“The Second City announced Friday it will move or cancel all main stage, Second City e.t.c. and UP Comedy Club performances through Sept. 20 as a result of the ongoing cleanup from a three-alarm fire in Chicago’s Piper’s Alley Aug. 26.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Man Who Fronted The Weirdest (And Longest-Running) Show On Spanish-Language TV Is A Mild-Mannered German-Jewish Chilean
“Sábado Gigante‘s Don Francisco is really Mario Kreutzberger, the 74-year-old child of refugees whose German-Jewish parents fled the holocaust to Chile, where Mario was born. He started hosting the variety show there when he was 21, in 1962. As Sábado Gigante comes to an end on September 19, Kreutzberger talks to Brooke about bringing the show to the US, his 53-year-long career, and criticism of the show’s tone.” (audio)
Drama Will Be ‘Backbone’ Of BBC’s Services, Says Director-General
Tony Hall: “We know how much drama on the BBC means to our audiences. Drama is something this country excels at – it’s recognised globally. I want British drama to be the backbone of a more distinctive approach to all our services, capturing the public’s imagination with world-class work for a global stage.”
Coming To Terms With ‘Slut’: What A Woman Faces When She Publishes A Sex Memoir
Robin Rinaldi: “As a protagonist, I was far from perfect. As a writer, I struggled as best I could to tell the raw truth about how these issues played out in my life. … But it’s the combination of social media and sexism that filters an entire range of potential feedback down to its surprisingly predictable essence, as I learned from tweets and Facebook messages directed at me after my book was published.”
White Guy Can’t Get His Poem Published; Submits It Under Chinese Pen Name; It Gets Selected For ‘Best American Poetry 2015’; Kerfuffle Commences
The strange tale of “The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve” by Michael Derrick Hudson, alias Yi-Fen Chou – and how, when Hudson came clean to this year’s editor, Sherman Alexie, Alexie included it anyway.
‘Yellowface In Poetry’: That White Guy Using An Asian Pen Name Was ‘Crass And Offensive’, Argues The Angry Opposition
Brian Spears: “The implication [is] that the writer’s lack of whiteness was, in this case, a help rather than a hindrance to getting the work noticed. I am here to say that Hudson and his defenders are full of it. … In poetry, as in pretty much every other walk of life, there is no greater advantage to publication and all that follows from it than being a straight white male.”
Sherman Alexie Explains – Beautifully – Why He Kept The ‘Yi-Fen Chou’ Poem In Best American Poetry 2015
“Listen, I was so angry that I stormed and cursed around the room. I felt like punching the wall. … But I had to keep that pseudonymous poem in the anthology because it would have been dishonest to do otherwise. If I’d pulled the poem then I would have been denying that I gave the poem special attention because of the poet’s Chinese pseudonym. … I would have pulled it because I didn’t want to hear people say, ‘Oh, look at the big Indian writer conned by the white guy.’ I would have dumped the poem because of my vanity.” (The entry is long, but it’s worth reading all of it.)
What Exactly IS ‘Political Correctness,’ Anyway?
“Specifically, most of us are not entirely sure what that term actually … means. Stop for a moment, and think for yourself: How would you define the term?
The Uniquely American Myth Of Satanic Cults
“This is what happens when hypervigilance and moral panic take precedence over accepted scientific methodologies and hard evidence.” (And no, tis article explains, the Satanic Temple is not, in fact, a cult; It’s not even very Satanic.)
Royal Winnipeg Ballet Studios And Archives Severely Damaged By Flooding Toilet
“It pumped water out at full strength for nearly 30 hours before it was detected. Hallways, offices, and important studio space were all under water. … The flood also attacked something far more difficult to fix – the ballet company’s history.”