A museum curator used to seeing the damage is brought up short by museumgoers’ questions: Indeed, why are so many Egyptian statues missing their noses? There’s power, divinity, and the breaking of empires in the answer. “Attacking a human image was a deeply entrenched ancient Egyptian method for dealing with an enemy.” (And it’s not as though this practice is over.) – Hyperallergic
Blog
Roxane Gay, Margaret Atwood Sign Open Letter In Support Of Trans And Nonbinary People
Who had “Margaret Atwood versus J.K. Rowling” on their 2020 bingo card? Because that’s part of what’s happened since the author of the Harry Potter series went on an anti-trans jaunt in the past few years, culminating in her latest mystery plot. The open letter reads, in part, “We are writers, editors, journalists, agents and professionals in multiple forms of publishing. We believe in the power of words. … We say: nonbinary people are nonbinary, trans women are women, trans men are men, trans rights are human rights. Your pronouns matter. You matter. You are loved.” – Los Angeles Times
The Man Reshaping Gothic Classics For 21st Century Netflix Watchers
After all of the brouhaha – love, hate, reexamining, reevaluation, and a lot more – for Netflix’s series of The Haunting of Hill House, here comes an adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw, called The Haunting of Bly Manor for the streaming service. That’s down to Mike Flanagan. And the challenges are similar: “Both series are fundamentally incompatible with the literary works on which they’re based.” – Slate
The Museum Of Chinese In America, Beset By Fire And Much More, Gets A Chance At Recovery
When a fire hit the New York Chinatow museum and the staff worried priceless archives were lost, that wasn’t the only issue facing the institution: The coronavirus shutdown and anti-Asian harassment were ever present threats as well. Now the Ford Foundation has stepped up to help stabilize the institution, which is small but vital to the history of New York. – The New York Times
When Britain’s Music Magazine Q Closed, A Songwriter Got In One Last Act Of Kindness
The iconic magazine fell prey to the coronavirus in July, but songwriter Paul Heaton (somewhat unlike Britain’s current government, according to recent reports) didn’t want the staff to be “left on their arse.” So he gave a large donation that the final editor shared with 40 staffers and freelancers alike. – The Guardian (UK)
Misty Copeland Explains The Code Used To Discourage Black Ballet Dancers
It’s all about language choices, the ballerina says. For years she was told she had a great body for ballet, and then she joined American Ballet Theatre. Then she was being told to get rid of her muscles, her breasts, and her butt, told that suddenly she didn’t have a ballet body. “That’s language that’s used, because you’re in a visual art form, it’s about your aesthetic … so that’s what they say to Black and brown dancers to disguise saying ‘You don’t have the right skin color for ballet.'” – PopSugar
Carol Paumgarten, Co-Founder And Longtime Artistic Director Of Steps On Broadway, 76
Paumgarten opened Steps in 1979, in a dingy one-room studio. She “went on to nurture three generations of New York dancers, becoming an instantly recognizable presence with her long silver hair and stylish black outfits as she presided over roomfuls of bodies in motion.” – The New York Times
Independent Bookstores Are Reaching More Truly Terrifying Crossroads
Terrifying for book lovers, that is. Take Vroman’s in Los Angeles, for instance. “The past several years had been among the bookstore’s most profitable, ‘and all of a sudden, you fall off a cliff.'” – Los Angeles Times
Black Museum Trustees, More Ready Than Ever For Institutional Change, Join Forces Formally
They’re tired of tokenism and ready for actual progress, so they’re joining together to become a stronger force. “Often the only Black people on the boards of major museums, these trustees are pooling their efforts to help institutions identify new talent and insist on diverse perspectives to better reflect the communities they serve.” – The New York Times
How We Know Who Was Reading What In Medieval Times
Early medieval libraries lent books often and lending books for copying was, in fact, seen as an act of Christian charity. The books were borrowed not only by other monasteries but also by local priests and lay people. The list kept by the meticulous monks of Wissembourg was perhaps maintained until the middle of the tenth century. It is a living list. – History Today