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Making Sense Of Through Tiny Nuggets Of Narrative

Tropes actually help us all make sense of the world (so writers, calm down; even trying to go against tropes is a trope of its own). Take a famous narrative of the late 1990s and early 2000s: “How do you make sense of something sprawling like Harry Potter? You divide it into digestible pieces. The Chosen One goes to a Wizarding School and forms a Power Trio. He’s opposed by the Evil Overlord who is Only Mostly Dead. The books get Darker and Edgier leading up to a Final Battle and a widely mocked Distant Finale.” – Slate

Two Men Broke Into A London Bookshop Intending To Rob It, But Then They Found The Prosecco

They found no cash, but there was alcohol. “Front and back windows at Gay’s the Word, which became the UK’s first gay bookshop when it was opened in 1979 and which featured in the film Pride, were smashed last Sunday. But after ransacking the shop and drinking a bottle of tequila left on the premises after a member of staff’s birthday, the burglars were caught by police in the store’s kitchen drinking prosecco.” – The Guardian (UK)

Nedda Casei, Mezzo-Soprano Who Became A Labor Leader, Has Died At 87

Casei “in the 1960s and ’70s could be reliably heard as Suzuki, Maddalena, Lola and other bread-and-butter mezzo-soprano characters at the Metropolitan Opera before transforming herself into a pathbreaking labor leader.” She performed at the Met for 20 years, starting with Maddalena in Rigoletto and ending as Larina in Eugene Onegin. Then she became president of the American Guild of Musical Artists – and she was a transformational labor leader for the performers’ union. – The New York Times

Can The Worldwide Vinyl Boom Recover From The Apollo Factory Fire?

A billion dollar industry dependent on one factory in California? That’s physical manufacturing, so perhaps not. The factory, where 75 percent of the world’s blank lacquers were made, burned in early February. “Pressing plants and mastering engineers are assessing the future. Some have expressed fear that the fire will disrupt the global production of new album releases and slow the seemingly endless supply of reissues that major labels churn out.” – Los Angeles Times

Checking In On (What’s Left Of) This Professional Writers Organization

After massive fallout from accusations of racism and pandering to a small (possibly racist) publisher, Nora Roberts weighing in on the homophobia of the organization, Twitter-led discoveries of years of lies and ignoring actual ethics violations, and numerous chapters resigning their memberships, you’d think things might be changing, but the Romance Writers of America continues to face consequences: The entire board (some of whom had been appointed by a president-elect at the center of the controversy, who resigned in January) just resigned. – Publishers Weekly