Author: Matthew Westphal

The Christian Publishing Industry’s Biggest Scandal: The Boy Who Now Says He Didn’t Come Back From Heaven

In 2004, six-year-old Alex Malarkey’s skull and spine were separated in an automobile accident and he spent months in a coma. Six years later, his father (who was driving at the time) published, with himself and Alex listed as co-authors, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, an account of the visions of (Christian) heaven Alex had while in the coma and afterward, and it became a major bestseller. Six more years later, Alex (still a quadriplegic) turned 18, said that nothing in the book was true, and sued the publisher. Journalist Ruth Graham talks to Alex, both his parents, and others about the writing and publication of the book and the messy family history behind it. – Slate

More Stars Say Hosting An Awards Show Just Isn’t Worth The Headaches

“According to insiders who spoke … on the condition of anonymity, there are plenty of reasons big-name celebrities are increasingly reluctant to join forces with awards shows. Some of these issues, like the time commitment a gig like this requires, have always been factors. Others — like the hazard of getting mercilessly roasted on Twitter over a bit gone wrong — are a bit newer.” – Vanity Fair

Jewish Museums — What Are They For? Whom Should They Serve? And Who Should Or Shouldn’t Be Able To Run One?

“These questions are swirling around the future of the Jewish Museum Berlin, one of the city’s most popular visitor attractions, after the abrupt departure last month of its director, Peter Schäfer. He left after a string of controversies in which critics — including the Israeli government and the main organization representing Jews in Germany — said the institution had gone beyond its mission and become overly political.” – The New York Times

Violinist Aaron Rosand Dead At 92

“Acclaimed for his performances of romantic repertoire and his sweet tone, Rosand recorded prolifically and appeared with all the major orchestras around the world, making a particularly busy European career during the 1960s and ’70s,” though he never achieved the level of fame that some colleagues of the same generation did. Rosand also spent more than 30 years teaching at the Curtis Institute, where he had studied as a young man. – The Strad

Ex-New York Dealer Charged With Smuggling $143M Worth Of Antiquities From South Asia

“A criminal complaint filed in Manhattan state court said the smuggling was orchestrated by Subhash Kapoor, a New York art gallery owner who was arrested in Germany in 2011 and later extradited to India, where he faces similar charges. … Authorities described the case as one of the largest of its kind, saying the conspiracy began more than three decades ago and involved more than 2,600 recovered artifacts, including statues and ancient masterworks.” – Yahoo! (AP)

A New Generation Of Transgender Singers Making Their Mark In The Opera World

“Some … found new voices, either with the help of hormones or through retraining. Others kept the voices they had built their careers on — even if it meant continuing to perform in the gender they had left behind. Now some are getting higher-profile roles — and upending preconceptions about voice and gender. … We spent time with four of the artists at the forefront of this new wave.” – The New York Times

Street Theatre Takes Off In The Slums Of São Paulo

“In Heliópolis, one of São Paulo’s largest favelas, the trial of a black youth agitates the community, which argues for his innocence. In a train heading to Jardim Romano, an audio brings the history of the region to the passengers’ ears, and culminates with a final point: the rains and flooding. In the very south of the city, the body of a dead person is reanimated with Brazilian funk music. These three stories, told in three stage plays, are representative of the theatre scene that has exploded in São Paulo in recent years.” – Global Voices

Really Good Nature Documentaries ‘Are Great Art, Maybe The Greatest Art Of Our Time’

Sebastian Smee: “I realize the claim sounds odd. After all, they weren’t really intended as high art. They’re television documentaries. They were created primarily to educate and to entertain. And yet a lot of things we now display in our museums and think of as art were never intended as such. African carvings. Russian icons. Minoan ceramics. Egyptian statues. … The best nature documentaries … [are] great in this important sense, too: Like those Impressionist paintings, they are ahead of their time. We are not yet ready to see them from the perspective of the future. But soon we will be.” – The Washington Post

Grass Is Greener?

The arts being valued by the government as an important part of society and the (near) certainty that money will be available for basic operations — as in Australia and Chile, which I recently visited — borders on utopian fantasy for those of us in the States. And yet there are reasons they envy us. – Doug Borwick