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Some Young Afghans Turn To Writing Erotic Poetry To Get Through The Lockdown

In the land of the Taliban? Yes — Afghanistan is historically part of the Persianate world (Dari, the official language, is a Persian dialect), and metaphor-filled erotic poetry has a thousand-year history in Persian literature. Hundreds of young writers have lately been posting their amorous verse on social media, and while there has certainly been backlash, there’s no censorship by the Afghan government. – The Guardian

Write About Sex? Garth Greenwell Wonders ‘Why One Would Write About Anything Else’

“Sex is an experience of intense vulnerability, and it is also where we are at our most performative, and so it’s at once as near to and as far from authenticity as we come. … Sex is a uniquely useful tool for a writer, a powerful means not just of revealing character or exploring relationships, but of asking the largest questions about human beings.” – The Guardian

Thomas Sokolowski, AIDS Activist And Beloved Museum Director, Dead At 70

“[He was] one of the four founders of Visual AIDS and an organizer of the first Day Without Art … [and] his nearly four-decade career in museums included tenures at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and concluded with a position, taken in 2017, as director of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.” – Artforum

Amid The Epidemic, There’s One Place Where Dance Goes On (Almost) Undisturbed

“This rural compound in India’s southern tip is one of the few places where professional dancers can still do what the rest of the performing arts world can only dream about. At Nrityagram, dancers experience neither loneliness nor confinement. They gather in the same dance hall for hours at a stretch, every day, to train, rehearse and perform — if only for one another.” – The Washington Post

This May Be The First US Theater To Call Off Its 2020-21 Season Due To COVID

In place of a regular mainstage season, Theater Latté Da in Minneapolis will expand its “Next” workshopping program, “making public the shows it is developing for the future, keeping writers, actors and other artists busy creating work even though it’s not certain when it will be shared with audiences.” – Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Italy’s First Post-Lockdown Opera Performances Will Be At A Roman Horse Track

In July, the Rome Opera will stage Verdi’s Rigoletto, conducted by Daniele Gatti, in the Piazza di Siena, a venue on the grounds of the Villa Borghese normally used for equestrian events. Audience numbers will be capped at 1,000 (in a facility that normally holds several times that number), with all social distancing regulations followed. – Wanted in Rome

Jerry Stiller, 92

“[He] rose to national prominence on a barrage of one-line jokes and sly ethnic humor, with his Jewish background and [wife/partner Anne] Meara’s Irish Catholic heritage forming a comic motif. With age, he transformed into a master of righteous indignation and raucous anger, drawing on memories of fights between his parents to create some of the funniest moments of the 1990s’ most celebrated and popular sitcom.” – The Washington Post