Instead, it’s turned us into separate – and sometimes extremely hostile – factions. “Particularly when we’re scared, we regress further into tribalism and tend to trust the information relayed to us by our tribe and not by others. Normally, that’s an evolutionary advantage. Trust leads to group cohesion, and it helps us survive.” Not so on social media. – Fast Company
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Lynn Kellogg, Debutante Turned Hippie In ‘Hair,’ Has Died Of Covid-19 At 77
Kellogg played Sheila in the Broadway run of the countercultural musical. Hair “has always been an ensemble show, but Sheila is the closest thing it has to a female lead.” – The New York Times
Life Might Just Find A Way
That is, biological organisms may be making choices with goals in mind. This is a big change in the mindset of biology researchers. “The latest research suggests that it’s wrong to regard agency as just a curious byproduct of blind evolutionary forces. Nor should we believe that it’s an illusion produced by our tendency to project human attributes onto the world. Rather, agency appears to be an occasional, remarkable property of matter, and one we should feel comfortable invoking.” – Aeon Magazine
In Nigeria, A New Museum And Archaeology Project – With Help From The British Museum
The indelible museum scene in Black Panther might come to mind, except in this case, the British Museum is going to “work with Nigerian teams on the creation of a new Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) and accompanying archaeology project.” But will Britain give back more than 950 Benin bronzes? Hm. – BBC
The Washington Ballet’s Plan For Ballet During Covid-19
They went fully digital for 2020-2021, making a deal with Marquee TV for four performances. The dancers were split up into 10-person pods, with tests before rehearsal and before filming. Composers Zoomed into orchestra rehearsals. It wasn’t easy, but: “Dancing in a mask and the restraints of the protocol, I mean, nobody loves it. But in comparison to not dancing, really, it’s nothing.” – Washington Post
Google Arts And Culture As An Agent Of Ethnic Cleansing
In early November, Azerbaijan declared victory over Armenia in the area of Nagorno Karabakh, known as Artsakh to Armenians. “There are thousands of unprotected and inadequately documented ancient Armenian monuments in the recently conquered territory. … These include khachkars, monasteries, and churches that have been in use longer than almost any religious buildings in the world.” They’re at risk of being destroyed. And Google Arts & Culture’s info about the area appears to have been written by Azerbaijan. – Hyperallergic
Want To Know How The Pandemic Will Play Out?
Ask some science writers. Or, if you want to stay happy, maybe don’t. “The most optimistic scenario they could muster: a series of deescalating surges, mitigated by a slowly disseminated vaccine and perhaps some herd immunity.” – Los Angeles Times
Thinking About Indie Bookstores
One bookstore near the High Line in New York: “The last day we were open, I asked customers where they were from. Turned out that they were all British flying back home. The last sale was to an Englishman, who bought Albert Camus’ The Plague. We wished each other luck.” – The New York Times
Is Mask-Wearing An Impingement On Our Freedom?
Western political thinkers ranging from Herodotus to Algernon Sidney did not think that a free society is a society without rules, but that those rules should be decided collectively. In their view, freedom was a public good rather than a purely individual condition. A free people, Sidney wrote for instance, was a people living “under laws of their own making”. – The Conversation
The 1800’s Version Of Live Theatre Streaming
From 1893 to 1925 the London Electrophone Company streamed the sound of live theatre into the home using a telephone device known as an Electrophone. – The Conversation