In defense of criticism: A theater critic asks what good does it do in an upside-down world
Charles McNultylatimes.com
In defense of criticism: A theater critic asks what good does it do in an upside-down world
The author never met anybody who would trade our social order for theirs, who wants to go back to that old Princeton world. And yet ... and yet there are disturbing ghosts around the campus. The old order haunts this one, and whispers that maybe something was lost as well as gained when we sacrificed all for the sake of high achievement, safety, an... See more
David Brooks • The Organization Kid
- “What is our role in the world? To what extent is our institution a vehicle for political progress as opposed to academic excellence? Rational decision-making is impossible if these questions are left hanging, but at the same time it’s not hard to see why nobody tries to resolve them.”
The Point • Elite Education | The Point Magazine
We are reaching the point where we have to ask not only whether works of larger significance and reach can still be created, but also whether audiences—readers, viewers, listeners—would still know how to take them in if they were.
Sven Birkerts • The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
The humanities are our most treasured—and useless—“special skills.” And it is their very uselessness—their determination to remain uncorrupted by models of efficiency and optimization—that is their saving grace.
Tim Leberecht • The Business Romantic
This endless, mindless diversion is a necessity in a society that prizes entertainment above substance. Intellectual or philosophical ideas require too much effort and work to absorb. Classical theater, newspapers, and books are pushed to the margins of cultural life, remnants of a bygone literate age. They are dismissed as inaccessible and elitist
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