Tag: 12.23.19

The Changing Faces Of America’s Libraries

“If you haven’t been in a public library lately, you probably wouldn’t recognize where you were if you entered one tomorrow. This is no longer, as I wrote early on, your mother’s library. The books are still there, the readers are still there, the librarians are still there. But sharing the same space are children busy with all kinds of active—and sometimes noisy—programs, inventors in maker-spaces, historians and amateurs researching genealogy, job-seekers scouring the internet, homeless people settling in quietly for the day, women and a few men heading to the yoga space, others watching movies, young entrepreneurs grabbing lattes… – The Atlantic

A Tale Of Two Deaths Of Two Critics

While Clive James, a critic, writer and television broadcaster who left his native Australia to find fame in the U.K., received encomiums for the catholicity of his taste, the splendor of his wit and his evangelical passion for the life of the mind, John Simon, the Yugoslavian-born polymath who was long enthroned at New York Magazine as a theater and film critic, was remembered less for his razor-sharp prose than for his vitriolic glee, his attacks on actors’ physical flaws, his sometimes shocking political insensitivity and his penchant for acidulous put-downs and puns. – Los Angeles Times

Sensory-Friendly Orchestra Performances Tap Unserved Audiences

Typically kids, adolescents and adults with autism take in information differently than their neurotypical peers. They can be easily overwhelmed by the senses, noises, visuals and smells. The loud music and the crowds and flashing lights at traditional concerts can overwhelm someone with autism such that they need to leave. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Year Amy March Finally Got Her Due

Yes, Amy March was a spoiled brat who burned Jo’s manuscript, and thus earned the ire of every creative person ever, and the films and series have reflected that. But Amy … was also a creative, complex person. “Siblings naturally compare themselves to one another—Jo, for instance, takes pride in not being as ladylike as Amy, while Amy judges Jo for her lack of elegance—and neither sister ‘wins’ the dispute.” This makes the newest movie richer and more realistic than the others. – The Atlantic

Will No One Think Of Mrs. Cratchit?

What is Martha Cratchit thinking at the end of A Muppet Christmas Carol (and why hasn’t this ever been written about before)? “Your employer has brought an uncooked fourteen pound turkey to my house on Christmas day, and I am asking you, Bob, with my eyes because incomprehensibly the entire city, including some people we’ve never met, are now in our home, and are all expecting to be fed.” – Sentimental Garbage