Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

The Washington Post has only a single arts critic left - everyone else got fired today, along with all three arts editors. (There are still a couple of excellent arts reporters.) I was so upset I dusted off my blog to have my say: annemidgette.com/blog/f/a-req...

I wrote about the movie here, if anyone is curious. (I talk about the "Gimme Shelter" stuff in a separate, smaller post, because I couldn't get it to fit in the finished piece.) www.andrewjacksonlynch.com/the-cost-of-...

Livestream at 8pm central time theviolinchannel.com/vc-live-minn...

"Our standing rule is: If one of us brings up using GenAI in any of our work, then it's safe to assume we've been assimilated by The Thing and should be burned alive by Kurt Russell," said a game design consultant in the US.

Getting the impression that ICE is gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio, which was ground zero of Vance’s lies about Haitians during the campaign. Haitians lose temporary protected status on February 3rd. Reporters, lawyers, neighbors — please get ready.

They say to understand politics follow the money. This excellent article does that for the expanding 'civic institute' scam. Tracing the money trail leads back to a shadowy network of right-wing billionaires like the Koch family. prismreports.org/2026/01/27/c...

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

Mortality rates: Mifepristone: 0.65/100,000 Penicillin 2/100K Viagra 4/100K Pregnancy in the US: 22/100,000 (some states see rates >60/100K) More people have died in ICE detention centers already in 2026 than will die from mifepristone all year. These politicians are extremely dangerous to women.

Whatever is in the Epstein Files is so explosive that the leaders of the Department of Justice are openly breaking the law every day to keep us from seeing it. (Just a reminder amongst all the other stuff flying around.)

Applications are open until Tuesday 31 March for the RPS Ambache Fund, offering grants of up to £5,000 to support performers, ensembles, venues and festivals putting music by historic women composers at the heart of their programming. Find out more: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/performers/r...

This is insane. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

friends and colleagues, a new AMS update: if you signed the petition, you should've received an email outlining what has happened in the last month, communications w Council and the Board, & new info. for everyone, there's new info regarding JAMS & its editorial independence

Re AMS: In case you think you'd heard it all, there's a new memo from the editors of JAMS, the flagship journal. It is striking imo that the AMS didn't provide any financial data to support their perceived threat to close it down. amsaccountabilityarchive.carrd.co?fbclid=IwY2x...

Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen multiple times. Jason Isbell Frank Turner Ben Folds Smyth - The Wreckers Daughters of the Revolution

Excited to present my research on #ethelsmyth 's Der Wald today!

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...

in case this hasn’t made it over here yet amsaccountabilityarchive.carrd.co

Looking forward to presenting my paper, 'Love has the Victory!': Musical Representations of Female Power in Ethel Smyth's Der Wald at the AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting! #AMSMT25

A Cuban man deported by the U.S. to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without being charged or having access to legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country program.

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

FYI - Samantha Ege and I have a new article on Julia Perry arriving online in the latest issue of @oxfordamerican.bsky.social next Tuesday! I'm so excited for this piece to be published, I think it is one of the best writing projects I've ever been a part of

35 years ago today, Deee-Lite released “Groove Is in the Heart,” a kaleidoscopic dance-floor explosion blending Herbie Hancock samples, Bootsy Collins funk, and a Q-Tip verse. With its trippy video and infectious beat, it became an instant club classic.

Genuinely, if any SE Michigander wants a tuba for this purpose, my brother bought a tuba exactly for this reason (I am not joking) and then realized he's not great at playing it. So if you want a tuba, DMs open. (A reasonable offer would be appreciated, probably.)

we all know how hard i support the democracy tuba movement

Just finished my first year teaching at UNCG School of Music! Huge congrats to all the students, including MM composition grads Kevin Leroy Grant Jr and Westly Heflin. And many kudos to my first-year mentor, Joan Titus! One year down, many more to go!

