According to García Turza, if the Suso monks were the first to record the sounds of the Ibero-Romance language on the page, they are also responsible for the creation of the Spanish alphabet. – BBC
Blog
Not All Shrinking Cities Are Poor And Suffering (And A Few Are Positively Prospering)
Richard Florida looks at a study of shrinking American cities and breaks down a couple of myths about them, and about why some cities remain vibrant even as they lose population while others enter a downward spiral. – CityLab
The Success Problem: Is Your Happiness Dependant On It?
“Problems related to achieving professional success might appear to be a pretty good species of problem to have; even raising this issue risks seeming precious. But if you reach professional heights and are deeply invested in being high up, you can suffer mightily when you inevitably fall.” – The Atlantic
Method Acting And #MeToo: A Brief History
“At least three of the fathers of the American Method — Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Elia Kazan — had reputations for treating men and women differently, as well as for treating both women actors and women characters as sex objects.” Holly L. Derr examines what these men did, how they justified it, and how the aftereffects linger on. – HowlRound
Allegations Of Sexual Abuse Of Operatic Proportions
“Whether a visiting music director joining one production at a time, or in his regular capacity as Resident Conductor at several opera companies, he brings musically impeccable credentials, a flair with the baton, and a reputation for finding and cultivating exciting young talent. Countless reviews testify to his well-acknowledged musical talents. Behind the scenes, however, lies a much darker story.” – Twin Cities Arts Reader
‘The Wild Bunch’: At 50, It’s Aged Disturbingly Well
“[Sam] Peckinpah’s notion that mercy and virtue may be outmoded ideas in the hectic, grabby sprawl of the 20th century has ossified into prophecy as we’ve rolled into the 21st. … His work resonates wherever betrayal can be adopted as an acceptable strategy for success.” – The Guardian
How “The United Nations Of Graffiti” Flipped The Switch On A Counterculture Art Form
In the early days, by creed, a graffiti artist would ask neither for permission nor compensation. Now, after courting the former, artists at 5Pointz were receiving the latter. Graffiti was once a countercultural threat that conservative forces roundly maligned as a racially coded stand-in for urban delinquency. Now, graffiti had not only helped catalyze gentrification of one of the city’s fastest growing neighborhoods, but was also being handsomely rewarded for it, with legal recognition by a judge and jury. – The New Republic
Robert Therrien, Whimsical Sculptor, Dead At 71
“[He] was best known for his oversized sculptures of chairs and tables that he produced at larger-than-life, room-filling scale. In doing so, everyday pieces of furniture seem unreal, and viewers become like children, crawling beneath kitchen tables. They have become staples at museums across the world.” – ARTnews
San Francisco Ballet Recruits Two Stars
“Longtime Boston Ballet star Misa Kuranaga will be joining the company as a principal dancer for the 2019-20 season, while Dutch National Ballet principal Sasha Mukhamedov will join as a soloist. They join a slew of newly promoted SFB principals and soloists, announced earlier this year.” – Pointe Magazine
Backstage With The Very Butch Boys Of The Bolshoi Ballet
“In Russia, that most macho of societies, male ballet has never been a sniggering joke about guys in tights. There is no finer expression of manly patriotism than to dance, especially for the Bolshoi.” Reporter Janice Turner goes to the theatre to watch the company’s men rehearse (what else?) Spartacus. – The Times (UK)