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The Problems With Re-Enactments Of Slavery And The Underground Railroad

Over three decades, “millions [of Americans] have undergone an experience that can range from a board game to an immersive nightlong ordeal, complete with horseback-riding paddy rollers and an armed Harriet Tubman. … Do fugitive lives belong to everyone, as models and martyrs of democracy? Or are they victims of appropriation, their stories warped by repetitive reconciliation myths and kitsch entertainment? Can ’embodying’ the past empower the living, or does it trivialize history and traumatize its inheritors?” – The New Yorker

Trump Administration Abruptly Closes National Archives In Seattle, Infuriating Researchers, Tribal Leaders

For the 272 federally recognized tribes in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the facility contains important treaty and historical documents. The tribes had never been consulted about the closure, nor had there been any sort of hearings about a facility that holds 1 million boxes of federal records generated in the Pacific Northwest. These include military, land, court, tax and census records. – Seattle Times

Bay Area Theatre Folk Are, Well, Ambivalent About Little Clapping Man In SF Chronicle’s Reviews

One local company head says that the “wild ovation” man can be very helpful, as can the step below, but anything lower stops single-ticket sales dead. The Chronicle‘s arts editor grants that some critics and theatermakers have mixed (at best) feelings about it, but that many readers love it. Critic Lily Janiak worries that it can encourage readers to stop reading. And ACT artistic director Pam McKinnon says the little guy is “a white supremacist icon.” – American Theatre

Facing Storm Of Criticism And Boycott Threats, France’s Motion Picture Academy Promises Reform

“The César Academy has been under fire since announcing the 12 nominations for Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy, as well reportedly shutting out feminist personalities such as the [filmmaker] Claire Denis and author Virginie Despentes from one its gala events preceding the ceremony. Many in the industry have pointed out the lack of gender parity, diversity and transparency within the César’s voting body, as well as within the academy itself.” – Variety

Surprise: There’s Been A Rembrandt In Allentown, Pa. For 59 Years

The 1632 Portrait of a Young Woman was attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn when it was given to the Allentown Art Museum in 1961, but during the 1970s the attribution was changed to a student from the master’s studio. But after the painting was sent to a high-tech NYU lab in 2018 for “routine conservation,” scholars reconsidered. – Smithsonian Magazine

Baltimore Symphony Board Adopts Five-Year ‘Master Plan’ To Solve Its Financial Crisis

No details about money or the length of the season have been announced yet; the first will probably come out later this month, and the second will be addressed in this year’s contract negotiations. But there are plans to live-stream concerts and give performances in Baltimore neighborhoods and around Maryland. – The Baltimore Sun

A History Of Poets Laureate

The poet laureate tradition is long. Poet laureates were first recognized in Italy during the fourteenth century. Ben Jonson became England’s first poet laureate in 1616, although the first “official” poet laureate, John Dryden, received his appointment in 1668. The present title in the United States, however, wasn’t authorized until an act of Congress in 1985 — prior to that they were known as “Consultants in Poetry.” – Los Angeles Times