I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again

Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

A requiem for arts coverage I used to say I wished that newspapers would treat their arts sections the way they treated their sports sections. What I meant was that sports sections offered a balanced mix of news stories, feature...

The Washington Post has only a single arts critic left - everyone else got fired today, along with all three arts editors. (There are still a couple of excellent arts reporters.) I was so upset I dusted off my blog to have my say: annemidgette.com/blog/f/a-req...

Nothing he does is good news.

Melania — Andrew Jackson Lynch For a minute there, I thought I was going to a private screening. When I bought my ticket for the 3:00 pm showing of Melania only forty minutes before showtime, every seat in the house was available...

I wrote about the movie here, if anyone is curious. (I talk about the "Gimme Shelter" stuff in a separate, smaller post, because I couldn't get it to fit in the finished piece.)

www.andrewjacksonlynch.com/the-cost-of-...

VC LIVE | Minnesota Orchestra Dedicates Concert to Alex Pretti and Renée Good World's Leading Classical Music Platform

Livestream at 8pm central time theviolinchannel.com/vc-live-minn...

Over 50% of game developers now think generative AI is bad for the industry, a dramatic increase from just 2 years ago: 'I'd rather quit the industry than use generative AI' The latest GDC survey also found that managers are more likely to use generative AI than their employees.

"Our standing rule is: If one of us brings up using GenAI in any of our work, then it's safe to assume we've been assimilated by The Thing and should be burned alive by Kurt Russell," said a game design consultant in the US.

Getting the impression that ICE is gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio, which was ground zero of Vance’s lies about Haitians during the campaign. Haitians lose temporary protected status on February 3rd. Reporters, lawyers, neighbors — please get ready.

Right-wing plot to set up ‘intellectual freedom centers’ at public universities UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Florida are part of the effort to push conservative ideology on college students in the guise of civics education

They say to understand politics follow the money. This excellent article does that for the expanding 'civic institute' scam. Tracing the money trail leads back to a shadowy network of right-wing billionaires like the Koch family.

prismreports.org/2026/01/27/c...

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

Mortality rates:

Mifepristone: 0.65/100,000
Penicillin 2/100K
Viagra 4/100K

Pregnancy in the US: 22/100,000 (some states see rates >60/100K)

More people have died in ICE detention centers already in 2026 than will die from mifepristone all year. These politicians are extremely dangerous to women.

Whatever is in the Epstein Files is so explosive that the leaders of the Department of Justice are openly breaking the law every day to keep us from seeing it. (Just a reminder amongst all the other stuff flying around.)

Just some of the many women composers through history whose music should be better known today: Germaine Tailleferre, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, Elizabeth Maconchy, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, Ruth Gipps / Florence Price, Louise Talma, Augusta Holmès, Madeleine Dring, Grace Williams, Cacilda Borges Barbosa / Ina Boyle, Leonora Duarte, Grażyna Bacewicz, Morfydd Owen, Margaret Bonds, Ingebord Bronsart.

Applications are open until Tuesday 31 March for the RPS Ambache Fund, offering grants of up to £5,000 to support performers, ensembles, venues and festivals putting music by historic women composers at the heart of their programming. Find out more: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/performers/r...

Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United

This is insane. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

friends and colleagues, a new AMS update: if you signed the petition, you should've received an email outlining what has happened in the last month, communications w Council and the Board, & new info. for everyone, there's new info regarding JAMS & its editorial independence

AMS Accountability Archive Grassroots membership response to a professional society in crisis

Re AMS: In case you think you'd heard it all, there's a new memo from the editors of JAMS, the flagship journal. It is striking imo that the AMS didn't provide any financial data to support their perceived threat to close it down. amsaccountabilityarchive.carrd.co?fbclid=IwY2x...

Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen multiple times.

Jason Isbell
Frank Turner
Ben Folds
Smyth - The Wreckers
Daughters of the Revolution

Excited to present my research on #ethelsmyth 's Der Wald today!

The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care? The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...

AMS Accountability Archive Grassroots membership response to a professional society in crisis

in case this hasn’t made it over here yet amsaccountabilityarchive.carrd.co

Found it. Thanks. Wow...

And me?

Please spill for the rest of us that are too far removed, or DM me 🙂

Der Wald. The Forest. E.M. Smyth. 1902. Musical score cover painting of two people collapsed in front of a bonfire while others dance.

Looking forward to presenting my paper, 'Love has the Victory!': Musical Representations of Female Power in Ethel Smyth's Der Wald at the AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting! #AMSMT25

A Cuban man deported by the US to Africa is on a hunger strike in prison, his lawyer says A lawyer representing a Cuban man deported by the United States to the African nation of Eswatini says he is on a hunger strike after being held at a maximum-security prison for more than three months without charge or access to legal counsel.

A Cuban man deported by the U.S. to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without being charged or having access to legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country program.

Couldn't agree more.

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

FYI - Samantha Ege and I have a new article on Julia Perry arriving online in the latest issue of @oxfordamerican.bsky.social next Tuesday! I'm so excited for this piece to be published, I think it is one of the best writing projects I've ever been a part of

How do you file a claim? I don't have access to the Atlantic article.

35 years ago today, Deee-Lite released “Groove Is in the Heart,” a kaleidoscopic dance-floor explosion blending Herbie Hancock samples, Bootsy Collins funk, and a Q-Tip verse. With its trippy video and infectious beat, it became an instant club classic.

Oh no....