“Virtually all types of institutions, be it political, educational, or business, are exhausting their internal energy in dealing with contentious, and seemingly irreconcilable, differences in basic identities and values — what it means to be American. In such an environment, identity trumps reason, ideology overwhelms politics, and moral convictions replace intellectual discourse.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Biographer And Estate Go To War Over Richard Avedon Bio
The feud has cast a pall over what was billed as an intimate and revelatory tell-all. Ms. Stevens drew on her own conversations with Avedon over the decades, and interviewed many of his prominent friends and collaborators, including Calvin Klein, David Remnick, Twyla Tharp, Donatella Versace, Jann Wenner and Isabella Rossellini. Some of Ms. Stevens’s revelations about Avedon’s personal life are so juicy that they leaked to the gossip pages in advance of the book’s release on Nov. 21.
Fred Bass, 89, Owned The Strand Bookstore
Bass, a New York City native and Brooklyn College graduate who took over the business from his father, Benjamin, had worked in the Strand as a boy and continued coming in regularly until a few months ago. He owned and managed the Strand along with his daughter, Nancy Bass Wyden.
Just How Will Hollywood Culture Change After Abuse Scandals?
“This year’s anguished discourse about art and artists underscores that criticism is rooted in lived experience. There’s no right or wrong way to review (well, there is, but that’s a discussion for another time). But I’m as impatient with critics who embrace self-serving auteurist fundamentalism or aesthetic formalism as I am with those belligerent fan boys who insist that only a comic-book obsessive can review a superhero movie. None of these camps want their pleasures challenged or their bubble worlds burst by reminders that a cherished director, say, denigrates women. I mean, by all means enjoy! But don’t expect me to shut up about it.”
Broadway Makes Itself More Accessible To The Outside World
As producers realize there is both aptitude among these performers and dollars to be spent, performers and audience members with disabilities have seen a small growth of increased accessibility among New York’s highbrow theater arts.
Study: Today’s Students Pursue Perfectionism More Than Previous Generations
“Today’s young people are competing with each other in order to meet societal pressures to succeed, and they feel perfectionism is necessary in order to feel safe, socially connected, and of worth.”
On Being Told You Haven’t Got Talent For Something…
Howard Sherman: “There are countless ways to think, to transform, to share and to imagine and we should encourage each person to do so in their own way. Failing to do so reveals only our own limitations, not those of others.”
Big Downturn For Foreign Enrollment At American Universities
The downturn follows a decade of explosive growth in foreign student enrollment, which now tops 1 million at United States colleges and educational training programs, and supplies $39 billion in revenue. Schools in the Midwest have been particularly hard hit — many of them non-flagship public universities that had come to rely heavily on tuition from foreign students, who generally pay more than in-state students.
Will Harassment Scandals Change How Hollywood Works?
“In response to the proliferating accusations in Hollywood, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office has established a sex-crimes task force, and the police department has assigned five pairs of detectives, including experts in reviving cold cases. So far, twenty-seven investigations have been opened, including at least one involving minors.”
TV News Ratings Up 12 Percent In 2017, Sports Viewing Down
The findings are contained in a report by Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser, who estimates that news and sports together accounted for 23% of total national TV viewing, 13% of that being news.