As Emily Temple notes in LitHub, that 2010 cover was also the first in about 10 years – and as she also says, “Maybe in 2029 it will be a woman! (Just kidding, there definitely won’t be magazines by then.)” Not to take away from Whitehead, of course; as the profile says, “If greatness is excellence sustained over time, then without question, Whitehead is one of the greatest of his generation. In fact, figuring his age, acclaim, productivity and consistency, he is one of the greatest American writers alive.” – TIME Magazine
Blog
As Nataki Garrett Takes Over The Reins, She Talks To Bill Rauch About His Legacy At The Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Rauch, who came into the festival wanting to change the audience and the acting company demographics (and who has succeeded in the latter; the former is stickier, as he also acknowledges in the interview), says, “I have, throughout my career, been very concerned with how marginalized voices can be put at the center of the art and the discourse in our field, and throughout my years at OSF, … I have been challenged by colleagues, audiences, and guest artists.” – HowlRound
Is Morality Hard-Wired Into Mammalian Brains?
Maybe morality started with food. Really. – The New York Times
The Breakout Star Of ‘The Last Black Man In San Francisco’ Says The Acting Life Is Wild And Unpredictable
Jonathan Majors is involved in so much work this year that – and the travel involved with promoting that work – that he has developed a philosophy to deal with it all. “‘That’s the beauty of being an actor. You’re kind of a journeyman. … ‘Home’ is right there. Right here,’ he said, touching his hand to his chest. ‘If you think, ‘I’ve got to get back to New York, I’ve got to get back to Atlanta, I’ve got to get back to L.A.’ — you’re lost. If you can’t find peace inside, you’ll never be at peace.’” – Los Angeles Times
Guggenheim Workers Vote To Unionize
The vote, in which 57 voted to join the union and 20 against, will see more than 90 arts handlers and facilities staff join the same union that represents roughly the same folks at MoMA PS1. – Hyperallergic
The New York Times Is Pretty Sure You Like To Read Memoirs
The story is about 50 memoirs from the last 50 years, but The New York Times has also ranked them. Want to know what number one is? (You know BuzzFeed would make this a quiz, asking how many you’ve read, but now you can do that on your own.) – The New York Times
Writers Guild Fights Back With Cease And Desist Letter To Agencies
The writers/agents fight hit a new level of ugly in the last week of June. “After being slapped this week with lawsuits from two of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, the Writers Guild of America fired back on Friday, sending a cease and desist letter in which the guild accuses agencies of engaging in anti-competitive behavior.” – Los Angeles Times
A Nazi-Looted Painting Is Returning To Italy
The Uffizi in Florence was never shy about saying what happened to the painting Vase of Flowers by Dutch master Jan van Huysum, but soon it won’t need that “STOLEN!” label on a reproduction on the wall. – BBC
This Library Is Bound For Freedom
Well, of course it’s free – it’s a library! – but more than that, “The Free Black Women’s Library, a mobile pop-up library and community for black women, is creating spaces [across Los Angeles]. A movement that was first sparked in New York, the library hopes to cultivate an appreciation for black female writers but also a safe space for communities of color.” – Los Angeles Times
If This Art Was In Defiantly Bad Taste In 1852, What Is It Now?
Well … it’s an important piece of cultural history. “This provocative show about domestic tastes was a landmark in changing national attitudes – and especially the section of it the newspapers dubbed the ‘chamber of horrors.’” – The Observer (UK)