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The Line Between Imagination And Appropriation

The time-honored answer to this what-gives-you-the-right question is: creative imagination, which for the writer is a muscular species of empathy. Okay, I’m not you, the logic goes, but if I take the time to observe you carefully, if I study how you navigate the world, if I listen to you when you speak, then in time I can begin to imagine what it feels like to be you. Obviously, the important word here is “begin,” because employing creative imagination isn’t as simple as asserting your right—obligation?—to let your imagination range freely. – Harper’s

Why We Push Harder When The Finish Line Is Close

Whatever it is you’re striving to achieve, science shows you’re likely to push harder the closer you feel to the finish line. When researchers first speculated about this tendency, they called it the goal gradient hypothesis. And it turns out to have interesting implications not only for predicting when we’ll push ourselves the hardest, but also for marketers hoping to convince us to buy our next cup of coffee or take our next airline flight (at least, once we start flying again). – Scientific American

Enough With The Statements Of Solidarity!

“As if moving to some syncopated symphony, arts organizations and cultural institutions across the country are parading out statements of “solidarity” in these moments. I’ve stopped counting (and reading) the endless emails I’ve received from arts organizations touting how they stand in solidarity with Black people. Statements which proclaim they’re shutting down their operations and programming — galas and town halls and education programs are “going black.” How cute. Now, all of a sudden, historically and predominantly white arts institutions want to be “in solidarity” with Black folks? I know what solidarity looks like. And it ain’t this.” – Medium

Bradley Fields, Who Used Magic To Teach Math, Dead Of COVID At 68

“[He] was ‘an antique guy in a modern world,’ appearing in a derby and vest and performing illusions from the vaudeville era: classic tricks with steel rings or handkerchief, dividing an assistant into thirds. … After [his sons] were born, Mr. Fields spent a year teaching elementary school in Manhattan’s Chinatown, which inspired him to create MatheMagic, a show for children that he performed up to 200 times a year.” – The New York Times

Words And Phrases That Should Be Banished From The Rehearsal Room

“We can dismantle oppression in our language as a means of valuing and honoring individuals in the room. There are a plethora of sayings used in rehearsal environments that cause a BIPOC artist to feel powerless and othered in the room; these phrases will not have the same effect on white artists, who have the privilege of doing their work without that added baggage.” – Minnesota Playlist

Recreating The Musical Instruments Of Ancient Mexico’s Lost Metropolis

Teotihuacán, which had a population of around 100,000 at its height circa 500 CE, seems to have had no system of writing and left behind no known written records. But musical instruments have survived — quadruple flutes, double-chambered water whistles and the like. Researcher Arnd Adje Both, whom one might call a paleo-musicologist, has had copies of those instruments made and is planning to bring them to Teotihuacán to be played. – The Economist