When you hear the term “cultural policy,” do you have a sudden and irresistible urge to leave the room? Please give me five minutes to tell you why you should care instead. Unesco (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is an essential agency of international cooperation. Through it, nations agree to honor each …
Have you heard the chorus of right-wingers blaming the “Jews and secularists” for ruining Christmas? One of the best pieces on this phenomenon so far is Frank Rich’s column in last Sunday’s \New York Times\. Here’s a taste: “‘Are we going to abolish the word Christmas?’ asked Newt Gingrich, warning that ‘it absolutely can happen …
The huge dissonance in political life — the conundrum for any thoughtful analyst with democratic values — is why so many people who share no material interests with George W. Bush voted to re-elect him president. Most pundits seem to feel satisfied with a two-word explanation: “values voters.” Evidently it puts a cork in their …
On Thanksgiving, our local paper carried an AP story about Bobby Goldstein, the creator of a reality TV show called “Cheaters,” in which camera crews accompany people who want to find and confront their unfaithful partners. One hundred old episodes are being re-edited, excising language and sexual images that might upset the FCC, which — …
The art world is all abuzz about the Museum of Modern Art’s plans to charge $20 for admission when it reopens this weekend after a multi-zillion dollar renovation. In response to defenders of art for the people, Glenn Lowry, MOMA’s director, said this: “If you think that museums should be free, campaign for a government …
Colin Powell has stepped down as Secretary of State, and it appears Condoleeza Rice is going to be his replacement. It also looks like the end of an era of essentialist thinking about race. In a post-election essay that’s been circulating via the Internet, Charles Frederick characterized race as “a concept of no meaning while …
My husband and I moved to Washington, DC in 1979 to head a national organization of community artists. At that time, the federal government was allocating about $200 million a year to public service jobs for artists: painting murals, designing community gardens, running neighborhood circuses, offering music classes, and so on. One of Don’s and …
I was in New York last week, mainly talking with groups of NYU arts students about roles for artists in social change. Every once in a while in such milieux, I run into the complacent view that artists are doing good just by being artists. It annoys me when people trot out essentialist ideas of …
Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, very near the liberal epicenter at Berkeley, I’ve yet to meet anyone who is now or has ever been a Bush voter. I?ve been thinking hard about this, because it’s in my nature to want to understand those with whom I disagree, and my encounters with their views …
Two headlines this gray morning by the San Francisco Bay. The California Supreme Court invalidates the marriage licenses issued to gay couples in San Francisco, and the governor of New Jersey, flanked at the podium by his wife and his mother, steps down, confessing that he has been living a lie: he comes out as …