Matthew Westphal – Page 756 – ArtsJournal Wayback

After Tumultuous Year, Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Executive Director Resigns

“[Frances] Turner’s two and a half years at the head of New Zealand’s national ballet company were marred by trouble at the end of last year, when the board commissioned an independent review to investigate claims of workplace bullying and foreign dancers being preferred over New Zealanders. The review eventually cleared RNZB of those allegations but did make some recommendations for how [things] could be improved.”

Where The ‘Thou Shalt Not End A Sentence With A Preposition’ Rule Came From

“It is a fantastically stupid rule that when followed often has the effect of mangling a sentence. And yet for hundreds of years, schoolchildren have been taught to create disastrously awkward sentences like ‘With whom did you go?’ The origins of this rule date back to one guy you may have heard of. Of whom you may have heard. Whatever. His name was John Dryden.”

What’s Wrong With Tolerance? Plenty

“Tolerance is deeply rooted in the canon of apparent modern ideals: as an inherent good, a necessary individual ethic, a pillar of Western civilisation and proof of its superiority. … Yet tolerance, as an idea and an ethic, obscures the interaction between individuals and groups on both a daily basis and over the longue durée; the mutually reinforcing exchange of culture and ideas between groups in a society is missing in the idea of tolerance. … The purpose of religious tolerance has always been, and remains, to maintain the power and purity of the dominant religion in a given state.” Simon Rabinovitch makes the case for using reciprocity instead.

How To Clean Your Full-Size Genuine Dinosaur Skeleton

Vulture heads to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to watch how its exhibition maintenance manager, Trenton Dirksen, gives the resident apatosaurus some cleaning and TLC. (video)

How ‘Cielito Lindo’ Became Mexico’s World Cup Anthem

“The song has been passed down through the generations within families both in Mexico and in the United States — at birthday parties, weddings, Mexican Independence Day parties and soccer matches. … It is also a song that lifts the spirits in times of immense tragedy. In September of last year, for example, when a catastrophic earthquake in Mexico left hundreds dead, volunteers collected food and medical equipment while singing a moving rendition of ‘Cielito Lindo.'”

Stanley Cavell, Who Applied Philosophy To Hollywood Rom-Coms, Dead At 91

“Professor Cavell was for decades on the faculty of Harvard University, where he often expounded on the ideas of what is called ordinary language philosophy, which argued that philosophers had become so preoccupied with convoluted statements of philosophical problems that they had lost touch with everyday words and their meanings. … He also showed his more cautious peers that writing on Shakespeare and even Hollywood films could make a philosophical contribution, illuminating issues of love, shame and community.”

The Neuroscientist On Staff At An Art Museum

Dr. Tedi Asher of the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem, Mass.: “When I first got to PEM,” says Asher, “we knew what the objective was, which was to create more compelling exhibitions for our visitors, by drawing on findings from the neuroscience literature, but we didn’t know exactly how to do that. … I see myself as very much like the mechanic. Like, how do we take all of these parts and work with them in a way that we’re facilitating engagement?”

The Famous Magazines That Depend On Philanthropy To Keep Publishing

“A new study offers a better sense of how much funding has been flowing to this media niche in recent years. … The results only offer a partial look at philanthropic support for these publications, since the study just tracks foundation funding. But the numbers are still illuminating for anyone who’s ever wondered how outfits like Harper’s and Mother Jones stay in business, much less the New Criterion.”

Protestors Yelling ‘No Yellowface!’ Disrupt ‘Jerome Robbins’ Broadway’ In St. Louis

“A group of theater artists visiting St. Louis for [the Theatre Communications Group] conference … booed in unison during an excerpt from the musical The King and I. … Demonstrators objected to the portrayal of a character from Burma (now called Myanmar) by a white actress. They also decried other parts of the show as displaying inappropriate cultural appropriation.”

Author: Matthew Westphal