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A Sign Language Developed Spontaneously By Deaf Kids Entirely On Their Own

“Of all the changes within Nicaragua to come out of the overthrow of the Somoza regime by the Sandinistas in 1979, perhaps the least anticipated was the birth of a new language. Nicaraguan Sign Language is the only language spontaneously created, without the influence of other languages, to have been recorded from its birth. And though it came out of a period of civil strife, it was not political actors but deaf children who created the language’s unique vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.”

What’s Lost When Great Private Art Collections Break Up

Noah Charney: “When the collections are dispersed, the art remains extant, but the story told by the collection dissipate. It is rather like an archaeological site — objects found within, undisturbed, tell a story based on their context. The same objects can tell their own, individual stories, but the tale of how they were gathered and arranged together can be lost if they are viewed outside of the find site, in museum vitrines.”

What’s The Problem With Americans’ Love Of Happy Endings? When It Collides With Real Life

Using as examples the recent reunion – enthusiastically captured and craftily edited by CNN – of a Salvadoran refugee woman with the six-year-old daughter ICE separated from her as well as the cute-turned-creepy-turned-cruel viral tale known as #PlaneBae, Megan Garber considers “how easily the desire for a happy ending can insinuate itself on the facts of the matter. The possibility at play … is that the full story, and its attendant horrors, will get washed away in the easy rituals of false closure. It is that people will forget, because the logic of the happy ending has given them permission to be preoccupied.”

Musicals And Plays Adapted From Movies And Books Sell Almost Five Times As Many Tickets As Do Fully Original Scripts

According to a report from Britain’s Publishers Association using data from the industry group UK Theatre, “in 2016, adaptations took, on average, three-and-a-half times more at the box office and sold 4.8 times as many tickets as original productions. … A family musical based on a film attracts more than six times the revenue of an original show. Page-to-stage adaptations were also more successful than original productions, particularly when analysing plays.”

Today’s AJBlogs 07.19.18

Followup: Bechet By Liebman And Stowell Following the June 28 Rifftides review of the Scenes trio’s Destinations album, its guitarist, John Stowell, sent this comment: “Your readers might also enjoy the recent duo CD I recorded with Dave Liebman. It was … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-07-19

So you want to see a show? Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-07-19

Creator Of ‘The Simpsons’ Talks To The Times About Apu

“Well, I love Apu. I love the character, and it makes me feel bad that it makes other people feel bad. But on the other hand, it’s tainted now — the conversation, there’s no nuance to the conversation now. It seems very, very clunky. … I think particularly right now, people feel so aggrieved and crazed and powerless that they’re picking the wrong battles.”

Wife Of Cliburn Winner Vadym Kholodenko Found Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity Of Their Children’s Murder

“The verdict was handed down after a brief hearing in which the judge was read reports by three experts — including one retained by the prosecution — who agreed that [Sofya] Tsygankova was criminally insane when she killed her daughters [in March of 2016]. … The judge then ordered Tsygankova, now 34, committed to a state mental hospital.”