Editorials
532 results
Page 48
Bill Sommerfield: Washington's alter ego
The man who thought he was George Washington
The impresarios Bill and Pam Sommerfield developed a new theatrical niche: Their performers weren't merely historical actors; they were self-taught scholars who researched their characters so thoroughly that they became those characters. In the process they inspired future generations of Americans to pay more attention to the past, if only for the sheer fun of it.
Editorials
5 minute read
Yet another police racial scandal
Worse than the Gates arrest: Another police racial scandal comes to light
If an esteemed black Harvard professor like Henry Louis Gates Jr. can be arrested for breaking into his own home, is any black American safe from police abuse? Apparently not, as a newly uncovered racial outrage in Washington, D.C., amply demonstrates.
Editorials
3 minute read
What Sotomayor should have said
Latina liberal unbound: What Sotomayor should have said
The New York Times and many liberals wish Sonia Sotomayor had spoken out more forcefully at the Senate hearings on her nomination to the Supreme Court. But how does a nominee speak out forthrightly without jeopardizing her nomination? Perhaps I can offer some guidance.
Editorials
5 minute read
When writers collide
Doctors and patients, or: On listening to youth
If my purpose in editing BSR is to educate myself, why am I turning for my musical education to a 20-something whippersnapper like Beeri Moalem when I could surround myself exclusively with elder sages who possess multiple degrees and years of life experience to boot?
Editorials
3 minute read
The 'Inquirer' and John Yoo
'They hire each other': The Inquirer and John Yoo
The Inquirer says it needed to add a right-wing columnist “to counter criticism that our editorials and columns always lean left.” Benito Mussolini wasn't available. So whom else to hire but John Yoo, author of the Bush administration's torture memos?
Editorials
6 minute read
Campaign slogans for Arlen Specter
The old man and the puddle: Campaign slogans for Arlen Specter
In the evening of his life, Arlen Specter has boldly cut himself adrift from his moorings. Is this not a parable worthy of Hemingway or Shakespeare? Who will provide Specter with the rhetorical ballast he'll surely need when he seeks re-election next year? I volunteer.
Editorials
3 minute read
Further thoughts on "American Buffalo'
In search of Mamet's meaning (continued)
Some critics contend that David Mamet's American Buffalo is above all a play about friendship and community. But what sort of community, exactly, are we talking about?
Editorials
3 minute read
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Leadership, Papadakis-style
A lesson from Papadakis: How a leader makes a difference
Drexel University's late president Constantine Papadakis was walking evidence that a single determined individual can still make a big difference— as I discovered during my very first meeting with him.
Editorials
4 minute read
Itamar Moses on Dan Rottenberg's smokescreens
Free speech, or a disingenuous editor? A colloquy with playwright Itamar Moses
In the latest round of BSR's Hundred Years' War between playwrights and critics, editor Dan Rottenberg engages in an e-mail colloquy with playwright Itamar Moses, who charges him with hiding behind rhetorical smokescreens.
Editorials
8 minute read
When a communicator blames his audience
When a playwright blames his critics: An open letter to Itamar Moses
Not many playwrights have the guts to declare, as Itamar Moses recently did, that critics are “fragile and infantile.” Unfortunately, in the process Moses also violated one of the first laws of professional communicators: “Never blame your audience.”
Editorials
5 minute read