“Workers assisted by police officers entered Kensal Rise library” – which Brent borough council decided to close due to lack of funding – “between 2am and 3am on Tuesday, removing furniture, murals painted in the 1930s for the library … along with the books, according to campaigners [fighting the closure].”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Nico Muhly Dismisses The Whole Death-Of-Classical Music Idea
“The internet is filled with people saying that blah blah classical music is dying blah blah. Chances are, they are being paid to say this. … I just don’t buy it. Classical music is urgent and vibrant because we are making it that way, and I don’t see how Beethoven 7 being used to disperse people is symptomatic of any bigger problem.”
Transsexual Toddlers: Can Two-Year-Olds Really Know That They Were Born The Wrong Sex?
A front-page Washington Post story earlier this month focused on Kathryn/Tyler, a preschooler who insisted from age two, “I am a boy.” Was s/he “born this way”? Biologist and gender studies scholar Anne Fausto-Sterling says that things aren’t nearly so simple.
Spanish Artist Faces Jail On Blasphemy Charges
“Javier Krahe, who has been a popular and provocative figure in Spain for nearly half a century, … faces up to a year in prison after being prosecuted for ‘offending religious feelings’ in relation to a short film he made more than 30 years ago that claimed to show ‘how to cook Jesus Christ’.”
Bollywood Dance – Watching The Sausage Get Made
“Ace Kathak-inspired choreographer Gauri Sharma Tripathi explains to Guardian dance critic Judith Mackrell how the worlds of classic and modern Indian dance collide in Wah! Wah! Girls, a Bollywood musical set in London’s vibrant East End.”
This Really Has Been Britain’s Second Elizabethan Age
Yes, the reign of Elizabeth II has seen the loss of empire and great political and social tumult, but during her reign Britain has seen a truly extraordinary set of achievements in the arts, architecture and technology.
The Argumentative Ape: Why Humans Are Wired To Persuade
Impulse thinking, confirmation bias, fuzzy logic – why did humans get such a flawed reasoning apparatus? It may just be that we eveolved not to reason, but to argue and persuade.
Baltimore’s Contemporary Museum ‘Suspends Operations’
“The Contemporary’s board voted unanimously to suspend its work, cutting short an exhibit scheduled to continue through May 27, and letting go executive director Sue Spaid and four part-time staffers.” Said the board president, “We are not shutting down. The museum is ceasing its programs for the time being. How long that’s going to be is everyone’s guess.”
Philadelphia’s Arts Sector Beginning To Climb Out Of Recession: Survey
“The region’s cultural organizations are showing signs of recovery from the fiscal crisis and deep recession that began in 2007, according to an annual survey conducted by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Individual giving is up, foundation support is up, earned income is up, and even some hiring is under way.”
Doc Watson, 89, Country Guitar Legend
Over a seventy-year career, “the blind folk singer and guitarist whose dazzling string work and homespun stage manner transported concert audiences … influenced such diverse musicians as Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, Clarence White of the Byrds, the innovative acoustic picker Leo Kottke and bluegrass multi- instrumentalist Ricky Skaggs.”