The U.S. Has A Huge Number Of Empty Churches – What Should Be Done With Them?

Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches die every year in the United States. “As donations and attendance decrease, the cost of maintaining large physical structures that are only in use a few hours a week by a handful of worshippers becomes prohibitive. None of these trends show signs of slowing, so the United States’s struggling congregations face a choice: start packing or find a creative way to stay afloat.”

Pompeii Has Some Seriously At-Risk Areas, And The Effort To Preserve Them Has Revealed New Treasures

A fresco of Leda and the swan is only one of many treasures revealed by an intensive effort to save a stretch along the Via del Vesuvio. “The project involves excavating and securing more than two miles of earth that border an unexcavated area of the ancient city. The archaeological remains along this front have suffered in recent years as a result of collapses and landslides caused by heavy rains.”

Has Contemporary Poetry ‘Abandoned Craft,’ Or Are Its Critics Missing Something Important?

Novelist Rose Tremain and poet Robin Robertson have both railed against contemporary poetry in recent days. Whoops. “Detractors of new poetry make judgments about craft based on conservative assumptions about poetic traditions, forms, style. But radical aesthetics have their own craft and traditions, formed from intersecting political and linguistic concerns. So this isn’t a question of craft at all.”

Wait, *What* Happened To A Planned (But Controversial) Banksy Show In Brussels?!

Um, wow. This did not go to plan: “A Belgian court proved just how unauthorised the exhibition may have been by ordering bailiffs to seize the art, valued at over £12m. After five hours, and some careful handling, the pieces, including a version of the famous stencil mural Girl With Balloon, were driven away at midnight to an unidentified secure location, where they will sit out of the public eye until another court hearing in January.”