Jennifer Schuessler’s guide on the trip is Kory Stamper, one of Merriam-Websters new generation of social-media stars.
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘The Final Word’ On The Oxford Comma, As Decreed By Columbia Journalism Review
“Newspaper style has long been to omit that final comma. But every stylebook that allows omission of the Oxford comma includes a caveat, often forgotten: Once the sentence moves beyond a simple series, that comma might be necessary for clarity.”
Daniel Dennett, Scientist Of The Soul
“Dennett does not believe that we are ‘mere things.’ He thinks that we have souls, but he is certain that those souls can be explained by science. If evolution built them, they can be reverse-engineered. ‘There ain’t no magic there,’ he told me. ‘Just stage magic.'”
Where Did Thinkers Search For The Location Of The Human Soul Before Modern Neuroscience?
Daniel Suggs reviews the early history of the science of the soul in the Western world, from Vesalius to Donne to Marlowe to Overton to the New England doctor who determined (with methodology that wasn’t exactly rigorous or ethical) that the soul weighs 21 grams.
Indianapolis Symphony Principal Bassoonist Sues Orchestra For Age Discrimination
John Wetherill, 62, accuses music director Krzysztof Urbański, 34, of a five-year campaign of harassment, including attempts at public humiliation, in an effort to get Wetherill to retire or give up his principal chair in favor of a younger player. The ISO has no comment. (Where’s the musicians’ union?)
A Musical Instrument You Can Play With Your Mind Alone
It’s called the encephalophone (brain instrument), and it was developed “with a double-edged purpose: to explore new frontiers in music technology and as a possible therapeutic tool for people who’d suffered from strokes or neurological problems like ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).”
Crowds At The Smithsonian’s New Museum Of African-American History Have Been Big – And They’re Going To Get Bigger
“If you think you can wait a few months to avoid the long lines and crowded galleries at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, you’ll need a new strategy.” Peggy McGlone reports.
An ‘Audience Manifesto’: This Theatre Asked Its Biggest Stakeholders What They Really Want, And Here’s What They Came Up With
The Director of Engagement at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester writes about how she and her colleagues developed their two-years-and-running project, You,The Audience.
Beloved Miami City Ballet Star Patricia Delgado Says Farewell
“Repeated injuries – and a longing to finally join her boyfriend of several years, New York City Ballet resident choreographer and dancer Justin Peck – mean that Delgado is retiring from the company.”
Performance Artists In Exile In Britain Fear They’ll Be Forced To Return To Poland
Władysław Kaźmierczak and Ewa Rybska face charges, which they insist are politically motivated, of financial malfeasance from the 2000s, when Kaźmierczak was director of the Baltic Gallery for Contemporary Art in Słupsk. The pair’s work has been critical of the right-wing-nationalist Law and Justice Party, which is currently in power in Poland.