“It can’t be overlooked that San Francisco has some heavyweight car-free peers. Once, pedestrianized urban cores were largely the domain of enlightened mid-sized cities in northern Europe. But now Paris and Barcelona have expanded the concept, and Toronto is mulling a car blockade for multiple downtown corridors. London charges a pricy fee for vehicles entering its busy streets, and New York City will follow with its own congestion pricing scheme in 2021.” – CityLab
Author: Douglas McLennan
Orange County’s Segerstrom Center Gets A New Leader
He’s Casy Reitz, currently executive director of New York’s Second Stage. “Before taking the position at the Second Stage Theater in September of 2010, Reitz was director of development at the Public Theater and director of individual giving at Manhattan Theatre Club. He holds a master’s in fine arts in theater management from Yale School of Drama and an undergraduate degree in theater from the University of Alabama.” – Voice of OC
Reading As An Active Sport (No Really)
“The main contention of What We Talk About When We Talk About Books – that reading print can be a sociable, active, and even seditious activity – is so sensible that it seems incredible that this long-form, evidence-based case hasn’t been made before. Why does it matter? Perhaps not only because we should think about whether our fantasies about the printed word are true, but also because we should ask why these particular fantasies have become so dominant.” – Times Literary Supplement
Humans Say: Music is Not An Algorithm
“The current streaming culture we find ourselves in marks music and wide open spaces of exploration into nothing more than a commodity, and because of this, we’re increasingly driven away from music’s way of connecting us all, that deep resonating force that helps us experience and process the weird wonder that is life.” I Care If You Listen
Studies: Acting Changes Actors’ Brains
“Until recently, this debate over whether actors literally lose themselves in their roles was largely a matter of conjecture. However, a pair of research papers in psychology published this year has provided some concrete evidence, and results suggest that actors’ sense of self is changed profoundly by their characters.” – Aeon
A Star Architect Who Recycles And Rebuilds For Those In Need
Shigeru Ban, a designer of houses and visitors’ centers and condominiums and towers, is perhaps more famous as a designer of emergency shelters, for people suffering from earthquakes and floods, for people escaping violence and genocide. For them, he has employed a signature material — recycled paper tubes of variable length and thickness. – The New York Times
Economists Make The Case For Studying Humanities
As humanities majors slump to the lowest level in decades, calls are coming from surprising places for a revival. Some prominent economists are making the case for why it still makes a lot of sense to major (or at least take classes) in humanities alongside more technical fields. – Washington Post
Glass Blowing Generates Significant Amounts Of Greenhouse Gasses. What To Do?
While the glass art industry blows oxygen and life into intricate glass chandeliers, vases, bowls and complex sculptures, it also consumes hefty amounts of natural gas and propane while filling the air literally with tons of carbon dioxide. Other issues, like heavy metal pollution and low levels of recycling, add to the industry’s sustainability concerns. – Crosscut
Reversal: WNYC Decides Not To Cancel “New Sounds”
“It has become clear to me that John and Caryn Havlik’s work is distinct, inimitable, and intrinsically New York—and that this beloved team must stay with us. A show like New Sounds can only be produced by public radio, and specifically at NYPR,” station CEO Goli Sheikholeslami wrote in her email. – Gothamist
Freelance Journalists In California Freak Out That New Uber Law Would Apply To Them
If a freelance journalist writes for a magazine, newspaper or other entity whose central mission is to disseminate the news, the law says, that journalist is capped at writing 35 “submissions” per year per “putative employer.” At a time when paid freelance stories can be written for a low end of $25 and high end of $1 per word, some meet that cap in a month just to make end’s meet. – The Hollywood Reporter