- The Best Art: Perceptions Over Ideas "Most debates about what is good or bad in art, desirable or undesirable, significant or insignificant are debates about preference. Theories are evolved to vindicate that preference and, like ideologies, are stultifying. The best artists are driven by their experience to reflect that experience. Few artists worth their salt begin work with a theory of art. If they do, they end proving theory rather than reflecting perceptions about experience. Perceptions are everything." The Guardian (UK) 03/15/03
- What They Make - Arts Execs Are Well Compensated A survey of executive salaries in Minnesota arts organizations reveals that top executives are well-compensated. "Some who watch the nonprofit world wonder why arts administrators tend to out-earn their peers in other nonprofit categories such as those related to health, social services and education. In the Twin Cities in 2001, median pay packages for directors of top arts and culture organizations was $273,125, compared to $177,708 in education, $215,557 in health care and $123,984 in social services. 'These jobs are much tougher now than they were. It's difficult to recruit good, experienced people for director positions, and for critical marketing and development jobs. This narrows the pool and increases the salaries of really good people." The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis) 03/13/03
- You Can't Legislate Manners, But Really...It's A Concert... Between ringing cell phones, program rustling and yahoos screaming bravo before the last notes have a chance to die out, concert manners seem to be at an all time low. Peter Dobrin offers a code of conduct he wishes could be adopted by audience members. "It's obviously time to find some pleasant way of reminding visitors how to act. This is not one of those disapproving tsk-tsk reprimands. I'm not in favor of tradition for tradition's sake. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad. On the contrary, I'm trying to make everyone at the concert feel good." Philadelphia Inquirer 03/16/03
- Wake Up... Now How Did You Do That? A new book examines the properties of human consciousness. "Scientists tend to concentrate on the locations, mechanisms and functions of consciousness. Philosophers, meanwhile, worry away at problems that used to be very old but, thanks to neuroscience, are now very new again. What has the mind to do with the brain? Is it true, as Descartes argued, that if I think, therefore I am? If so, what precisely does the thinking?" The Telegraph (UK) 03/16/03
- Oprah Show On Iraq War Reflects Badly On The Rest Of Mainstream American TV Tuesday, after George Bush declared war on Iraq, Oprah Winfrey used her TV show to ask "why do so many hate the United States?" The show "presented a distinct alternative to the perspective presented by every mainstream American broadcaster in the last few months." In normal circumstances, "the perspectives she presented would not be truly notable, but in the contemporary context, they were amazing. The problem is that the program said more about the rest of American television than it did about Oprah Winfrey." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 03/20/03
