A few days after my beloved Hilary received her double-lung transplant, I published an open letter in The Wall Street Journal addressed to the family of the anonymous organ donor whose lungs she used to breathe during the last month of her life. – Terry Teachout
Author: Matthew Westphal
Recent Listening: Ernesto Cervini’s ‘Tetrahedron’
The Canadian drummer’s new album manages to meld elements of contemporary electronica with references to developments in the six decades since John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman turned the music in new directions. – Doug Ramsey
Before There Was ‘The Onion’, There Was ‘Not The New York Times’
An April Fool’s story that’s actually true: back during the 1978 newspaper strike in New York City, a group of writers and editors that included some now-illustrious names — George Plimpton, Nora Ephron, Carl Bernstein, Terry Southern, Frances FitzGerald — put together a parody newspaper and got it onto newsstands. Here’s the first-ever oral history of this proto-Onion from some of the folks involved. – The New York Times
Crosswords Only Date Back To 1913, But Written Word Games Have Been Around For A Very Long Time
Here’s a brief history, going from a five-by-five palindrome from ancient Rome to Victorian double acrostics to four different kinds of riddle (including the anti-riddle). – The Paris Review
Give This Woman A Pritzker Prize! Once Pakistan’s Starchitect, She Now Designs Mud-And-Bamboo Huts For Poor Villagers
Yasmeen Lari retired at 60 after making her career designing some of Pakistan’s glitziest modern buildings for government and corporate clients. Then, after a severe earthquake, she went to help with reconstruction — designing simple houses that survivors could build themselves, using the debris, that cost a tenth of what NGOs spent on prefab concrete homes. And she’s gone on from there, developing one innovative and inexpensive structure after another, creating jobs for impoverished women at the same time. – The Guardian
New Plays About Coronavirus Epidemic Are Already Arriving
“Skylight Theatre, a Los Angeles theater company that prioritizes social issues, … [has] kicked off weekly plays from its writers lab set amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the [online] series will continue until Skylight can open its doors again.” The project has started with Christine Hamilton-Schmidt’s Our First Honest Conversation, about an estranged couple, separately sheltering in place, trying “to reignite a sexual spark using only words.” – Los Angeles Times
Now Even Arthouse Movie Theaters Are Embracing Streaming Video
“Alamo Drafthouse, Film Forum and the Angelika are a few of the … theaters testing out the provisional path into [online streaming]. … Patrons can purchase a digital ticket, most of which cost around $12, giving them access to a link that is available for a few days.” – Variety
Guitarist And New York Jazz Institution Bucky Pizzarelli Dead Of COVID At 94
“[He] was revered for the technical aplomb that enabled him to combine intricate runs, full chordal accompaniment and even his own walking bass lines. His rock-solid rhythmic footing and broad harmonic understanding were hallmarks of a warmly understated style that always drew attention to the song he was playing, rather than the playing itself.” – NPR
Public Radio And TV Stations Are Having To Rework Their Underwriting Models — Fast
Cultural institutions and restaurants, whose revenue has been largely wiped out by the coronavirus epidemic, have been among the biggest underwriters of local public media outlets. Reporter Julian Wyllie looks into how several local stations are dealing with the sudden changes in their sponsors’, and their own, fortunes. – Current
Edinburgh Festivals’ Cancellation Could Devastate Labor Market Throughout City
Warning that there are up to five times as many jobs in the city indirectly affected by the festivals and the tourism industry as there are directly employed in them, the head of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce said, “We are already seeing quite a number of businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector fail. … I think we’ll see a second wave now.” – The Scotsman