“Making it cheap to express unpopular opinions makes it easier for outsiders to gauge what the average viewpoint of a group of scholars might be. And when an article causes a controversy, calls to uphold a field’s standards should be met with some skepticism, especially when those standards would prohibit the publication of the unpopular opinion in the first instance. After all, if academic freedom doesn’t mean the protection of unpopular and disruptive minority views, what could it possibly be for?”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Dozens Of Prominent Writers Defend Author Accused Of Plagiarism
More than 70 authors, including Pulitzer prize winners Jennifer Egan and Louise Glück, have come to the defence of the editor and poet Jill Bialosky after she was accused of plagiarism, saying that Bialosky’s “inadvertent repetition of biographical boilerplate was not an egregious theft intentionally performed”.
Inside Cincinnati’s Remade Music Hall
“Overhead, the new glass ‘acoustical clouds’ reflect sound back to the stage and into the hall, a distinct visual upgrade from old shell’s look. The stage is lower to the ground, coming only to the knees of front row attendees, and musicians behind the string sections are elevated on a set of terraced risers which should’ve been implemented years ago. Perhaps most importantly, the acoustics—which many voiced as the primary concern about the venue’s reconfiguration—are not only maintained, but improved. Simply put, the results of the renovation banished any skepticism I harbored and exceed even my wildest expectations; it is a masterpiece, a triumph. It’s so good to be home.”
Fifty Years Ago A Magazine Published A Casting Couch Expose. It Didn’t Really Change Things
If there was any fallout from Picturegoer series, it didn’t make the papers. Nobody got fired, nobody was disgraced, nobody followed up. Nearly 20 years later, on May 21, 1975—so around the time producer Sam Spiegel was allegedly trying to force himself on Theresa Russell, but a few years before Roman Polanski was arrested for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old—Variety, reporting on a new committee the Screen Actors Guild was establishing to investigate what were euphemistically called “morality complaints,” asked, “ ‘Casting Couch’: Fiction or Fact?”
University Free Speech Is Being Tested On US Campuses. It Should Be
“The current campus disruptions over what is and isn’t acceptable speech cannot be judged a blessing in disguise—they are far too illiberal and misguided for that. But by interfering with business as usual, perhaps they will also make it harder for the purported leaders of U.S. higher education to speak in lofty clichés while selling their birthright to deep-pocketed authoritarian sponsors.”
Trump Pulls US Out Of UNESCO
“UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization known for its designation of world heritage sites, is a global development agency with missions that include promoting sex education, literacy, clean water and equality for women. In a lengthy written statement, Irina Bokova, UNESCO’s director-general, expressed regret at the American withdrawal and said that the American people shared the organization’s goals.”
Who Cares If Languages Become Extinct?
“Tales of language extinction are invariably tragic. But why, exactly? Aka-Bo, like many other extinct languages, did not make a difference to the lives of the vast majority of people. Yet the sense that we lose something valuable when languages die is familiar. Just as familiar, though, is the view that preserving minority languages is a waste of time and resources. I want to attempt to make sense of these conflicting attitudes.”
First Impressions Of Cincinnati’s Rebuilt Music Hall
Janelle Gelfand: “On opening night, listeners were still taking in the elegant new décor and patron-friendly amenities, which include cup holders for the first time on new, wider seats. Now, however, there are about 1,000 fewer seats in a hall that formerly seated more than 3,400; the audience for this gala re-opening was 2,282.”
The Bilbao Effect – 20 Years Later
“For all its fame, there are many who ask if so-called the “Bilbao effect” is real, and if so, if it is easily repeatable. Was the Guggenheim Bilbao a unique combination of a project at the right time and in the right place—a great architect and daring museum combined with an unusually forward-looking regional government willing to invest? Have the reasons for its transformative effect been misunderstood, explaining why its model has been frequently imitated but its extraordinary success rarely replicated?”
Study: How You Read Affects How Much You Remember
“One study revealed that people think they are better at comprehending information when they read it on a digital screen. This resulted in those readers reading the text much faster than those reading the text in paper format. Yet despite spending less time reading the text, the digital readers predicted they would perform better on a quiz about the text than the people who read the text on paper. Yet when the digital and paper groups were tested, the paper groups outperformed the digital groups on memory recall and comprehension of the text. They also were closer to their test result predictions than the digital group was.”