The iconic imagery from the summit will be the shaking of hands with the interspersed American and North Korean flags in the background. That imagery, followed by the big, broad claim that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat, is hard to combat politically. You’ve got to say, “In fact, it’s much more complicated.” As soon as you say that, a significant portion of the public just tunes out.
Blog
David Sedaris’s Wisdom For Graduating College Students
“One. When it comes to scented candles, you really need to watch it. …
Two. Choose one thing to be terribly, terribly offended by, and be offended by this as opposed to the dozens or possibly hundreds that many of you are currently juggling.
Three. Stand up for what you believe in, as long as I believe in the same thing.”
Three Members Of Stedelijk Museum Resign After Former Director Cleared Of Wrongdoing
“In the best interests of the museum, it is time to bring the recent turmoil to an end and start afresh,” write de Cock Buning, who is the board’s interim chairman, and van Rooijen. “After due consideration of the report and its findings, and with a view to the museum’s interests, we intend to step down as members of the Supervisory Board.”
Shakespeare Asks: Which Is The More Legitimate King — The One Chosen By God Or The One Chosen By The People?
“Richard II is God’s anointed representative on earth, but by the end of the play that bears his name, he’s dead and his cousin sits on his throne. This is the story of how Shakespeare used English history to ask still-relevant questions about legitimacy, and about how a performance of Richard II played a role in the last aristocratic rebellion against the English crown.” (podcast)
College Board Says It Will No Longer Test On History Pre-Dating European Colonialization
In rationalizing the AP World changes, the College Board spokesman Zachary Goldberg cited survey and performance data suggesting that too many students and teachers drown in the information overload and ultimately fail to gain value from the course.
How Much Do Major Art Prizes Really Help Their Recipients In The Market?
With numerous winners, past and present, showing work at this year’s Art Basel, Gareth Harris surveys recent history – and artists and gallerists – over how much difference these awards make and whether the trouble and expense artists go through for them is worthwhile. (Last year, the finalists for one major prize insisted they be paid for the exhibitions they had to put together.)
New York City Ballet’s Leading Prince Does Some Seriously Gender-Bending Side Projects
“Under the trees near the Metropolitan Opera House on a warm afternoon, [NYCB’s Russell Janzen talked with Marina Harss] about writing, his love of ballet — as well as his doubts about it — the performance of gender and sexual preference onstage, and the increasing number of outside projects he’s taking on.”
Inside Simon Rattle’s All-Amateur Orchestra At The Berlin Philharmonie
George Gelles, the former executive director of San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and a lifelong (though never pro) French horn player, writes about taking part in the Be Phil Orchestra, 101 non-professional musicians from the world over, chosen by online audition, who spent a week getting coached by members of the Berlin Philharmonic, rehearsing and performing Brahms’s First Symphony under Simon Rattle.
Reconsidering The Audience-Artist Contract (Let’s Stop Walking Out On Work We Don’t Get)
Maura Hogan, in a Spoleto Festival USA post-mortem: “Perhaps some among us view our annual arts dive as simply transactional. The customer is always right, so we can bolt from or belittle performances as we see fit. I would argue that we are missing the point. Ditching a performance mid-show is at best disruptive, and potentially far more insidious. … What’s more, if you truly have pride in place regarding our singular city, I can promise you that the provincial attitudes regarding its relationship with world-class performance telegraph that if you scratch the surface — if you go beyond the high-end Boho apparel and performance belt-notching — the walk-outs and sneers render us collectively a bunch of yahoos.”
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Finally Gives Sally Hemings And Her Fellow Slaves Their Due
Philip Kennicott visits the restored slave quarters at Mulberry Row (away from “the big house”) and in the “southern dependency” wing of his home outside Charlottesville – including the windowless room Sally Hemings herself slept in.