The ballerina danced with the Houston Ballet for years (and now is a program manager in its education department). “I’ll never forget seeing my first Sugar Plum Fairy. Standing there, I’m looking through a stairway that’s part of a set for the party scene. I remember looking through the rungs of that stairway into the light at the Sugar Plum Fairy and wanting to be her. So, I got to retire as the Sugar Plum Fairy. There’s a picture of a Mother Ginger Child looking through the rungs of the stairway as I’m the Sugar Plum Fairy. I was just like, that was me 40 years ago.” – Texas Highways
Tag: 10.29.20
Boston Lyric Opera’s New Conversation Series Tries To Reckon With A Legacy Of Racism
Series host Celeste Headlee says, “The idea has been to create discussions that are not just listening sessions, not just another forum in which people talk and bare their souls, and well-meaning executives nod their heads and then change nothing. We want discussions centered around finding practical, actionable solutions, and an environment in which people can voice hard truths without others feeling defensive.” – Boston Globe
A Brief History Of The Ballpoint Pen (It’s Older Than You Think)
“Its evolution is, in many ways, an example of a game-changing design waiting until outside factors – in this case the rise of plastics and mass-production infrastructure, and a brilliant marketeer – allowed it to achieve its full potential.” – BBC
What Exactly Is “Theory” In The Humanities (And Why Should We Care?)
The Theory Wars, that is the administrative argument over which various strains of 20th-century continental European thought should play in the research and teaching of the humanities, has never exactly gone away, even while departments shutter and university work is farmed out to poorly-paid contingent faculty. – The Millions
Daniel Menaker, Author And Editor, Dead At 79
“[He wrote] a half-dozen acerbic and poignant books and became a senior editor at the New Yorker and Random House. Along the way, he helped champion and shepherd works by authors such as Billy Collins, Alice Munro and George Saunders.” – The Washington Post
Prognosis For Cable TV Is Even Worse Than You Think
“It’s all over for cable. Even Nielsen is saying that 25% of television viewing time is now streaming. Samsung is saying that if you’re a smart TV owner, over 50% of viewing time is streaming. That’s a problem for the cable networks. They have to follow the audience.” – Protocol
What The Drawings Show About New LACMA Building
Although LACMA claims “the new building totals 347,500 square feet,” the plans show its true size as 261,000 square feet. The total square footage of the new building is 32% less than the buildings it replaces—a loss of 123,000 square feet. “This analysis demonstrates that Los Angeles County taxpayers, who are footing a hefty portion of the bill for the $750-million project, are being robbed of their museum and collections,” says architecture critic Joseph Giovannini, co-chair of The Citizens’ Brigade to Save LACMA. – CityWatch LA
How Professional Ballet Dancers Plan For Retirement
It involves a lot of money saving, a lot of private lessons, and now a lot of Zooming. – CNBC
Want Better Theatre? Fund Writers
Maybe that seems obvious: Playwrights can make better work if they’re not suffering or working four other jobs to grasp for financial stability. But also, it has what the British call a knock-on effect: “If you give money to a playwright, they will give it to other artists.” – HowlRound
Repainting Colorado
Or at least repainting murals on an Arkansas River levee that spent six years in various stages of repair. “Muralists have to rope up for safety to work on the steeply sloped concrete. But that isn’t slowing any of them down.” – Colorado Public Radio