Category: issues

Barry Hessenius takes his poll and makes his annual list…

“In the 10 years between 2000 and 2009, while the median income of American families grew a modest 16 percent, the cost of attending college shot up 63 percent; more than 70 percent for in-state students at public universities.”

“How can presenters and producers persuade an often reluctant populace to take the plunge and see a show, often at considerable cost? And how important is it to “upgrade” the casual theatergoer – whose trip to the concert hall is limited to an annual “Phantom of the Opera” or “Wicked” pilgrimage – to the world of season-ticket commitments and seats in the orchestra instead of the third tier?”

“In the past three years, about 50 artists – including sculptors, painters, fashion designers and sound engineers – have created studios and offices in the Behring factory … in Rio’s long-neglected port area. … Bt the property was recently auctioned and the new owners, Syn Brazil, told residents they had 30 days to get out.”

“As a forensic engineering company continues to investigate why the roof drainage system failed at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts during a spring storm, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a memo Wednesday that the estimated bill for repairs would be about $3.8 million.”

According to the Labour peer Joan Bakewell, the BBC’s director general Mark Thompson turned down the scheme to erect the statue at the BBC’s new Broadcasting House “flat”, because “apparently George Orwell would be perceived as too left-wing a figure for the BBC to honour”.

“Over the past 16 years, the center, run by a Colombian non-governmental organization, Taller de Vida, has worked with scores of former child soldiers from both sides of the war – leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries – to help them return to civilian life.”

The Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, a mid-1960s concrete hulk whose 2,700-seat hall offered barren acoustics and poor sightlines, will be transformed into an 1,800-seat horseshoe-style hall with updated amenities and an exterior that blends better with the city’s historic architecture.

“Turns out lower giving among the rich likely has much more to do with where they live and who they live near.”

Anne Applebaum: “Although it is often assumed otherwise, Putin’s regime has long permitted political dissent – so long as it appeals only to a small elite. … Political speech is controlled, but entertainment media are free. But in a Russia open to global pop culture, it’s getting harder to recognize who is serious and who isn’t.”