“For better or worse, the West has escaped the tyranny that the dead once held over the living, and still do in many lands and cultures. We no longer make room for the dead in our worlds: the household flame lit for the ancestors, death masks, Sunday picnics in the cemetery, Funeral Savings Banks, even coffins themselves – all of these seem increasingly distant from our death-wary present.”
Category: issues
Why Do So Many Arts Organizations Fail At The Audience Experience?
“Even as we demand more flavor from our coffees and breads – they’ve got to be artisanal, you know – we seem willing to accept patron experiences that are increasingly diminished. Character is an important consideration when you’re buying a $1 doughnut. But it doesn’t seem to be as crucial when purchasing a $100 pass to a music festival.”
Hey – Real Diversity Isn’t About “Reflecting” Your Community
“Instead of focusing on how to make our organizations reflect our community, what if we found ways for our organizations to be more accountable — or accountable, period — to the communities we serve?”
The Olympics As Religious Ritual, Then And Now
“At the end of the fourth Christian century, an east-Roman emperor who followed the new faith abolished the pan-Hellenic contest as part of his general drive to stamp out paganism. … Pierre de Coubertin, the blue-blooded Frenchman who revived the classical games, did not hide the fact that he was competing with monotheism, and trying to reverse what he saw as a great historical wrong.” What’s more, “both the modern contests and their ancient Greek predecessors share many of the features of a giant sacramental feast.”
Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony As Contemporary Art Piece
“The opening ceremony succeeded in restoring a human face to a country that has been translated into a laundry list of unfixable problems. As populist as it was necessarily prettified, the event was in tune with the global mood that has grown weary of technocrats, elites and all the other self-serving saviors who talk a good game but never seem to improve the status quo.”
Is The Availability Of Cheap Airfare Ruining Europe’s Great Cities?
“Tourists are conquerors who disguise themselves as friends, which often makes them difficult to deal with, no matter how much money they spend.”
That Time Atlanta Got All Dressed Up To Host The Olympics. Then The New Yorker Made Fun…
Imagine then the shock and disappointment when the July 22, 1996 issue of The New Yorker arrived at our house. The cover illustration featured a farmer in overalls with a pig under one arm and the other arm holding a torch. Roosters were at his feet as he stood ready to light the cauldron beneath a display of the Olympic rings. Across his chest a banner read, “Howdy.”
Why Does Canada Hate Canadians?
“If Canadian curators cannot aspire to eventually manage the museums where they work, or Canadian stage directors need never consider running Canada’s festivals, they will not give their institutions the best of themselves. They will either slump into the self-fulfilling prophecy of lower expectations or they will go abroad.”
Is Multitasking Good Or Bad For You? The Answer Is (Predictably) Complicated
“Multitasking has a purpose—but it’s not as effective as we think and makes us more prone to mistakes. Doing rote sorting or organizing work while having a conversation with a coworker? Fine. But try answering an email while trying to explain an important meeting outcome to your boss, and both tasks will take you longer, have a greater likelihood of errors, and be more taxing than if you focused and did one thing.”
Cities Want To Be The Next Silicon Valley. That Might Not Be A Good Idea
“The Washington Consensus of the 1980s claimed that free trade and deregulation were the most promising growth policies for developing countries. The Silicon Valley Consensus suggests that innovative cities grow faster, that startups are the only real hope for job creation, and that high-tech growth helps rich and poor alike. But, like the Washington Consensus, the Silicon Valley Consensus offers a false promise.”