“The ‘convent exposé’ [was] a book, fictional or not, that purported to reveal the sin and salaciousness hidden behind the walls of religious institutions. In these books, sisters are kept captive, denied medical care, and sometimes raped or otherwise subject to sexual depravities. … These books, mostly forgotten today, were some of the most popular publications of their time.” (One was outsold onely by Uncle Tom’s Cabin.)
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Abusive Speech Really Can Damage Students (So It’s Good To Keep Milo Yiannopoulos Off Campuses)
Psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett does make a distinction between speech that’s abusive and bullying (Milo) and speech that’s merely offensive (Charles Murray): “The former is a danger to a civil society (and to our health); the latter is the lifeblood of democracy. By all means, we should have open conversations and vigorous debate about controversial or offensive topics. But we must also halt speech that bullies and torments. From the perspective of our brain cells, the latter is literally a form of violence.”
If We Keep Telling Students That Wholly Free Speech Will Traumatize Them, They’ll Probably Feel Traumatized (So Stop It)
Jesse Singal: “There’s an intriguing area of behavioral science known as mind-set research, and one of its tenets is that the relationship between stress and humans’ response to it is partially mediated by how people expect stress to affect them. … If you tell students over and over and over that certain variants of free speech – variants which are ugly, but which are aired every moment of every day on talk radio – are traumatizing them, it really could do harm. And there’s no reason to go down this road, because there’s no evidence that the mere presence of a conservative speaker on campus is harming students in some deep psychological or physiological way.”
Save This Unique Floating Concert Hall Before It Gets Sold For Scrap Metal!
Point Counterpoint II was designed by the great architect Louis Kahn – with a unique structure that opens like a clamshell to provide a stage and acoustical canopy – for the American Wind Symphony Orchestra to use for concert tours along the nation’s waterways. After many years of attempts to sell the vessel, the owners are planning to send it to a scrap- and shipyard in Louisiana at the end of this month. Following an emotional plea from Yo-Yo Ma in The New York Review of Books, there is interest in saving Point Counterpoint II, writes John von Rhein – but donors need to be found for the purchase.
A New National Center For Choreography – In The Heart Of Ohio
“Enter the new National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron. Its mission: to support the research and development of new dance by providing choreographers, dance companies, arts administrators and dance writers access to [its] world-class facilities … seven dance studios, two black-box theaters and main-stage theaters of two different sizes.”
Hundreds Were Abused In Boys’ Choir Directed By Pope Benedict’s Brother: Report
“At least 547 young members of the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir in Germany were subjected to physical and in some instances sexual abuse over a period of 60 years, a new report says. … Among those singled out for criticism in the report was Georg Ratzinger, elder brother of retired Pope Benedict XVI … [who] was head of the choir from 1964 to 1994 and denies any knowledge of what went on. It was ‘never discussed’ while he ran the choir, he has said.”
The Gates Of Paradise Are Now In Kansas City
The only copy outside Florence of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, cast in bronze from the 15th-century originals, has arrived at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. Victoria Stapley-Brown tells the story of the work, how and why it came to be copied, and how the copy arrived in Kansas City via Japan, India, South Korea, and New York.
Reconstructing The Works Of Modern Dance’s First Male Pioneer
Choreographer Adam Weinert has developed a specialty in recreating the oeuvre of Ted Shawn and his early 20th-century troupe, Men Dancers.
‘Art Needs To Have Social Relevance. It Needs To Have A *Now*’, Insists New Director Of Cabrillo Festival
Conductor Cristian Măcelaru says, “‘Once an artist embraces that, then the connection to the audience is that much more relevant. To that extent I don’t think the art form (of classical music) is dying at all.’ Having said that, Măcelaru feels that in the last 10 years there’s been a growing disconnect between the message of the composer and the way the audience understands it – ‘if only because the message itself is lacking.'”
It Ain’t Easy Running A Venue At The Edinburgh Fringe (It Ain’t Lucrative, Either)
“[It’s] about more than booking acts, selling tickets and waiting for the cash to roll in. It means knowing where to hire a crane at 3am so you can lift a trampoline through a window, as Zoo Venues’ artistic director, James Mackenzie, had to do one year. Or dealing with a hole that opens up overnight right in front of Pleasance Dome’s entrance. Or ferrying truckloads of water from Leith to fill the Pleasance Courtyard tanks when the water supply fails, so the venues’ toilets can flush.”