The Soprano Who Upended Americans’ Racist Stereotypes About Who Could Sing Opera
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was in many ways the nation’s first black pop star
Hooked on the Heavens: How Caroline Herschel, the First Professional Woman Astronomer, Nearly Died by Meathook in the Name of Science
How a paragon of persistence in the face of hardship discovered eight comets and paved the way for women in science.
The English We Speak: Donkey’s years
Why has Rob got a donkey in the studio?! It's probably got something with today's authentic English phrase which is about not doing something for a long time. How long…
The Artsy Podcast, No. 37: Why Good Artists Make “Bad” Paintings
The genre of “bad painting” is a slippery one. On this podcast, we discuss the label, which has been applied to a wide-ranging group of artists throughout the 20th and…
The Great Dismal Swamp – 99% Invisible
On the border of Virginia and North Carolina stretches a great, dismal swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp, actually — that’s the name British colonists gave it centuries ago. The swamp…
Gauguin’s Stirring First-Hand Account of What Actually Happened the Night Van Gogh Cut off His Own Ear
Certain relationships are charged with an intensity of feeling that incinerates the walls we habitually erect between platonic friendship, romantic attraction, and intellectual-creative infatuation. One of the most dramatic of…
Kara Walker, ‘Tired of Standing Up,’ Promises Art, Not Answers
Kara Walker with her art installation at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn in 2014.Credit...Abe Frajndlich for The New York Times By Blake Gopnik Aug. 16, 2017 “I am tired,…
The Supermanagerial Reich
Anyone who takes seriously the threat of the newly empowered reactionary right, must take seriously the role neoliberalism has played in laying out the red carpet for its arrival.
Carry A. Nation
“You wouldn’t give the vote so I had to use a rock” - Carry A. Nation. {listen}
Aldo Leopold plants a forest and a meadow
In 1935, Aldo Leopold bought a worn out farm along the Wisconsin River. Taking up (second) residence in a former chicken coop, they wanted to live close to the land.…