Rachel Parker, formerly of Birmingham Royal Ballet: “My problems started after a tour to Taiwan. I got very ill and lost a lot of weight so when I came back to work I was expecting concern about my appearance but instead I got praise on how amazing I looked. I felt I got more attention and I started getting more principal roles.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
What Did Readers Make Of ‘The Lottery’ In 1948?
The New Yorker received more letters (over 300) in response to Shirley Jackson’s story than to anything else the magazine had yet published. Only 18 of those responses were positive, Jackson later said; the rest were split between “bewilderment, speculation, and plain old-fashioned abuse” – and all too many readers thought the story was real.
J.D. Salinger, Hindu Mysticism, And World War II
Ron Rosenbaum considers the reclusive author’s decades of correspondence with the swamis at the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center and what those letters might tell us about all the late-life writing Salinger kept hidden. Then Rosenbaum begins a campaign for Salinger’s estate to tell us something about that work. (Hey, it worked when he did it for Nabokov.)
Igor Stravinsky Outed As ‘Ambisexual’ In His Younger Days
The composer had an “ambisexual phase” during the Ballets Russes period in 1910s Paris, according to a new book by Robert Craft. the composer’s longtime assistant. Craft goes so far as to say that Stravinsky “was in love with” the son of Rimsky-Korsakov.
We Now Have A Concerto For Ophicleide
This odd brass instrument – something like a cross between a tuba and a saxophone – featured in the orchestras used by Verdi, Mendelssohn, Wagner and especially Berlioz but had fallen out of use by 1900. Yet when New York composer William Perry heard Sydney brass virtuoso Nick Byrne play the ophicleide, a beautiful relationship was born and a new concerto conceived.
Could These Teenage Triplets Become Cuba’s Next Big Ballet Stars?
“Angel, Cesar and Marcos Ramirez Castellano have already defied the odds by their very existence, as they are a rare set of identical triplets. But the three 13-year-olds are extraordinary in another way – they are all top young ballet dancers who made it into the elite feeder school for Cuba’s prestigious National Ballet.”
Manga And Anime Are Good For Learning, Says Japanese Researcher
Prof. Yuichi Higuchi argues that reading the same manga over and over again helps children master reading comprehension, while anime can develop children’s critical thinking (if parents discuss the cartoons with them).
Japanese Man Sues National Broadcaster For Using Too Many Foreign Words
“A disgruntled 71 year-old Japanese man is suing his country’s public broadcaster NHK over what he claims is its excessive use of Japanized versions of foreign words – known as loan words – which he says have rendered its programs unintelligible.”
German National Railroad Tries To Suppress Anglicisms Used By Its Staff
“Germany’s rail operator Deutsche Bahn has launched a campaign to roll back the use of English, issuing staff a booklet of 2,200 German phrases that should be used instead of the corresponding Anglicisms.”
How Hurricane Sandy Transformed The New Whitney Museum
“When Adam D. Weinberg was planning a new home in the West Village for the Whitney Museum of American Art, he did not expect to have to worry about waterproofing walls or finding a hydro-engineering firm that makes watertight hatches for the United States Navy.”