The grave, which holds the intact mummy of the brother of an important regional governor, includes a polychrome funerary mask and – in a first (so far) – all the customary burial goods.
Site Of Jesus’s Tomb, Just Restored, In Danger Of ‘Catastrophic’ Collapse
The historic structure on top of the site (known as the Edicule) has just been fixed up, but – as engineers discovered during the project – the ground on which it sits is very unstable, and fixing it will be very tricky.
Is Martin Luther Responsible For The Concept Of Individual Liberty?
“Luther was not a lover of human freedom: he insisted on absolute obedience to the external authority of secular rulers; and his violent denunciation of the Peasants’ Revolt and his call for its bloody repression demonstrated a fanatical determination to uphold external authority.” And yet, argues historian Frank Furedi, his challenge to the authority of the Roman Catholic hierarchy led directly to the idea that one could challenge authority as such.
Minneapolis Central Library Has A Social Worker On Staff
“[Kate] Coleman works full time at the downtown library as part of a yearslong effort by the Hennepin County Library system to better help the homeless connect with tools and resources in the area.”
Teaching Computers To Read: A Short History Of Optical Character Recognition
“Optical character recognition, or OCR, is a technology that came up with computing in general. In a lot of ways, it still feels like magic – even though it’s a problem we solved long ago. Today’s Tedium tells its story.”
Deborah Cullinan: Why The Arts Need To Lead For Democracy
“Arts and culture organizations must understand themselves not as arbiters of taste, but as creative homes for the people. They must be places driven by artists, culture bearers, philosophers, and activists. They must be platforms for cultivating public imagination; building thick and diverse networks; convening across differences and sectors; and incubating breakthrough ideas that stick, because they spring from communities that come together to embrace truth, honor diversity, and poetically pursue freedom.”
Magnetic North Theatre Festival Cancels 2017 Edition, And Shuts Permanently
The 15-year-old theatre’s board announced it was shutting down immediately, with a debt of more than $224,000 (Canadian), one month after it hired a new managing director.
Inside Mirriam-Webster’s Version Of The 21st Century Dictionary
There are only about 50 lexicographers working at dictionary companies in the United States today, Kory Stamper estimated. But their work, she believes, remains as vital as it was in Noah Webster’s day. “There’s something to having a bunch of nerds sitting in an office dispassionately reading lots and lots of material and distilling the meaning of a word as it’s been used in lots of places,” she said. “It really is this weird democratic process.”
A Voyage To The Depths Of Merriam-Webster HQ
Jennifer Schuessler’s guide on the trip is Kory Stamper, one of Merriam-Websters new generation of social-media stars.
Indianapolis Symphony Principal Bassoonist Sues Orchestra For Age Discrimination
John Wetherill, 62, accuses music director Krzysztof Urbański, 34, of a five-year campaign of harassment, including attempts at public humiliation, in an effort to get Wetherill to retire or give up his principal chair in favor of a younger player. The ISO has no comment. (Where’s the musicians’ union?)
Beloved Miami City Ballet Star Patricia Delgado Says Farewell
“Repeated injuries – and a longing to finally join her boyfriend of several years, New York City Ballet resident choreographer and dancer Justin Peck – mean that Delgado is retiring from the company.”
Alex Ross: LA Philharmonic At The Top Of The Orchestra World
“The most venerable American orchestras take pride in having a distinctive sound: the Philadelphia strings, the Chicago brass, the Cleveland blend. The New York Philharmonic has prized a virtuosity that edges, for better or worse, into brashness. The L.A. Phil, by contrast, has a tradition of no tradition: its sense of self resides not in a fixed repertory but in a mediation between past and present. That spirit of flux has persisted across several generations and now seems part of the institution’s identity—although, in the fragile sphere of the performing arts, nothing can be considered permanent. As a critic, I have made a habit of following this orchestra wherever it goes, and I am therefore hesitant to offer advice as it plots its future. But the adage of another noted Southern California composer comes to mind: keep on keeping on.”
William O’Rourke Clarifies: What I Meant By “Fatal Lack Of Talent”
Let us be reasonable here. I am too old and have published too much to be thought ignorant enough not to be aware of the objections put forward by the miffed 13. But, I contend, writers who publish are always writing at the top of their form. No one writes down. It’s difficult, almost impossible. Writers cursed with too much “talent” are unable to stoop to conquer.
