Category: issues

Sandy Banks: “The Census Bureau announced last month that the word ‘Negro’ is being dropped from its lexicon. … Erasing the word might seem to census officials politically correct in this racially sensitive time. But it feels like they’re trying to scrub a chapter from a story that is uniquely American, and undeniably mine.”

“It’s true that people are using it in a way that is different from its original meaning. But we do that with all kinds of words. I mean, the most relevant comparison is the word really. People say, oh, I’m really starving, They’re not really.”

“It’s touchy being pals with people at loggerheads — the orchestra’s management and its locked-out musicians — without seeming to take sides. It’s also hard to drum up enthusiasm, never mind dollars, when a contract dispute has led to a concertless season.”

The quasi-non-govermental organization: “One of the things we want to do is restore the human face of this organisation. There is a genuine desire within the organisation to be seen as a partner, and as a peer of those that we are here to support.”

Britain did it too, but “truth told, this is most often a comedy of errors. We see that the security services – MI5 often, and Special Branch unfailingly – were useless at spying on intellectuals.”

Historians commissioned by the Vienna Phil “are expected to reveal details of 13 musicians said to have been driven out of the orchestra because of their Jewish origins or their stance on Germany’s annexation of Austria. Five of the musicians died in concentration camps.”

“Just north of Naples, a smoldering ruin is all that remains of the museum called the City of Science. It was deliberately set it on fire during the night between March 4 and 5, and it is not hard to read the message behind its destruction.”

“I can assure you that the culture and the arts are important to the government. It seems ridiculous that I would have to state such a self-evident truth. I believe it is regrettable to observe some of the scaremongering, suggesting our arts and cultural sector is somehow ‘at risk’.”

Despite an intervention by the UK national Labour party, “Newcastle city council has approved a plan to cut completely its £2.5m culture budget despite concerted opposition from local residents and a host of artists connected to north-east England.”

“The debate had started already last year. Alexander Pereira, the director of the festival demanded 65 million Euros in order to finance his extensive programme. He threatened to resign if his conditions were not fulfilled. The board of trustees then approved 60 million Euros” – and Pereira proceeded to spend the remaining 5 million anyway.