This Journalist Asked Chimananda Ngozi Adichie The *Wrong* Question

“Caroline Broué, the French journalist conducting the interview, initially asked Adichie if people in Nigeria read her work, to which the writer replied, ‘They do, shockingly.’ From there, she decided to ask ‘Are there bookshops in Nigeria?’ When the audience responded with audible shock, she doubled down on her question.” (includes video)

Why Did Instagram Censor This 26-Year-Old Poem?

“‘I want a dyke for president,’ artist Zoe Leonard writes in her 1992 poem. Inspired by the author Eileen Myles’ run for president, and written at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the poem, ‘I want a president,’ has since been shown in museums, galleries, and outdoor installations around the world. More than a quarter-century after it was written, the poem made its way to Instagram – and became the center of a controversy over censorship on social media.”

More Oregon Bach Festival Stumbles: Hires, Then Removes Another Conductor

The Oregon Bach Festival, which last year fired its artistic director amid accusations of racism and sex discrimination, has hired a conductor for this summer’s festival who was reportedly dismissed from a guest conducting job with the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra in 2015 after complaints he used racial slurs at a rehearsal. Just two days later, his name was removed from the festival’s website.

The Berkshire Museum Problem

Nina Simon: Why wouldn’t they make the rational choice to get as much money as possible for their sins? Because their choice has consequences beyond their own self-interest. It exposes the fragility of the rule of deaccessioning, the thin line between “treasured public asset” and “hard cold cash.” The rule is built on a sleight of hand, a conceit that says that museums won’t acknowledge the market value of objects — until they will. As cultural theorist Diane Ragsdale put it, “When communities become markets, citizens become consumers, and culture becomes an exploitable product.”