Creative Writing Workshops: A Bad Idea Run Amok?

Louis Menand: “The workshop is a process, an unscripted performance space, a regime for forcing people to do two things that are fundamentally contrary to human nature: actually write stuff (as opposed to planning to write stuff very, very soon), and then sit there while strangers tear it apart. […] Kay Boyle once published a piece arguing that ‘all creative-writing programs ought to be abolished by law.’ She taught creative writing for sixteen years at San Francisco State.”

Numbers As Abstract Concepts That Even Infants (Unlike Certain Adults) Can Understand

“Abstract numerical thought is the ability to perceive numbers as entities, independently of specific things. It can be demonstrated by the human capacity to link a certain number of objects to the same number of sounds, irrespective of what the specific sounds or objects are. But whether this ability is innate or learned through culture or language wasn’t known.”

JazzTimes Ceases Operation

From the management: “JazzTimes has temporarily suspended publication of the magazine and has furloughed the bulk of its staff while it finalizes a sale of its assets. The brand and operation will undergo reorganization and restructuring in order to remain competitive in the current media climate.”

George MacPherson, 78, Influential Theatre Executive

“[A] theatre executive who played a role in establishing Hamilton Place in Hamilton, Ont., and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, … MacPherson had a long and varied career in the theatre, including managing artists such as Harry Belafonte and Victor Borge. But he is most noted for his role in transforming the Broadway touring industry to create the current system of first-class touring shows.”

The Late Tanja Liedtke Is Top Winner At Australian Dance Awards

The former director-designate of Sydney Dance Company, who was killed in a road accident just weeks before taking up her post, took honors for outstanding achievement in choreography and outstanding achievement in independent dance for her 2007 piece construct, which also received an award for outstanding performance by a female dancer (Kristina Chan).

Hard Time: Pharmaceutical Exec Sentenced To Write Book

“A former Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. executive was sentenced to write a book for giving false information to U.S. regulators about a botched 2006 agreement to delay generic competition for the blood thinner Plavix. … ‘I hope he’s capable of writing a book,’ said Michael Shapiro, a Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP attorney in New York who focuses on white-collar criminal defense. ‘What if he were sentenced to hit a home run at Nationals Park?'”