Arts

Including Hip-Hop In Classroom Instruction Aims To Revolutionize Education

July 30, 2013 - 6:59pm

Many children who are immersed in hip-hop culture learn early on that there’s little room for their love of combustible beats and edgy rhymes in the classroom, and as a result, school isn't a place for them either. But an emerging movement of artists and educators aims to improve the...

'Maker' Movement On The Rise, Magazine Editor Says

July 30, 2013 - 6:54pm

As the Maker Fair -- touted as a kind of "science fair" for adults -- concluded in Detroit last week, a leader of the “maker” movement said he sees a growing interest in tinkering, inventing and hacking. Mark Frauenfelder, editor of Make Magazine and boingboing.com, said that Maker Faires like...

Professor Says Pope's Recent Comments Suggest Catholic Church Is Updating

July 30, 2013 - 11:02am

Pope Francis made headlines earlier this week when he told reporters that he won't judge gay Roman Catholics -- including gay priests -- as long as they search for God and have good will. A college professor said that the new pope's comments suggest change is afoot in terms of...

Secret Ingredients Of Blue Moon Ice Cream Remains A Mystery

July 30, 2013 - 10:55am

Those who live in Wisconsin or Michigan might never give Blue Moon ice cream a thought. It’s just a staple around dairy stores in these parts and it tastes good, especially to children. But reporter Kasey Steinbrink has given the topic of Blue Moon some added consideration. Steinbrink, who writes...

Security Expert: Americans Overreact To Terrorism Threats

July 30, 2013 - 9:35am

There’s a built-in incentive for politicians and security officials to overreact to the threat of terrorism, according to a security analyst who says Americans put a lot of money and effort into counter-terrorism efforts that don’t make anyone safer. Author and security technologist Bruce Schneier said policy-makers have nothing to...

Cell Phones Allow Stores To Track Customers In New Ways

July 30, 2013 - 9:32am

A cell phone has multiple uses besides making a phone call -- it can send text messages, type an email and search the Web -- just to name a few. But, many people don't know their phone also acts as a device to inform retailers about a person's shopping habits...

Classic Comfort Food Gets Tasty Makeover

July 27, 2013 - 6:52am

For chefs Erin Wade and Alison Arevalo, macaroni and cheese is more than a food. It’s a way of life. Wade and Arevalo opened a restaurant, Homeroom, in Oakland, Calif., in 2011. They describe it “a restaurant dedicated to the best food on earth: macaroni and cheese!” And now they’re...

The Handshake

April 23, 2013 - 11:30am

It was a brief and simple encounter but it made a big impression. In his 1952 autobiography, My Life, Alexander Gretchananoff looked back more than sixty years to his first meeting with his musical idol.

In the 1880s, when Gretchaninoff was a student at the Moscow Conservatory, the...

Stephen Graham Jones' Novel Asks What It Means To Be A Good Indian

Elk bulls in late autumn Banff National Park Alberta, Canada

Stephen Graham Jones talks about his novel "The Only Good Indians," which follows four American Indian men hunting elk the day before Thanksgiving. They do something they shouldn't have done and 10 years later, they find themselves struggling for survival. It's a story of revenge, cultural identity and the cost of breaking from tradition.

Author Sharon Dolin Explores Her Life Through Lens Of Hitchcock's Films

Kim Novak and James Stewart in a screenshot from original movie trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo"

Sharon Dolin talks about her book, "Hitchcock Blonde: A Cinematic Memoir," in which she explores her life through the lens of 10 Alfred Hitchcock films.

Dear Baroness

The world’s greatest composer was feeling giddy when he wrote Baroness von Waldstadten with a special request on October 2, 1782:

I can say truthfully that I am a happy and an unhappy man–unhappy since the night when I saw your ladyship at the ball with your hair so beautifully...

Master or Student?

In the fall of 1824 pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles was in Berlin, where he became acquainted with the family of fifteen-year-old Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn’s parents were concerned about the boy’s future, fearful that he would suddenly pass into obscurity, as many other talented children had done. Moscheles had no...

I Am Sick of It All!

After receiving an invitation to write a choral work for the 1898 Leeds Festival, Edward Elgar began work on his cantata Caractacus. His inspiration would have to carry him past a series of obstacles, including his own pessimism.

He decided on a story about an ancient British hero, but the...

Saved!

On November 6, 1891, Peter Tchaikovsky had just conducted his new symphonic poem Voyevode in a Moscow concert arranged by his young editor Alexander Siloti. The applause seemed restrained, and when Tchaikovsky came back into the artists’ greenroom, he destroyed the manuscript and told the attendant to gather all of...

Excuses

In 1886 American composer Horatio Parker had been hoping for a performance of his string quartet by an important Boston ensemble. When the performance fell through, his colleague George Whitefield Chadwick wrote a cheerful letter explaining what had gone wrong:

In the first place, Kneisel gave me an excuse for...

Second Thoughts

Although he had never conducted any of William Walton’s music, Thomas Beecham suggested that the young composer write a concerto for violist Lionel Tertis. Walton wrote the concerto and sent it to Tertis, who thought that Walton’s music was a little too farfetched, and turned it down.

A friend at...

That's All I Ask

On September 20, 1850, Richard Wagner shared his aspirations with critic Theodor Uhlig, writing from Zurich about the key to achieving his latest artistic goal:

What’s needed to accomplish the best, most decisive and important project that I can take on in the current circumstances, and to bring to fruition...

Farewell Again

Adelina Patti was one of the most celebrated sopranos in the history of music, but that didn’t put her above the barbs thrown by New York Evening Post critic Henry T. Finck.

Finck had several misgivings about Patti, most of them having little to do with her singing, which he...

The Subversive

Eugene Luening had come through some hard times, and in 1908 he accepted a one-year appointment as director of the Music Department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He soon found that he would have to give up some of his freedom, but he never gave up his sense...

When It Mattered Most

Rick Rescorla was a soldier, not a musician. But he knew the power of music and he put it to work when it mattered most.

He was born in Cornwall in 1939. Some of his earliest memories were of Cornish songs, but American culture was also in the air as...

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Including Hip-Hop In Classroom Instruction Aims To Revolutionize Education

'Maker' Movement On The Rise, Magazine Editor Says

Professor Says Pope's Recent Comments Suggest Catholic Church Is Updating

Secret Ingredients Of Blue Moon Ice Cream Remains A Mystery

Security Expert: Americans Overreact To Terrorism Threats

Cell Phones Allow Stores To Track Customers In New Ways

Classic Comfort Food Gets Tasty Makeover

The Handshake

Stephen Graham Jones' Novel Asks What It Means To Be A Good Indian

Author Sharon Dolin Explores Her Life Through Lens Of Hitchcock's Films

Dear Baroness

Master or Student?

I Am Sick of It All!

Saved!

Excuses

Second Thoughts

That's All I Ask

Farewell Again

The Subversive

When It Mattered Most

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