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Alice Mayhew, Editor Who ‘Helped Pioneer The Modern Washington Political Chronicle’, Dead At 87

“A top editor at Simon & Schuster who assembled a roster of literary heavyweights, … Ms. Mayhew focused on popular histories and biographies as well as the journalistic genre known as “the Washington book.” Released only a year or two after the events they covered, the books featured heavily reported, insider accounts of Beltway politics and White House intrigue, tailored for readers who wanted details that were often unavailable to daily journalists.” – The Washington Post

A Right-Left Tug-Of-War Over Poland’s Museums

“Over the past five years, Poland’s art institutions have increasingly become a vehicle for the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party’s cultural reform efforts. … [There’s now] a nationwide battle over who shapes Poland’s cultural institutions, with both sides claiming that they are being silenced. The stakes are high: the dispute has the potential to shape the art shown in Poland and the history taught to the public for decades to come.” – Artnet

At Santiago’s Theatre Festival As The Chilean Uprising Continues

“Sometimes comic, sometimes earnest, always indignant, Chilean theatre repeatedly gives voice to the abused, the angry and the dispossessed. … All this is consistent with a festival that has its roots in the underground resistance to the Pinochet dictatorship. Fiercely independent, Santiago a Mil sees itself on the side of the people and has accessibility in its DNA; the three-week festival attracts audiences of 200,000, of whom 150,000 pay nothing.” – The Guardian

A Mural Helped Turn Around A Derelict SoCal Park — Until Unexpected Protests Got It Removed

For decades, Tony Cerda Park in Pomona was desolate, dilapidated, and dangerous. Last summer, artist Joe Ded painted a mural to honor the park’s namesake, a longtime leader of local Native Americans. People began using the park again, and the city started paying attention to it. Then some of the local Native Americans got a look at the mural, and they were not happy. – Los Angeles Times

Australian Artists Hijack Bus Shelter Ad Spaces

Forty-one artists are involved in this latest Australian iteration, including Georgia Hill, Tom Gerrard, Sarah McCloskey, Ghostpatrol, Callum Preston and E.L.K, as well as anonymous artists.In one poster, a Caramello Koala has burst and is melting above the words “Save an Aussie icon”. In another, Blinky Bill runs from an encroaching wall of flames. The collective launched three weeks prior to the posters going up, via a group chat of artists on Instagram. They were dismayed at what they saw as biased bushfire coverage and at the misinformation being shared by some media – particularly the Murdoch-owned press. – The Guardian

How The Unthinkable Becomes The Inevitable

How does the once-unthinkable become not only thinkable but self-evident? How does the unthinkable become something we cannot think away anymore? To get at that, we have to tell a history not only of emergence, but of the formation of the deepest levels of our intuition. I have a strong sense that our best reasoning takes place at a semi-conscious level, and I’m very interested in how that lower stratum of reasoning — the intuitions that drive our thinking in philosophy, mathematics, and the rest — is established. – Los Angeles Review of Books