Matthew Westphal – Page 2110 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Mary Cheever Dead At 95

An author and poet in her own right, she was “a central figure in a family of prominent American writers whose most notable member was her husband, John, with whom she had a relationship as complex as those he wrote about.”

Why Trey McIntyre Went To, And Stayed In, Boise

“When I first came here they said you’ll disappear off the dance map. The opposite was true – we got a lot of attention. It just requires more creativity. … Being surrounded by other artists and companies [in a big city] is more of a challenge than being away.”

The Word That Won Scrabble’s New-Word Contest Is Superfluous In Scrabble

Not only that, argues Stefan Fatsis, but the contest was won by the equivalent of ballot-stuffing.

SFMoMA To Open Largest Photography Exhibition Space In U.S.

“The John and Lisa Pritzker Center for Photography will feature more than 15,500 square feet of space and will almost triple the current amount of space for photography at the museum, according to the museum. The center will be located on the third floor of the museum when it reopens in 2016 after extensive renovations.”

At Last Minute, ‘A Night With Janis Joplin’ Cancels Off-Broadway Transfer

“The production, built around Mary Bridget Davies’s uncanny channeling of the 1960s diva’s spirit and sound, was to begin performances at the Gramercy Theater, following a short Broadway run that generated a fervent fan base.” But on Wednesday producers postponed the opening indefinitely due to what they called “production issues”.

Stop Comparing The NSA To Orwell’s ‘1984’

A better parallel, suggests Noah Berlatsky, is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Can We Really Learn To Control Our Own Dreams?

Lucid dreaming is real, and likely more people do it than you (or they) might think.

The Forgotten Childhood: Why Early Memories Fade

Most adults have what’s called childhood amnesia (i.e., having few or no memories from the first 3 to 3½ years of life). “But it’s only in the past decade that [scientists] have begun to figure out when childhood memories start to fade, which early memories are most likely to survive, and how we create a complete autobiography without direct memories of our earliest years.” (includes audio)

Remember That Papyrus That Said Jesus Has A Wife? Well, It’s Not A Fake

“A faded fragment of papyrus known as the ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,’ which caused an uproar when unveiled by a Harvard Divinity School historian in 2012, has been tested by scientists who conclude in a journal published on Thursday that the ink and papyrus are very likely ancient, and not a modern forgery.”

Author: Matthew Westphal