Author: Douglas McLennan

The Line Between Imagination And Appropriation

The time-honored answer to this what-gives-you-the-right question is: creative imagination, which for the writer is a muscular species of empathy. Okay, I’m not you, the logic goes, but if I take the time to observe you carefully, if I study how you navigate the world, if I listen to you when you speak, then in time I can begin to imagine what it feels like to be you. Obviously, the important word here is “begin,” because employing creative imagination isn’t as simple as asserting your right—obligation?—to let your imagination range freely. – Harper’s

Why We Push Harder When The Finish Line Is Close

Whatever it is you’re striving to achieve, science shows you’re likely to push harder the closer you feel to the finish line. When researchers first speculated about this tendency, they called it the goal gradient hypothesis. And it turns out to have interesting implications not only for predicting when we’ll push ourselves the hardest, but also for marketers hoping to convince us to buy our next cup of coffee or take our next airline flight (at least, once we start flying again). – Scientific American

Enough With The Statements Of Solidarity!

“As if moving to some syncopated symphony, arts organizations and cultural institutions across the country are parading out statements of “solidarity” in these moments. I’ve stopped counting (and reading) the endless emails I’ve received from arts organizations touting how they stand in solidarity with Black people. Statements which proclaim they’re shutting down their operations and programming — galas and town halls and education programs are “going black.” How cute. Now, all of a sudden, historically and predominantly white arts institutions want to be “in solidarity” with Black folks? I know what solidarity looks like. And it ain’t this.” – Medium

Words And Phrases That Should Be Banished From The Rehearsal Room

“We can dismantle oppression in our language as a means of valuing and honoring individuals in the room. There are a plethora of sayings used in rehearsal environments that cause a BIPOC artist to feel powerless and othered in the room; these phrases will not have the same effect on white artists, who have the privilege of doing their work without that added baggage.” – Minnesota Playlist

NY Philharmonic Cancels Fall Season

The decision not to resume performances before Jan. 6, 2021, at the earliest came the week after the Metropolitan Opera said it would not reopen before the end of December. Like the Philharmonic, the Met has been closed since March, and has furloughed its orchestra, chorus and stagehands and some administrative staff, while continuing to provide them with health benefits. – The New York Times

Books Are A Contrived Medium. Soon They Will Be Gone

Literacy altered the human brain, making it “refit some of its existing neuronal groups” and “form newly recycled circuits.” The brain had to change because the innate brain can’t read. It responds to what it is exposed to if exposure happens often, for a long period. Literacy develops through practice—through labor that compels the development of revised brain functions. The more you read, the more your brain adapts. It is a “plastic” organ. – Claremont Review of Books

How Indie Movie Theatres Are Innovating

“We will always have storytellers that want to tell stories and cinema has become an essential part of the way modern society does that,” said Tori Baker, the president and CEO of the nonprofit Salt Lake Film Society, which operates two art house theaters in Salt Lake City. “Sustainability — such as how many people at once, concession costs, what those concessions are — might shift. But what art houses have that the big chains don’t is the ability to innovate that experience.”  – Huffington Post