How Iraq's Great Universities Were Destroyed
"In just 20 years, then, the Iraqi university system went from being among the best in the Middle East to one of the worst. This extraordinary act of institutional destruction was largely accomplished by American leaders who told us that the US invasion of Iraq would bring modernity, development, and women's rights. Instead, as political scientist Mark Duffield has observed, it has partly de-modernized that country." - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 02/02/12

How Can Skeptics Make Convincing Religious Art?
Terry Teachout observes that, in many genres, "great works of devotional art have been created by skeptics, not a few of whom were fire-breathingly militant about their doubt." How do we recognize this paradox? Teachout finds a clue in one instance where Ralph Vaughan Williams meets Plato. - The Wall Street Journal 02/03/12

Can Italy Change Italy?
"When I first came to Italy thirty years ago, there was a lot of talk about change. It was always located in the very near future, but never quite in the present. The paradigm almost everybody accepted was that of an "abnormal" and in some respects archaic society on the brink of becoming normal and modern, falling into line, that is, with the powerful democracies of Northern Europe--as if there were something natural about their models." - New York Review of Books 02/01/12

Restored And Glittering, Bolshoi Theater Still Has Problems
"In the three months since its reopening" following a long and troubled $700 million renovation, "performers have criticised the renovation, audiences booed its operatic premiere and complained about ticket prices, two Bolshoi ballet stars decamped to a rival theatre and other dancers suffered injuries." - Reuters 02/01/12

Asia Society Expands From New York To Houston And Hong Kong
"Even as cultural organizations around the country contract because of the economic downturn, Asia Society is pushing against the tide with two new multimillion-dollar buildings, one of which opens in Hong Kong next week, the other in Houston this spring." - The New York Times 02/01/12

What Was That? (Thinking About Modernism)
"Of all the topics in the humanities, modernism may be the most ill taught, because it is both too close (having flourished between the 1880s and World War I) and too distant (having been eclipsed by postmodernism, whatever that means)." - The Weekly Standard 02/06/12

Engage! Arts Council England Launches £37M Fund To Do Just That
"Arts Council England has launched a £37 million fund aimed at engaging people in cultural activities in areas where involvement is low. The 'creative people and places fund' will support around 15 initiatives that will develop cultural experiences for communities that are currently not engaging with the arts." - The Stage (UK) 01/30/12

Against Copyright? Why?
"Why do people do it? Because they have no fear of reprisal. Sure, some of them pay me after they are confronted or take the image down, but why should I have to find them and confront them? I guess it shouldn't be so surprising since modern journalists call aggregation "journalism," when really it's just slapping your name on someone else's work and sometimes adding a snarky couple of sentences. People say that they will link to my site. Oh, really? That's great, but I prefer cash." - Creative Loafing 01/26/12

A 'Cathedral' Barn From The Middle Ages Is Saved For The UK
"Dating from 1426, early in the reign of boy-king Henry VI and not long after the death of Chaucer, the Great Barn was one of several built in an area now largely swallowed up by the outer west London suburbs." After nearly being knocked out for a Heathrow runway and sold to a neglectful developer for £1, the barn now belongs to English Heritage. - The Independent (UK) 01/30/12

The Internet Isn't An Organic, Natural Entity - And It Needs Active Defenders
"The question now is whether the people who got mobilized around SOPA and PIPA, called their senators and congresspeople, and agitated on the Internet, will become a political force by making clear that candidates' record on Internet issues will be an important factor in their voting decisions. That is not yet clear. So it was definitely a short-term victory but we will see whether it will be a long-term victory." - Publishers Weekly 01/27/12

Income Inequality Might Not Matter - If We Made A Few Small Changes To Our Social Structure
"Have we been too narrowly focused on income inequality when we should really be focused on a more fundamental issue: ensuring everyone has access to a minimum level of basic goods and services such as education and healthcare and an equal opportunity to earn a respectable living?" - The European 01/28/12

The Arts Should Damn Well Demand, And Receive, Government Funding
"Historically, we haven't looked for government funding until, like the Los Angeles Opera in 2009, our backs were against the wall. It's easier and faster to ask for money from our friends, and the success rate is higher. ... We owe it to those donors who have gotten us this far to knock on government doors the way we knocked on theirs. And we owe it to the next generation to ensure that art doesn't become truly elitist." - San Francisco Classical Voice 01/27/12

Red Pill, Blue Pill - Is Engagement An Either/Or Thing?
What if our audiences are confined by our predetermined ideas about what they are? A professor who began to get hundreds of thousands of views online wonders why he confines himself to a classroom with only a few dozen students. - ArtsJournal "Lead or Follow Debate" 01/27/12