Charge: Funders Are Out Of Touch With What Opera Needs Right Now
“When it comes to opera, the council does not appear to know what is best for opera in Ireland and seems shy of taking the advice of the report writers it has hired to tell it what might be better for opera in Ireland.”
It Might Not Be Popular, But We Need To Defend Hierarchies (The Right Kind, Of Course)
“Hierarchy is an unfashionable thing to defend or to praise. British government ministers denounce experts as out of tune with popular feeling; both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders built platforms on attacking Washington elites; economists are blamed for not predicting the 2008 crash; and even the best established practice of medical experts, such as childhood vaccinations, are treated with resistance and disbelief. We live in a time when no distinction is drawn between justified and useful hierarchies on the one hand, and self-interested, exploitative elites on the other.”
Why Do People Keep Wanting To Write Off The Novel As Dead?
“Any number of critics since Bergonzi have regurgitated the idea that the novel as we know it today persists in a kind of zombie state, stripped of whatever vital essence it once had (and this in spite of the fact that novels are being published and consumed in unprecedented numbers). But the argument for the novel’s demise has its own kind of ghoulish quality to it by now.”
Magnetic North Festival Disbands And Shuts Down
“The Magnetic North Theatre Festival has cancelled its 2017 edition in Ottawa and is shutting down operations permanently due to an accumulated deficit of $224,000, the 15-year-old theatre festival’s board of directors announced on Wednesday.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson Goes On A Twitter Rant About The NEA
Tyson pointed out in a series of tweets that the agencies’ combined budgets are roughly equivalent to what Americans spend annually on lip balm, and would fund fewer than five hours of military spending.
NYT Adds Jesse Green As “Co-Chief” Theatre Critic, Hints At More Critics To Come
“With the addition of Jesse to the already formidable theater team led by theater editor Scott Heller, The Times continues its commitment to cultural criticism. In the last two years alone, the voices of Amanda Hess, Margaret Lyons, Wesley Morris, James Poniewozik and Jennifer Senior have joined The Times’s already unbeatable roster of full-time critics, which now counts 21 in total. Meanwhile, we continue to seek out new voices to bring into the fold, and hope to make further additions to our critical ranks this year.”
David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’ At 40
“On 19 March 1977, the world changed, after which there was a long uncomfortable silence.” Danny Leigh goes looks into the background and influence of a movie that, after four decades, has lost none of its power to freak people out.
How Killing The NEA Would Hurt Alabama
“The first step before diving down this rabbit hole should probably begin with a few real facts. Contrary to the European model where ‘the state and/or central government’ supports the arts and culture almost totally, in this country support of the arts is a partnership between the private sector and government, local, state and federal. Clearly the private sector is the dominant player in this partnership but all the partners play and important role in what has become a very successful model.”
A Brief History Of Dolly Gallagher Levi, From Carol Channing To Pearl Bailey To Jack Benny (Yep) And On
Eric Grode considers the many famous actresses and comediennes – and even male performers (Benny never actually played Dolly, but he did seriously consider it) to put their own stamps on the title role in Hello, Dolly! since Channing created it in 1964.
Verdi Opera Cancelled After Star Tenor Arrested For Domestic Violence
“A performance of Verdi’s Ernani at the Capitole de Toulouse was cancelled last Tuesday, because South Korean tenor Alfred Kim, who held the title role, was placed under custody over violence against his girlfriend.”
These Two Playwrights Have Been Prominent For Decades – Why Are They Only Now Getting To Broadway? (Is It Because They’re Women?)
“They are two of the nation’s pre-eminent playwrights. Each has won nearly every award their field has to offer, including the Pulitzer Prize. Each has written works that are staged around the world and have become required reading in college classes. And each has earned an admired position in the academy, teaching aspiring dramatists at Ivy League institutions. One milestone, however, has long eluded Paula Vogel and Lynn Nottage: Broadway.” Why is this?
With Sacramento Ballet In Turmoil, Dancers Look To Unionize
The company’s board recently announced that they’ve asked longtime artistic directors Ron Cunningham and Carinne Binda to step down after next season. The pair don’t want to go, and the dancers are fighting for them. Last week, the dancers unanimously petitioned to join AGMA.