I wrote a letter to the editor of Music Analysis about a 39-page review of Phil Ewell's book that they published. I think it could have used some … editing. It's open access for now while it's pre-print so enjoy while you can. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Music folks (not just AMS): We have to be in this together. “There is no government agency or large foundation coming to save us. If the ecosystem of music scholars, teachers, performers, and organizations is to survive, we will have to save ourselves.” www.amsmusicology.org/coalition-of...

Cannot even imagine being this poor kid, one minute you're dicking around with your friends in NYC and the next you're brought to a prison in a foreign country despite having no previous run-ins with the law or anything. www.newsweek.com/merwil-gutie...

“While in the interrogation room, Makled said, a man in plain clothes entered and began speaking to him. He said he recalls the man telling him: ‘We know you're a lawyer. We know you take on big cases.’”

60,000 North Carolina voters now have 15 days to cure their ballots. Not to be crazz but: are there 1000 volunteers on this site willing to track down 60 voters each & help them do it? I kind of think there are? Literally, here's the .xls file (& explanation): www.ncsbe.gov/information-...

Breaking News: Thousands of voters must verify their eligibility or have their ballots in the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court race thrown out, a court ruled, a win for the Republican candidate who narrowly lost the election in November and challenged the result.

Generally how I'm feeling these days.

My new music ensemble Winnfield Quartet performs one week from today! #newmusic

Reported in the German press....

UK Subs detained

Shout out to violinist Sofia Yatsyuk for her article on #EthelSmyth and #RebeccaClarke in The Strad magazine AND the release of her debut album! www.thestrad.com/playing-hub/...

I found the original manuscript of Ethel Smyth's Mass in D safely held in the Special Collections & Archives of the University of Liverpool. Thanks to @livunilibrary.bsky.social @leahbroad.bsky.social @hannahmillington.bsky.social & @dramyzigler.bsky.social! www.liverpool.ac.uk/music/news/s...

This is such an exciting find for #EthelSmyth research! The presumed lost complete manuscript of the Mass in D has been found!! Congrats on this find, @lisacolton.bsky.social and the archivists @livunilibrary.bsky.social !

Out today: The Faber Music Women Composers Piano Anthology 🎹Suitable for intermediate pianists 💐Over 50 pieces from women spanning several centuries 🎼Many pieces in print for the first time 🖼️Featuring 'A Conversation' by Vanessa Bell on the cover #IWD2025

I stand with Ukraine and President Zelensky.

Called my representative. Felt ineffectual and powerful at the same time.

“The professor noted that many faculty members voiced concerns about how the University’s actions will impact Penn’s “educational mission” and were upset about a “lack of proportionality between the relatively small percentage of the lost income versus the large 35% cut in [graduate] programs.””

NEW: Pregnancy became far more dangerous in Texas after the state banned abortion, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis, which found the sepsis rate for women hospitalized as they miscarried in the 2nd trimester shot up by more than 50%. https://propub.li/43487Tj

leaving this here: "The bill, known as SB 1, would also establish post-tenure reviews, ban strikes by full-time faculty, and require colleges to publish a syllabus with the instructor’s professional qualifications and contact information for every class." www.highereddive.com/news/ohio-se...

Alma Mahler-Werfel, the most legendary widow of the 20th century, was, and remains, “smolderingly controversial,” Alex Ross writes. But, in recent years, she’s received more sympathetic attention.

I never understood the musicians playing music while the Titanic sank. Now I do.

New criteria for federal transportation funds say grant and loan programs should prioritize projects in "communities with marriage and birthrates higher than the national average." nyti.ms/41g4eJX

ABC News reported Marco Rubio has been acting as head of the National Archives for weeks. This is news to everyone at the National Archives, including, apparently, the current head of NARA: www.404media.co/national-arc...

Hi all, We’re still here at OPM. We have a situation where we MIGHT, and I do mean, MIGHT have four of Elon’s people blocked from the building. Can we get press or a member of Congress down here? We’ve blocked them for two hours and they keep coming back and trying to go in.