The Scottish Borders council is implementing a trial in three schools – in Galashiels, Hawick and Peebles – that will see secondary school pupils and other volunteers taking on roles in school libraries. The pilot initiative follows the loss of several librarian jobs last year, according to reports in the Scottish press, and has been attacked by local parents as well as by literacy experts, trade unions, teachers and librarians.
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What White-Girl Coming-Of-Age Movies Don’t Do For A Black Girl
Zoé Samudzi: “In general, though, these films about white female adolescence and teenhood revolve around particular experiences of and meditations on dissatisfaction and boredom, using nostalgia as their primary pull. And yet for me, their projections of high school misery and endless summers only served as a reminder that Black girls are never afforded the kind of ordinariness that would make them relatable to white audiences.”
Fosse And de Mille – An Odd Turn Of Legacy
Why does de Mille’s choreography seem so dated now, while Fosse’s still looks as fresh and provocative as ever? It’s particularly puzzling considering that de Mille was the more revolutionary of the two. She created a startling new approach to integrating dance into the musical via character development, and established the standard for the widely imitated (and later much-parodied) “dream ballet,” an expressionistic choreographic sequence probing deep into characters’ psyches. Fosse’s great contribution to Broadway dance, on the other hand, is largely limited to his creation of a compelling physical vocabulary,
Studs Terkel, On The Page And On The Air
“The books deliberately avoid interviews with celebrities. Terkel wanted to talk with ‘ordinary people’ — to show that there are no ordinary people. … The radio programs, by contrast, despite his occasional trips, dealt mainly with people of extraordinary abilities or achievements, and especially with show business eminences, whether in music, theater, literature, or other arts. Chicago has its own famous acting, singing, and writing accomplishments, but it is also a crossroads where famous people came to perform — and Studs dearly loved a performance. His politics made him celebrate noncelebrities, but his heart always tugged him toward the footlights.”
Chase Johnsey, Formerly Of Trocks, Is Now Dancing With Female Corps De Ballet
“For the first time in modern ballet history, a male dancer is performing as part of the female ensemble at an international ballet company, signaling an important moment in an art form that often celebrates a particular ideal of femininity. … ‘I want to be seen as a ballerina,’ said Mr. Johnsey, who identifies as gender fluid but uses male pronouns. ‘My hair is up, I wear makeup, female attire. I am able to do female roles and look the part, so that is artistically what I do.'” In January, he left Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo after 14 years, claiming that the famous drag company had been harassing him for being too feminine.
Photojournalist David Douglas Duncan Dead At 102
“[He] was widely considered one of the finest photojournalists of the 20th century. In Life magazine photo essays, television specials and about two dozen books, he captured the seemingly incongruous subjects of war and art, traveling from the front lines of battle to the treasure troves of the Kremlin in Moscow and the French studio of Pablo Picasso.”
U.S. Public Radio And TV Are Raising More Money Overall, But Smaller Stations Are Falling Behind
“On the positive side, the overall trend is growth. Radio revenues are up 18 percent to $1.03 billion, according to Moustapha Abdul, CPB’s director of station analysis. TV revenues grew 10 percent to $1.27 billion. But a closer look reveals that revenues actually dipped 4 percent among 194 radio grantees with annual budgets of less than $1 million and 5 percent among 75 TV grantees with budgets under $5 million.”
Two Ex-Trustees Of Berkshire Museum Slam Board’s Decision To Sell Art For Money
“Trustees allowed debate over the Berkshire Museum’s financial challenges to snowball into an excessive art sale, … as officials backed a costly shift to interactive exhibits based on thin evidence. Carol Riordan and Nancy Edman Feldman say that while the museum’s money problems were real, the Pittsfield institution could have ensured its future with far less than the $55 million it is allowed to raise through sales [of art from its collection] under terms of an agreement with [Mass.] Attorney General Maura Healey.”
Anthony Bourdain, Chef/Author/TV Star, Dead Of Suicide At 61
“The travel host Anthony Bourdain, whose memoir Kitchen Confidential about the dark corners of New York’s restaurants started a career in television, died on Friday at 61. For the past several years, Mr. Bourdain hosted the show Parts Unknown on CNN and was working on an episode in Strasbourg, France, when he died.”
Three Boston Review Poetry Editors Resign Because Magazine Won’t Fire Junot Díaz
“Three poetry editors at The Boston Review announced their intent to resign on Tuesday, citing disagreements with the magazine’s executive editors over their decision to retain Junot Díaz as fiction editor … Díaz, who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, has been accused by multiple women of verbal abuse and sexual harassment.”