived from the Roman era are being excavated. - The Observer (UK)

Way Too Much! (Why Streaming Is Choking)

In the fall of 2019, years after it had revolutionized the industry with a slate of boundary-challenging originals and maybe a little drunk with ego, Netflix ushered in what I considered its new normal: the Just OK Era of TV. And mostly, with the occasional exception, the company has stayed in that lane. - Wired

How The Business Of Immersive Art Exhibits Works

Under the headline "Monet Is Next Dead Artist To Mint Money," a correspondent explains the finances of this very successful business. - Bloomberg Businessweek

This 5,000-Year-Old City Was Just Reopened To The Public. A Planned Dam May Flood It.

Ashur, on the banks of the Tigris, was the first capital of the Assyrian Empire, and big parts of its city gate and ziggurat temple still stand. But with Iraq facing ongoing drought, authorities want to finish the Makhoul Dam first planned by Saddam Hussein 20 years ago. - ARTnews

It’s In Turbulent Times Like These That We See How Culture Really Matters

Russia, for instance, is attempting to wipe out a separate Ukrainian culture; as Ukraine's artist at the Venice Biennale says, "If it has no culture, Ukraine does not exist." Same with China and Uyghur culture. ISIS certainly understood culture's importance. Even Boris is using culture as a weapon. - The Guardian

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