Miles Davis

Why Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue” Is So Beloved

A music scholar suggests that Miles Davis combined the blues with the musical avant garde in a manner reflecting the integrationist spirit of the era.
Whitman at about fifty

Should Walt Whitman Be #Cancelled?

Black America talks back to "The Good Gray Poet" at 200.
Notre-Dame, 1881

Recreating Notre Dame

The famous Paris cathedral was built over many centuries, reflecting the growth and evolution of Paris itself.
A teenager listening to a record through headphones

The Nostalgic Quality of Our Parents’ Music

Behind the curious phenomenon of "cascading reminiscence bumps."
The Copper Coast Geopark, County Waterford, Ireland.

When Language Started a Political Revolution

Will Brexit fracture the UK? Ireland, for example, has its own cultural identity and language, which are perhaps more linked to Europe than to England.
A child in front of an ominous Netflix television screen.

A Critical Theory of Binge Watching

We didn't know we loved to binge until Netflix made it irresistible. To understand the new model, we should look back to Theodor Adorno.
The Guerrilla Girls

The Guerrilla Girls Are Back for Hollywood

These anonymous activists have been stirring things up in the art world since the 1980s, and they've just released another thought-provoking poster.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Memorial_jewellery_made_from_human_hair_in_a_case.jpg

Why Victorians Loved Hair Relics

Victorians were mesmerized by the hair of the dead -- which reveals something about about how they saw life.
Barbara Hammer

A Legendary Filmmaker’s Notes on Teaching

Experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer was also a teacher, and wrote about how she kept the "artist-self" alive while working her day job.
Collage of contemporary poets

10 Ekphrastic Poems

Broadly defined, an ekphrastic poem describes another work of art. Here are some by Ocean Vuong, Aziza Barnes, Robert Hayden, Frank O’Hara, Danez Smith, and more.