Fascinating: The Moral Of “Pinocchio” Was Not About Lying, But About Education

“The moral of the story, then, is not that children should always tell the truth, but that education is paramount, enabling both liberation from a life of brutal toil, and, more important, self-awareness and a sense of duty to others. The true message of “The Adventures” is that, until you open yourself to knowledge and your fellow human beings, you will remain a puppet forever — other people will continue to pull your strings.” – The New York Times

An Amazing Legacy: Susan Wadsworth Spent 58 Years Boosting The Careers Of Young Musicians. Now She’s Retiring

Wadsworth founded Young Concert Artists in 1961 with the aim of finding great young musicians and giving their careers a boost. “The results speak for themselves: Among the more than 270 alumni, most largely unknown when they won, are major artists like Ms. Bullock; the pianists Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax and Jeremy Denk; the violinist Pinchas Zukerman; the cellists Fred Sherry and Carter Brey; the soprano Dawn Upshaw; and the composers Andrew Norman and Kevin Puts.” – The New York Times

How To Become An Admired Playwright: First, Leave School Without Ever Having Been To The Theatre

That’s what worked for Katherine Chandler, “one of the most vital voices in Welsh theatre,” who took advantage of a Thatcher-era work for welfare opportunity, got placed at a theatre, fell for it, and eventually started writing plays. The award-winning playwright says Welsh theatre is “working class, strong, and in-yer-face. A lot of our work can be brutal and that’s because it reflects what’s happening in our country.” – The Stage (UK)

The Radical Act Of Writing

And then, the radical (as in, going to the root kind of radical) act of figuring out what’s OK to write about – and what’s a step too far. “To present ourselves as flawed is one thing, but to write about our children’s flaws? Or our grandchildren’s? That seems a betrayal. I had to scrap a whole essay on anger because to talk about the anger I’ve felt toward my son’s sons was too complicated.” – LitHub

How Should We Deal With Actors Who Appeared In Racist Movies?

Lillian Gish appeared in more than 100 movies, but one stands out as a dangerous, racist movie that inspired the spread of the Ku Klux Klan – The Birth of a Nation. And she never seemed to get what the problem was. So “the trustees of a student union in Ohio have voted unanimously to remove the name of Gish and her sister Dorothy from a university cinema” – with an explanatory display explaining the reasons for the change. – The Guardian (UK)