Building a politics around the idea that a college degree is a precondition for dignified work and social esteem has a corrosive effect on democratic life. It devalues the contributions of those without a diploma, fuels prejudice against less-educated members of society, effectively excludes most working people from elective government and provokes political backlash. – The New York Times
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Good Improv Performers Adapt To Almost Anything On The Spot. How Are They Adapting To COVID?
“An art form and industry built on ‘Yes, and …’ face a world of ‘no,’ ‘maybe,’ and ‘who knows.’ … Whether it’s reshaping content to fit a new medium, staring down the possibility of permanent closures, or facing their own reckoning with a legacy of racial and cultural exclusion, improv and comedy theatres are learning just how important it is to be able to listen and adjust.” – American Theatre
So Rich People Think NYC Is Dying. The Reality Is Something Different
“Of course, people don’t come to cities for jobs alone; people come to places such as New York and London to be around other people. They come for the addictive energy that you get only in places where millions of dreams are crammed together. And many of us – misfits and minorities – stay in cities because they are the only places we feel we can be ourselves. I always think it is funny when people talk about cities being dangerous: as a queer, mixed-race woman, New York is probably where I feel safest.” – The Guardian
The Corona-Crisis Is Killing LA’s Dance Schools
“[Multiple announcements of closures] paint a picture of a dance landscape in crisis. Without dance studios, professionals lose their places to train or work out new art before it appears to the masses. And amateurs lose their go-to outlet for creative expression or alternative to boring workouts.” – Los Angeles Times
Students Figured Out AI Was Grading Their Work – And Gamed The Answers To Trick It
“I always tried to make the answer at least semi-coherent because it seemed a bit cheap to just toss a bunch of keywords into the input field,” Paradiso said. “But if I was a bit lazier, I easily could have just written a random string of words pertinent to the question prompt and gotten 100 percent.” – The Verge
Choreographer Camille A. Brown Starts An Online School For Black Social Dance
“Whether the Juba or stepping, social dance has always been a big component of Ms. Brown’s choreography. … When the pandemic hit, … like many other dancers and choreographers, she turned to Instagram, where she has created a virtual version of a school she never attended, one in which social dance is the foundation from which everything else flows.” – The New York Times
What (And When) Was The First Novel?
Some critics argue that a novel has to also be one narrative through and through, one long story about one person. A lot of ancient fiction, arguably, is too distractible and prone to side stories to count. Even so, there are works that follow one character all the way through that are old—very old. – BookRiot
BBC Doesn’t Deliberately Favor Lefty Comedians. It Can’t Find Any Right-Leaning Ones Who Are Funny.
Earlier this week, The Daily Telegraph reported that the incoming BBC director general planned to cancel left-leaning comedy shows because the broadcaster’s comic programming was unfairly biased. However, a BBC insider tells The Guardian that network execs have been pushing for months for more balance, but “some people aren’t very good. The issue is a shortage of rightwing comics.” – The Guardian
The Guy Who Put Those Damn CNN TVs All Over Every Damn Airport Is Dead At 84
W. Russell Barry worked as president of 20th Century Fox Television, overseeing production and syndication, and spent two years at Playboy, where he launched the Playboy Channel, before heading to Turner Program Services as president and then chairman. There he was responsible for all TBS programming, including distribution of old MGM films and TV shows, original National Geographic programs, and CNN (yes, he’s the one who did the CNN-in-airports deal). – The Hollywood Reporter
Hackers Steal Donor Info From Smithsonian, UK National Trust, Other Nonprofits
In a ransomware attack in May on the computer security company Blackbaud, hackers copied names, contact info and donation summaries from the databases of the Smithsonian, Britain’s National Trust, and numerous museums, universities, and other not-for-profit organizations. Blackbaud says that it paid the ransom money and obtained proof that the stolen data was destroyed. – Artnet