Category: issues

“Artists and scholars are quick to pay lip service to the environmental catastrophe underway, but what’s needed is a response to E.O. Wilson’s clarion call in their work — a greening if you will of arts and letters. This is the goal of the burgeoning eco-arts and eco-criticism movement, which has slowly been gaining respectability in the academy.”

“Globalization is hardly unique to Italy. And yet the gobbling up of so many of our beloved and time-tested consumer brands is noteworthy, and a bit unsettling.”

“For many Jewish Americans, the night before Christmas conjures up visions, not of sugar plums, but plum sauce slathered over roast duck … The story begins during the halcyon days of the Lower East Side where … Jews and Chinese were the two largest non-Christian immigrant groups at the turn of the [20th] century.”

“With children glued to screens at ever-earlier ages – the average age of initial interaction is 11 months, according to one study – a raft of digital services have emerged to put Santa in the palm of their little hands.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Saint Nick, per se. But it’s all a bit much, and we can do better.” Betsy Woodruff suggests we all celebrate a witch who drinks wine and eats sausage instead of milk and cookies.

Yes, it’s true: Since the 1700s, creches in Catalonia have included, amidst the Virgin Mother, the Holy Child in the manger, and the shepherds, the caganer, a figure discreetly answering nature’s call. It’s a good luck charm, and over the years the traditional peasant farmer caganer has been joined by figurines of everyone from Napoleon to Beethoven to Vladimir Putin to Captain America.

“The mere threat of damage to Kim Jong Un’s image has outraged the North Korean government. Such fury is thought to be behind the Sony hacking. North Korea has denied the attack but has suggested it was a ‘righteous deed’ carried out by sympathizers.”

“Yiwu is home to 600 factories that collectively churn out over 60% of all the world’s Christmas decorations and accessories, from glowing fibre-optic trees to felt Santa hats. The ‘elves’ that staff these factories are mainly migrant labourers … not entirely sure what Christmas is.”

“Plans for a skyscraper, known as the Triangle Tower, have divided Parisians and prompted a wave of protests that the city’s cherished skyline is about to be violated.”