Essays

1090 results
Page 10
With art projects, there’s something more important than following directions. (Photo by Cass Lewis.)

Can arts education save American democracy?

Creative intervention

As a parent, writer, and lover of the arts, Cass Lewis says we need an intervention of arts education to help prevent events likes the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
Cass Lewis

Cass Lewis

Essays 6 minute read
Thanks for the thanks. (Photo by Alan Tennyson, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Stop calling essential workers heroes and start actually helping us

The myth of the tireless worker

Michelle Nugent is an essential worker, not a hero. For everyone who wants to thank an essential worker today, she explains who the real heroes could be, if they stepped up.
Michelle Nugent

Michelle Nugent

Essays 5 minute read
A popular title. (Image courtesy of the author.)

What happens when bringing up the truth just gets you blocked?

Trashed on Twitter for something I didn’t do

Twenty-one years ago, Roz Warren edited a book called ‘Eat, Drink and Remarry.’ Seven years ago, another author published a novel by the same title. So why did she accuse Roz of theft?
Roz Warren

Roz Warren

Essays 4 minute read
The freedom of existing without choreography: the writer takes a leap. (Photo courtesy of Cynthia Via.)

How the pandemic helped me rediscover my lifelong love of dance

Ways to move around the world

The pandemic interrupted almost everything about our lives, but it gave writer Cynthia Via a chance to reconnect with a love for dance that had been there all along.
Cynthia Via

Cynthia Via

Essays 6 minute read
A long walk is its own source of joy, and now there’s time to take it. (Photo by Kelly Conrad.)

I’m not writing my ‘King Lear’ in quarantine, and I’m OK with that

A hiatus from the hustle

Kelly Conrad always used to say she was busy, and thought that meant she was growing. But the pandemic forced her to revisit her tumultuous relationship with productivity.
Kelly Conrad

Kelly Conrad

Essays 5 minute read
What did it mean when library patrons saw the yellow van? (Photo by dave_7 via Wikimedia Commons.)

The man in the yellow van

Who belongs at the library?

Patrons at a suburban library complained to the staff about who was allowed in the door. Librarian Roz Warren always had the same answer.
Roz Warren

Roz Warren

Essays 5 minute read
Gian Carlo Menotti’s genius was composing music anybody could sing. (Image via Wikimedia Commons.)

More music and words become art: Another top 10 from composer Kile Smith

What I’ve learned from classical lyric settings

Composer Kile Smith offered his top-10 list of pop songs that mixed music and words into pure art. Now he’s back for another round, this time with icons of classical music.
Kile Smith

Kile Smith

Essays 7 minute read
It’s not just about the holiday tradition: the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Lillian DiPiazza in the 2019 ‘Nutcracker.' (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev.)

What happened to ‘Nutcracker’ in the year of COVID?

Why should we tune in to ‘The Nutcracker’ in 2020?

What is the state of ‘The Nutcracker’—beloved holiday tradition and the dance-company equivalent of retail’s Black Friday—in 2020? Melissa Strong considers.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Essays 6 minute read

Sign up for our newsletter

All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.

Unflappable in the face of the same day: Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as Nyles and Sarah in Hulu’s ‘Palm Springs.’ (Image courtesy of Hulu.)

What can ‘Palm Springs’ and ‘Groundhog Day’ teach us about surviving the sameness of pandemic life?

Riding the stay-home wave

It was easier to keep spirits up at the start of the pandemic shutdown, when we thought the disruption would be short. Nine months later, Michelle Chikaonda finds unexpected help in two movies about time loops.
Michelle Chikaonda

Michelle Chikaonda

Essays 6 minute read
A young Christina Anthony was excited to vote for the first time in 2008. (Image courtesy of the writer.)

Fighting the model minority myth: Why I talk social justice with my immigrant family

Your voice makes a difference at home

When your family lives with its own complicated experience of oppression, assimilation, and success, talking about racial justice can be especially challenging. But for Christina Anthony, it’s worth it.
Christina Anthony

Christina Anthony

Essays 5 minute read