Culture Archives - Page 2 of 6

Fashion

The Philosophy of Ripped Jeans

An interview with Gwenda-lin Grewal about her new book on the intersection of philosophy and fashion

September 7, 2022 • by Jack Condie, Nicholas Dagher, Gwenda-lin Grewal, Noah Kupper and Quinn Mason

Fashion is always threatening to undermine autonomy but also always presenting you with the opportunity of taking it back. That is what’s lost when you say fashion is just for shallow people, it’s only about appearances, or that it doesn’t have anything to do with reality. I think quite the ...

Uncategorized

Grief Creates an Opportunity for Love

When we mourn, we can emulate the acts of grace that have enriched our lives

July 6, 2022 • by Harold Pollack

Love and grief are not zero-sum games, but they sometimes feel that way in complicated, blended, or fractured families....

Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts

Pythagorean Mysticism

Three observations on “Authority and Freedom”

March 2, 2022 • by Paul Berman

Art has always been an instrument of social oppression, except on occasion when it has been an instrument of resistance. Such is art’s meaning. And, in order to resist oppression, we ought to go about judging art on the basis of which side it supports, the side of vice, or ...

Literature

Literary Imperialism and Scenes of High Melodrama

When BIPOC and queer writers defy minimalism

February 1, 2022 • by Torsa Ghosal

The term melodrama is a value judgment—and as such, it can be careless. ...

Literary Imperialism and Scenes of High Melodrama

Democracy

A Connection That Never Expired

In 1974, Jeffrey Goldfarb went to Poland to do research about democracy—and put down lasting roots

July 7, 2021 • by Elzbieta Matynia and Claire Potter

Claire Potter: Elzbieta, let's begin with when you met Jeff Goldfarb. Elzbieta Matynia: Jeff and Naomi Goldfarb came to Poland in 1973—Jeff was on an IREX fellowship, and Naomi attended some studio classes at the Academy of Arts. I had just begun my graduate studies. But we were both interested in the same ...

Columnists

How the Press Corps Severs Public Debate from the Constraints of History, Creating Space for Real Harm

To illustrate, let me draw your attention to a local story

June 14, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ It’s a pain in the ass, but if you dig down deep enough and for long enough, you’ll probably find at the root of any mainstream debate over “culture war” issues some kind of misrepresentation, distortion, falsehood, or lie. So much of what counts as “debate” begins and ends with ...

History

The Floating Pool Lady

A quest to bring a public pool to New York City’s waterfront

May 12, 2021 • by Ann L. Buttenwieser

_____ My research in the musty documents detailing the administrative history of New York Harbor ended roughly with the demise of the floating public baths. These documents, which no one had seen or cared about for nearly a century, were about to be thrown out. I left the Battery Maritime Building, ...

Past Present

RuPaul and the History of Drag

Past Present Podcast, Episode 277

April 28, 2021 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race has just wrapped its thirteenth season. Niki and Natalia drew on Simon Doonan’s book Drag: The Complete Story. Natalia also referred to this Vulture article on the history of drag and this New Yorker profile ...

Uncategorized

What A Korean American Will Find in Minari

And what most Americans will miss about the Oscar-nominated film

April 15, 2021 • by Hannah H. Kim

_____When Parasite came out, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Looking back, it was for the same reason that I – a philosophy graduate student at Stanford – resisted Asian philosophy for six years: I didn’t want to be a typical Asian taking interest in Asian things. I wanted to ...

What A Korean American Will Find in <em>Minari</em>

Capitalism

The PMC Has Children

Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class

April 8, 2021 • by Catherine Liu

_____ From the very moment of conception, which for professional managerial class (PMC) parents is always a “choice,” the future child and infant possesses “potential” that has to be both optimized and maximized. PMC mothers have to do prenatal yoga while setting up intrauterine Mozart streams on pregnant bellies. Preparing for ...

History

Why Weimar is an Imperfect Mirror

Its polarized culture reinforced the destructive energy of an increasingly polarized politics

April 8, 2021 • by Helmut W. Smith

"It would be too much to say that the Weimar Republic fell to Nazism because of its bifurcated culture. But the high culture of Weimar was not a supporting pillar of democracy either. Instead, Weimar’s polarized culture reinforced the destructive energy of its increasingly polarized politics. " - Helmut W. ...

Past Present

Britney Spears and the #FreeBritney Movement

Past Present Podcast, Episode 268

February 23, 2021 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: A New York Times documentary about pop star Britney Spears and the conservatorship under which she has lived since 2008 has sparked renewed concern about her wellbeing. Natalia recommended this New Republic article about disability and conservatorships and Anne-Helen Petersen’s ...