“There are many things we can do to reduce tribalism, strengthen our kids, and repair our universities. We—the baby boomers and gen-Xers who fill this room—we have made a mess of the clock. Left and Right, Republicans and Democrats. But we can make up for it if we can come together, admit that we messed up, and change what we are doing to kids, and to college students. We just might be able to raise a generation of kids who can care for the clock after all.”
Tag: 12.17.17
Philosophy Is An Art. Making It Simply Academic Marginalizes It
“What makes philosophy such an endurable affair, in the West as well as in the East, is that it engages not only our cognition, but also our imagination, emotions, artistic sensibility, religious impulses — in short, our being complicated, messy, impure creatures. To be human is to be always caught in existential entanglements, to have to deal with hybridity and messiness of all sorts. We are an unlikely union of high and low, spirit and flesh, reason and unreason. And philosophers, if they are not to lose their integrity, need to account for such wholeness.”
Neuroscience And Buddhism: On Improving The Mind
“Few people would honestly argue that there is nothing worth improving about the way they live and the way they experience the world. Some people regard their own particular weaknesses and conflicting emotions as a valuable and distinct part of their ‘personality,’ as something that contributes to the fullness of their lives. They believe that this is what makes them unique and argue that they should accept themselves as they are. But isn’t this an easy way to giving up on the idea of improving the quality of their lives, which would cost only some reasoning and effort?”
The Berkshire Museum’s Planned Sale Obliterates Ethical Boundaries, An Art Critic Says
The planned sale has implications far beyond Pittsfield, Mass., which is why the San Francisco Chronicle‘s art critic is writing about it. “There is a real sense in which these collections belong to all of us. These institutions exist for the benefit of the public, and they subsist through public support, whether directly with government dollars, through tax deductions for their donors, or both. The law can be unclear on the particulars, but there is little doubt that, ethically, museums hold works of significant cultural value in the public trust.”
When ‘Casablanca’ Debuted In Germany In 1952, Warner Bros. Removed All References To Nazis
What even is the movie Casablanca without Nazis, without fighting Nazis, without singing the Marseillaise in front of Nazis? Well … “Resistance fighter Victor Laszlo became a Norwegian atomic physicist, renamed Victor Larsen, who discovers mysterious delta rays and is on the run from Interpol.”
A British Photographer Says That Now, Brexit Infects Every Space He Photographs In Britain
Martin Parr says it’s almost like the 1980s, now: “One of the things that galvanised photographers then was a dislike of Thatcherism, and we are in the same position. It is almost like a therapeutic process to examine your relation to these things, to this history. That is what I use the camera for.”
Bette Howland, An Author Who Wrote Several Acclaimed Books, Won A Genius Grant, Disappeared And Was Recently Rediscovered, Has Died
Howland was 80. Her work “might never have resurfaced had not a copy of ‘W-3’ caught the eye of Brigid Hughes, editor of A Public Space, when she was browsing through a $1 cart at the Housing Works Bookstore in Manhattan in 2015. The book intrigued her, and some digging eventually led her to Jacob Howland. A Public Space now hopes eventually to reissue all of Ms. Howland’s books.”
An 8,000-Person Orchestra Just Performed In Seoul
That’s right, 8,000 mostly amateur church musicians tried to break (and perhaps succeeded in breaking) the world record. “The giant orchestra … played a medley of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches, the South Korean national anthem and two hymns for seven minutes in total.”
The (Kinda Racist) Secret Identity Of A Comics Book Editor
Turns out the (actual!) white guy who kept getting promoted was also the (not actual!) Japanese guy writing some comics. Marvel’s response is troubling to many comic and graphic novel fans: “Cebulski’s deception calls to mind a longer, more pernicious tradition of white writers posing as people of color for cultural cache. Often, these individuals have adopted Asian identities.”
What’s Going On With The Royal New Zealand Ballet?
Well, for one thing, some investigations – and a call for the government to dissolve and recreate the board. Here’s a tidbit: “On Friday, the RNZB announced former deputy State Services Commissioner Doug Craig would lead an independent inquiry into allegations of workplace bullying and reports that the Ballet favours overseas dancers over New Zealanders.”