Author: Douglas McLennan

Could We Unite America Around Orchestras?

“As a secular American living in Manhattan, I’m a stranger to the senator’s world of church and picnics. I worry that religion may be as much divisive as binding in America’s map of red versus blue. My professional world is one of orchestras (with which I work) and cultural history (about which I write). My perspective suggests another opportunity for healing—regaining a lost “sense of place” and shared American identity via our history and culture. And, yes, I mean high culture.” – The Weekly Standard

The End Of Privacy? It Traces Back To The 1960s

The privacy warriors of the 1960s would have been astounded by what the tech industry has become. They would be more amazed to realize that the policy choices they made back then — to demand data transparency rather than limit data collection, and to legislate the behavior of government but not private industry — enabled today’stech giants to become as large and powerful as they are. – The New York Times

The Notion Of “Sublime” Is So Old-Fashioned. Maybe It Should Be Reconsidered?

Responses to the sublime are puzzling. While the 18th century saw ‘the beautiful’ as a wholly pleasurable experience of typically delicate, harmonious, balanced, smooth and polished objects, the sublime was understood largely as its opposite: a mix of pain and pleasure, experienced in the presence of typically vast, formless, threatening, overwhelming natural environments or phenomena. – Aeon

Art Of The Gig Economy: Better Keep Your Day Job

A new study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute seems to indicate life in the gig economy is not what it has been cracked up to be. The study didn’t rely on surveys or questionnaires. It used actual financial data. The company dug up 38m payments directed through 128 different online platforms to 2.3m of its customers’ checking accounts from October 2012 to March 2018. Its conclusions are pretty obvious: you may want to keep your day job. – The Guardian

This Year’s Golden Globes Nominee List

“Vice,” Adam McKay’s scathing Dick Cheney biopic, walked away with a leading six nominations. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind the Globes, also awarded “A Star Is Born,” “The Favourite,” and “Green Book” with three nods apiece. On the television front, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” picked up four nominations. “Barry,” “The Kominsky Method,” and “Homecoming” scored three nominations, as did “Sharp Objects,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “A Very English Scandal.” – Variety