Category: people

“Wouk never lets the reader forget that the Second World War was the biggest collective undertaking in the history of the human race. No movie could ever depict it, because no movie could ever have the budget.”

“She thought about being a writer; she tried teaching. Then she began volunteering at a local radio station. (There was an opening at the feminist show because one of the producers was moving to the lesbian feminist show.)”

“Their lives crossed in January 2013, on the first day of a writing class, when they took part in one of those familiar around-the-table introductions that by the end had led them to a stunning realization. These strangers were sisters.”

“The singer and guitarist … put the blues in a three-piece suit and took the musical genre from the barrooms and back porches of the Mississippi Delta to Carnegie Hall and the world’s toniest concert stages with a signature style emulated by generations of blues and rock musicians.”

“[The] perennially popular book … became an indispensable classroom and newsroom guide, making its author one of the most influential writing teachers of the past half century.”

“She had hot wax poured over her shaved head, buried herself in artificial snow, read alternately from the ancient Kabbalah and car magazines, and shared the stage with more than 40 animals, including her beloved pet rat, who could often be found perched on her shoulder when she was off-stage.”

“The biennial event specialises in staging premieres by international cultural figures. This year’s festival, which takes place in July, will feature the likes of singer Bjork, artist Gerhard Richter and children’s TV star Justin Fletcher. Mr McGrath will take over from the festival’s founding artistic director Alex Poots, who is leaving to run New York’s new Culture Shed.”

“Why is it such a perennial youthful rite of passage to misunderstand, to underestimate, even to hate Yoko Ono? What is this strange power she continues to wield? … Beginning to love Yoko Ono is a dangerous experience, because then you wonder: If Yoko Ono was something more than the woman who broke up the Beatles, then what other lies have I been told?”

“There are many pleasures to vacuum cleaning, and then sometimes there’s rug rage.”

“Overlooking these women’s contributions doesn’t just misrepresent the era, it’s also helped solidify philosophy’s status as a white men’s club. About 35 percent of U.S. philosophy faculty members in 2009, the most recent year for which reliable data is available, were women, and just 30 percent of the doctorates awarded that year went to women, according to data from Humanities Indicators, a project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The numbers are similar across the globe, including in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.”