The latest pop culture lawsuit that might make its way to a courtroom is the case of Nirvana and Marc Jacobs, with the band suing the designer over a smiley face image. – New York Magazine
Blog
The Creeping Insidiousness Of Miseducation
Every person has two choices for how to cope with any aspect of society that is uncomfortable: act to change it, or surrender. Miseducation is the art of teaching people to surrender. To be miseducated, as Carter Woodson had it, is not merely to be poorly educated, although that’s often a byproduct. Miseducation is a deeper evil, one that arises whenever an intrinsic trait, such as sexuality or ethnic heritage, is treated as a flaw to be overcome, rather than a gift to be developed. – The Atlantic
What We Can Learn About Ourselves By Studying Those Who Are Studying Us
Even the smallest action or fragment of speech, Emily Martin believes, can be a useful clue to the mostly invisible wider cultural assumptions that shape how research is done in any specialized field. She observes and collects these fragments, hoping that, later on, she’ll be able to find connections between them and make better sense of a scientific world view that is fascinatingly foreign to her. – The New Yorker
Have We Misunderstood The Connection Between Democracy And Social Justice?
Working at the intersection of moral and political philosophy, social science, and economics, Elizabeth Anderson has become a leading theorist of democracy and social justice. She has built a case, elaborated across decades, that equality is the basis for a free society. Her work, drawing on real-world problems and information, has helped to redefine the way contemporary philosophy is done, leading what might be called the Michigan school of thought. – The New Yorker
The Retail “Apocalypse” as A Cultural Indicator
It’s been a rough time for many prominent American retail chains—and the sector’s future prospects don’t look rosy. But “apocalypse” might be an overstatement. – CityLab
The Highest-Box-Office-Earning Actor Of 2018
The highest-earning actor of 2018 (George Clooney) didn’t even release a movie this year. But can you name the actor who earned the most at the box office with her films? (and no, she wasn’t even close to being highest paid)
Why We’re So Terrible At Predicting The Future
The thing about tech is that even if you can see it coming, you can’t be sure quite how it will arrive or what it will do when it gets here. – The Guardian
It’s A Wildly Inventive Time For Jazz (But Not A Golden Age)
“The music is meant to evolve, and we’re in the midst of its most wildly adaptive, thrillingly unruly evolutionary phase in some 40 years. So why do I balk whenever someone declares that jazz has entered another golden age?” – The New York Times
When You’re A ‘Cable Guy,’ You See The Worst Of America
This story has everything: Cat urine, bathroom emergencies, women in lingerie, and, yes, the Cheneys. – HuffPost
Imagine Starring As The Seaweed Maiden In A Scottish Celtic Ballet
It happened in the 1940s, when Erik Chisholm and Margaret Morris brought modernist dance views to bear on stories of Celtic legends that mixed traditional Scottish and modernist music. One principal: “Rehearsals were held up because the dancers had to learn Scottish folk dancing and that is all on the balls of the feet, whereas ballet you have to push your heels down; so it didn’t come naturally or easily – lots of us got blisters – but we respected it.” – The National (Scotland)