While other outlets butted heads over the right to be contemptuous and the still-thriving Gawker published a polemic against smarmy positivity, the Millions sidestepped the debate entirely. The sincerity of the site was singular, and refreshing — although some people remained skeptical. – New York Magazine
Author: Douglas McLennan
The Mindfulness Industrial Complex Comes To The Museum
“At its best, the mindful museum might awaken in us a dim memory of a more collective way of being. As Cage wrote, not every contemplative act needs to improve creation—but together we can do better with the creation we’ve inherited. The new temple, though, asks only that we publicly perform our wellness, that we be productive even in our moments of rest.” – The Baffler
Cities Of War (An Urban Plan)
“Urbicide is the targeted destruction of cities as a tactic of war. The violence chronicled here is not aerial annihilation—hospitals and homes reduced to rubble—but the “gradual construction of buildings and infrastructure” in ways that collapse boundaries between war and peace, militarizing everyday life. – Public Books
The Essay As Art Form
The essay is a marginal, even trivial form, yet is also deeply and seriously engaged with the weightiest questions of how a philosophical and political subject can be constituted out of a particular body and mind. Essayistic writing—as opposed to strict autobiography, which may simplify and explain a life through narrative—shows what is at stake when we say “you”: another “I.” – Public Books
Music That Zigs While Others Are Zagging
One of the defining characteristics of today’s classical music is the ways in which it’s breaking the usual rules. Genre-less, as some call it. So you’re not shunned if you’re writing tunes when those around you stay atonal. Allan Kozinn listens and makes some recommendations. – San Francisco Classical Voice
What Your Access To Fitness Centers Says About Who You Are
America’s fitness-center availability tracks closely with key markers of socioeconomic class: income, education, and occupation. – CityLab
When The DNA Test Challenges Your Cultural Identity
Dani Shapiro is a writer who spent years exploring her life and identity. Then she took a home DNA test and discovered what she thought she knew about her heritage was wrong… – Washington Post
What’s The Difference Between A Dialect And A Language?
Okay, so maybe you haven’t spent a lot of time pondering this. But Sam Dresser’s discussion here illuminates something in how we construct systems for communicating. Are the differences mainly in overlap of common words? – Aeon
“Jazz Is Dying” As Metaphor For The Larger Culture
Matthew McKnight examines Jazz At Lincoln Center: “While the obituary writers may have been right—something’s dying—they have been preoccupied with the wrong thing. By looking for signs of vitality in measures of jazz’s popularity, it becomes easier to ignore what the music, according to Marsalis’s definition, is: a refinement of empathic listening, a model for improvisation, and an embodiment of meaningful time perception. If this is right, then the supposition that jazz is dead carries meaning beyond itself. What if we are witnessing the death, or suffocation, of a society that values careful listening, serendipity and, like a jazz ensemble, the dedication to finding common ground?” – The Point
The Tricky Euphemisms We Use To Judge One Story Better Than Another
“There are objective criticisms you can make, you can point stuff out, but how you decide to rate or value the things done well, how much you penalise the things done less well—it’s a semi-random choice. It’s also hard to distinguish from the exercise of deep prejudice. You can use a softer word than prejudice, like bias, or even turn it into a term of praise—you can call it taste.” – Prospect