“The format is meant to be used for clarity, to indicate to a reader that she hasn’t come across a typo or an English word she doesn’t know. But the practice reinforces a monolinguistic culture of othering, some writers believe, and it simply doesn’t sound natural. For the world’s bilingual population — by some estimates, more than half — it’s not the way people really talk.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Rapper Wins The Orwell Prize For Political Books
“Scottish rapper Darren McGarvey, who performs under the name Loki, has won the Orwell prize for political books for his searing examination of poverty in Britain, Poverty Safari.”
Ruins Of 2,000-Year-Old City Unearthed In Albania
“Sometimes, rocks are more than crumbled pieces of the earth. Sometimes, they unveil clues about our planet’s ancient past or future. For archaeologists from the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre at the University of Warsaw, the rocks in Shkodër, Albania, turned out to be the ruins of the 2,000-year-old lost city of Bassania.”
What Is ‘Bucking’? It’s ‘A Furiously Energetic, Hyper-Athletic’ Underground Dance Genre
“It’s a style of dancing that’s both hidden and mainstream – simultaneously a part of everything from underground clubs to Beyoncé videos and dance routines, including her recent Coachella extravaganza. … The style was originally invented by women” – in fact, by the marching band’s dance team at a historically black college in Mississippi – “but bucking was soon adopted by gay men in the south, who took what they saw on the college sports field and moved it to the club.”
How China’s Internet Users Maneuver Around Heavy State Censorship
“Many websites that Americans access on a daily basis and take for granted, including Facebook, YouTube and Google, are blocked in China. … There’s always the option of bypassing the Great Firewall of China with VPNs, but not everyone may feel the need to go through the hassle for a single news item. Instead, most of them are cognizant of the confines of the web space they occupy and are comfortable employing ways to circumvent censors.” BJ Pang Chieh Ho explains how they do it.
Against ‘Cripping Up’: A Disabled Actor Explains Why Able-Bodied Actors Should Not Be Taking Disabled Roles
Jamie Beddard, who’s playing Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic: “‘Blacking up’ has been consigned to history, while ‘cripping up’ remains de rigueur, and is often a shortcut to industry [awards]. The list of excuses for such lazy and offensive casting is pitiful. … I have expended far too much time and energy debating the problem with ‘cripping up’. But it is particularly pertinent to The Elephant Man, with its themes of the fear of difference, the gaze of others, medical and spiritual intervention, the interplay of pity and empathy, and how we reflect ourselves in others.”
The Disability Arts Movement Has Been Around For 40 Years – Why Do So Few People Know About It?
“[It] first bloomed toward the end of the 1970s, and led to major advancements in Britain, such as increased accessibility on public transport and the passing of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. Yet strangely, the UK’s Disability Arts Movement isn’t something that’s widely spoken about – except among the disabled creative community.”
Riccardo Muti Halts Chicago Symphony Concert Because He Just Couldn’t Stand The Coughing Anymore
“Maestro Muti stopped a performance of Chant sur la Mort de Joseph Haydn, Luigi Cherubini’s funeral cantata for the Austrian composer, dead in its tracks, and one audience member told the Tribune they thought he said ‘it’s impossible’ while another said they thought he uttered an expletive. A CSO spokeswoman would not comment on what he said.”
Berkshire Museum To Sell Off More Art Because It Didn’t Get Enough Money The First Time Around
The first round of the widely criticized deaccessioning, with works being sold in April and May, only netted $47 million of the museum board’s $55 million goal. Now nine more works will be sold, seven of them privately and two at Sotheby’s; those works include pieces by Bierstadt and Calder as well as Qing Dynasty antiques.
Westminster Choir College Is Officially Sold
“Rider University on Thursday signed a controversial deal to sell Westminster Choir College, a renowned but struggling institution in downtown Princeton, N.J., for $40 million to a Chinese company with little experience in higher education.”