Typically kids, adolescents and adults with autism take in information differently than their neurotypical peers. They can be easily overwhelmed by the senses, noises, visuals and smells. The loud music and the crowds and flashing lights at traditional concerts can overwhelm someone with autism such that they need to leave. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Blog
End Of An Era For Penguin Books
The last British owner of Penguin, Pearson, announced that it was selling its remaining stake in Penguin Random House, the book publishing joint venture it formed six years ago with Bertelsmann, the German media group to rival Random House. – MSN
How The Hallmark Channel Got Caught Up In The Culture Wars
The world of Hallmark often resembles a kind of rear-guard action in a culture war that the network’s prime demographic is losing. The jobs, homes, community and security in the bleached pastoral hamlets showcased in the Hallmark universe are dwindling, increasingly as unreal as their TV presentation. – Washington Post
The Year Amy March Finally Got Her Due
Yes, Amy March was a spoiled brat who burned Jo’s manuscript, and thus earned the ire of every creative person ever, and the films and series have reflected that. But Amy … was also a creative, complex person. “Siblings naturally compare themselves to one another—Jo, for instance, takes pride in not being as ladylike as Amy, while Amy judges Jo for her lack of elegance—and neither sister ‘wins’ the dispute.” This makes the newest movie richer and more realistic than the others. – The Atlantic
Will No One Think Of Mrs. Cratchit?
What is Martha Cratchit thinking at the end of A Muppet Christmas Carol (and why hasn’t this ever been written about before)? “Your employer has brought an uncooked fourteen pound turkey to my house on Christmas day, and I am asking you, Bob, with my eyes because incomprehensibly the entire city, including some people we’ve never met, are now in our home, and are all expecting to be fed.” – Sentimental Garbage
Are You Ready To Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th? Vienna Sure Is
You might as well just plan to stay for the entire year. Don’t forget your Beethoven-reality-enhanced sunglasses. – The New York Times
Workers At Mexico City’s Institute Of Fine Arts Protest Over Delayed Wages
The issue of delayed wages has been a thorn in the side of arts workers for months – or years. While unionized workers have shut down several museums over it, this protest was organized by non-unionized workers. “Among the texts written on the placards held up by Villalba and his colleagues were ‘Exhibitions are always on time, why aren’t our payments?’ ‘NO to work without rights;’ and ‘The love of art should not mean unpaid work.'” – Hyperallergic
How Can Theatre Professors Resist Doing So Much Unpaid Emotional Labor?
In all of academia, not only theatre, women who teach become support for students rather than only academic help – and it’s burning the women out. One recent Ph.D. discovered that she could solve some of that burnout with the help of … a giant stuffed Pokémon character. – HowlRound
Johanna Lindsey, Bestselling Romance Novelist, Has Died At 67
Lindsey started writing romance on a whim, and she wrote more than 60 novels – and sold more than 60 million books. – The New York Times
Don’t Blame Young Adults For Teen Musicals On Broadway
Just like Young Adult literature, YA theatre – or Teen theatre, perhaps – had an initially rapturous welcome, and a rapid cooling-off. “Critical consensus about Young Adult Theatre took a sharp turn when the subgenre became solidified, popularized, and canonized with the viral teen hit Be More Chill. Joe Iconis’s musical, which made it to Broadway thanks to a huge, enthusiastic teenage fanbase online, received vitriol from many critics who called it loud, hollow, and vapid.” – American Theatre