“[The worrisome development is] the recent decision of leading Scottish newspapers and magazines to slash their coverage of the festival in half. Coupled with the dwindling size of the annual contingent of London critics, the threat to the ecology of the festival is real.” – The Observer (UK)
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Huge Illicit Antiquities Market Hiding In Plain Sight On Facebook
“Last month, the ATHAR Project published an important report on West Asian antiquities trafficking taking place more or less out in the open — on Facebook. … The report, ‘Facebook’s Black Market in Antiquities: Trafficking, Terrorism, and War Crimes,’ published in June, is the result of nearly two years of research.” – Hyperallergic
Audit Finds ‘Substantial Uncertainty’ About Baltimore Symphony’s Viability, Says Management
“The organization’s independent auditor for the fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31, 2018, concluded that ‘there is substantial uncertainty about the BSO’s ability to continue [for one more year] as a going concern,’ the BSO said in a news release. The BSO did not respond to multiple requests that it provide a full copy of the audit.” – The Baltimore Sun
Egypt Reopens 4,600-Year-Old ‘Bent’ Pyramid To Public After 54 Years
“The 101m-high structure, in the Dahshur royal necropolis, just south of Cairo, is one of two built for Sneferu, the pharaoh who founded the Fourth Dynasty. Tourists will be allowed inside the ancient structure after archaeologists found ‘hidden tombs’ containing mummies, masks and tools.” – The Independent (UK)
Berlin’s Heyday As An Inexpensive Haven For Artists Is Being Gentrified Away
“Its reputation as a hub where artists and creative types can rent inexpensively and still afford to do as they please is eroding. Certain neighborhoods, such as Kreuzberg, … [which] was pressed up against the Wall and became home to immigrants with few other choices, have had the hex of coolness cast upon them.” – The New Yorker
How Could New York City Opera’s ‘Stonewall’ Have Screwed Up So Badly On Trans Issues?
Brin Solomon: “In casting a trans man to play a trans woman, the Stonewall creative team have botched things so spectacularly … It’s difficult to convey how bizarre this casting choice is. It’s like writing a character who’s a lesbian, casting a gay man to play her, and then boasting of writing a homosexual character for a homosexual actor.” – I Care If You Listen
Same-Gender Couples Come To The Once-Rigidly Male-Female World Of Competitive Ballroom Dance
“Traditional ballroom dancing enacts a caricature of socially prescribed gender roles. The male partner is the leader; the female partner, the follower. The male partner’s movements are meant to be sharp and decisive, while the female dancer is meant to be flowy and expressive. … Same-gender ballroom dancing challenges these norms while also challenging the dancers themselves, who often learn to both lead and follow.” – The Washington Post
Museums In Britain Are Taking Out And Showing The LGBTQ-Themed Artworks And Objects They Used To Keep Hidden Away
“The [Victoria and Albert Museum LGBTQ] tour’s burgeoning popularity is part of a more general ‘queering’ of British museums that is gathering pace. Institutions across the UK are teasing out stories of same-sex desire and gender nonconformity in artefacts that have, until now, been left untold, or actively suppressed.” – The Guardian
Why Do We See So Many Gay Male Characters On Broadway But So Few Lesbians?
Sure, there’s The Prom, and before that Fun Home, Indecent, and, going back, Rent and perhaps The Color Purple, but that’s been about it, writes Elisabeth Vincentelli. “Obviously, Broadway is not the be-all and end-all of American theater. But it does represent validation and awareness, the ability to put on big spectacles, and the opportunity to land regional productions … It feels as if lesbians are still trying to build a theatrical house while gay men — having had a house, a two-car garage and a gazebo for years now — have moved on to deconstructing and repurposing the real estate they can afford to be tired of.” – The New York Times
Ecolinguistics: The Ways That Language And Climate Connect
“It turns out that language has a much more powerful role to play in ecological survival than just describing [today’s] disturbing environmental outlook.” For example, the languages of indigenous peoples are often full of information about the natural world that urbanized folk overlook. “And if we can effectively use language to help to save the natural world, well, language may also end up saving itself.” – JSTOR Daily