As he told a classroom full of students, “If you can’t do it then writing isn’t for you. You’ve no right to be here. If there is any way I can help you get into law school then I will. Your morality will be more useful in a courtroom.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
How Do You Function As A Classical Singer While Blind?
Mezzo Laurie Rubin explains: “Most won’t admit to this, but conductors grunt when a crescendo comes. I listen for things like that. The way I keep the beat is that I can feel the wind of their arms moving, or you hear their clothes moving.”
Glorious Seascapes, Seen In The Tiniest Waves
“The swell of the water, the familiar tube – this looks like a perfect surfing wave, but it is only a few centimetres high. Photographer DebM specialises in capturing tiny waves breaking on the Australian coast in what she calls Waveart.”
Where Dragons Come From
“With fiery breath, razor-sharp claws, scales as hard as shields and a vast underground lair, … where did the idea for such a bizarre beast – with such an odd mixture of traits – come from in the first place?” Probably not from dinosaur fossils, for starters. (Merlin, the wizard of the King Arthur stories, does seem to have a role, though.)
Has The Phoenix Frank Lloyd Wright House Just Been Saved?
“The coiled concrete-and-steel house built by Frank Lloyd Wright here, which had been under threat of demolition since its sale in June to a pair of luxury home developers, may have found its savior in an anonymous buyer who has agreed to pay the asking price of $2.379 million, all of it in cash.”
Stratford Festival Drops Shakespeare From Its Name
“The Stratford Festival is returning to its previous name – removing the ‘Shakespeare’ added just a few years ago – as longtime executive Antoni Cimolino begins his run as artistic director. … The festival had rebranded itself the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in November 2007. It had previously dropped ‘Shakespeare’ from its name in the 1970s.”
Yuri Lyubimov, Famed Russian Theater Director, In Coma
“Yuri Lyubimov, the well-known theater director and actor, has slipped into a coma in a Moscow hospital and his health is deteriorating. Lyubimov, who turned 95 on Sept. 30, was hospitalized on Oct. 12 after suffering a heart attack.”
Ballet San Jose Commits To Live Music
“After this past winter’s turmoil seemed to threaten Ballet San Jose’s status as one of California’s premiere dance companies, the organization has recommitted to fundamentals. In its latest dramatic gesture, the ballet hired Emmy award-winning music director and conductor George Daugherty, while announcing that every performance this season will feature live music by Symphony Silicon Valley.”
Sandy Cripples New York’s Dance World
“Many performance and rehearsal spaces, especially those south of 34th Street, are still without power, including the Joyce, The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, Gibney Dance Center, Peridance, and Dance New Amsterdam.” Not only are performances called off, but until the power’s back on, there’s a major shortage of class space.
Are ‘Why’ Questions, Scientifically Speaking, Silly?
“[Can] science answer a question like, ‘What is the purpose of a mountain?’ According to [Richard] Dawkins, this is a silly question that doesn’t deserve an answer. But not everyone finds questions about the purpose of mountains so silly.”