Wendy S. Walters
@walterspot.bsky.social
Until the trees and seas just up and fly away. Writer. Reader. Observer. Professor. The Met. Creative Capital. She/her.
Moby Dick, sung (and not by whales): a terrific, lucid assessment by the redoubtable @walterspot.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/a...
Jake Heggie’s Adaptation of ‘Moby Dick’ Comes to the Metropolitan Opera (Gift Article)
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s 2010 adaptation of Melville’s unruly novel opens this week at the Metropolitan Opera.
nytimes.com
Here's a little number I wrote about Moby Dick, opera and the art of adaptation for @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/a...
Jake Heggie’s Adaptation of ‘Moby Dick’ Comes to the Metropolitan Opera (Gift Article)
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s 2010 adaptation of Melville’s unruly novel opens this week at the Metropolitan Opera.
nytimes.com
"We raise young performers up, call them prophets when they validate our worldview, then scan their work for inconsistencies and blast them because they don’t deploy the privileged vocabulary, expertise or nuance of a graduate student." -- Dan Charnas www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/o...
Opinion | Kendrick Lamar Can’t Save the World. Why Do We Expect Him To?
Now that he’s performing at the Super Bowl, it seems like he’s inherited a no-win situation for all the conflicted expectations that await him.
nytimes.com
"We raise young performers up, call them prophets when they validate our worldview, then scan their work for inconsistencies and blast them because they don’t deploy the privileged vocabulary, expertise or nuance of a graduate student." -- Dan Charnas www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/o...
Opinion | Kendrick Lamar Can’t Save the World. Why Do We Expect Him To? (Gift Article)
Now that he’s performing at the Super Bowl, it seems like he’s inherited a no-win situation for all the conflicted expectations that await him.
nytimes.com
This is a comprehensive list of what to do if you or someone you know lost their home to the fires in LA (or any disaster) written by post-disaster reconstruction expert Cameron Sinclair, who lost his house in the ongoing wildfires in LA. Sharing in case it's helpful. www.dezeen.com/2025/01/20/l...
Practical advice for victims of the LA wildfires
Humanitarian architect and post-disaster reconstruction expert Cameron Sinclair, who lost his house in the ongoing wildfires in LA, shares practical advice for people in a similar position.
dezeen.com
I don’t think people understand how devastating the end of net neutrality, and consumer protections around internet connectivity, are going to be. Imagine the situation where you pay for 4 or 5 different streaming services, each with different “exclusives” — but for the Internet itself.
The Verge@theverge.com · 2y agoNet neutrality eviscerated by appeals court ruling
Wrote about them here. "Driverless cars are often called autonomous vehicles – but driving isn’t an autonomous activity. It’s a co-operative social activity, in which part of the job of whoever’s behind the wheel is to communicate with others on the road." www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Rebecca Solnit · In the Shadow of Silicon Valley: Losing San Francisco
I don’t know whether these billionaires know what a city is, but I do know that they have laid their hands on the city...
lrb.co.uk
What’s the word for the kind of loneliness that’s a result of treating all relationships as transactional?
SRB has some exciting news! Congratulations, Matthew Morris! Many thanks to @walterspot.bsky.social for judging!
Teaching You’re the Woods Too, by Dennis James Sweeney just out from Essay Press. A vital lyric: imaginative, mournful, and verdant. 🌱🍁🌳
Andrew Sterman of Philip Glass Ensemble is giving a workshop in The Art of Practicing at NYU Abu Dhabi. I’ll be sharing some of his teachings.
Which of your fave journals & indie presses have made their way over to the other side? Boost them here?
Dr. Han VanderHart@hanvanderhart.bsky.social · 3y agoThe amount of work to rebuilt platforms and reach listeners, readers, writers—it is so much. What a burden. What a senseless burden.
The way people think climate change is going to go in their favor.
For Harper’s Bazaar, I reminisce and look forward with gratitude to Detroit's vast history of music cultures and the enduring spirit of Charivari.
The Legendary Fashion Brand That Inspired a Musical Revolution
In the 1980s, Detroit teenagers were fascinated by the jet-setting fashion house Charivari. Their obsession would lead to a whole new musical genre and a festival that lives on today.
harpersbazaar.com
What’s your favorite lyric essay? All grace afforded, as I know this is a tricky question.
Theo van Doesburg, Simultaneous Counter-Composition, 1929-30
So much repair can be accomplished with a simple, sincere “I’m sorry,” especially to those one thinks they need not worry about saying it to.
I like it here but think there is probably only a small window in which it will be good. That’s how everything tech seems nowadays.
This piece by Parul Sehgal is timely and likely controversial. I'm not opposed to storytelling, but its increasing alignment with sales/markets put us at risk for losing a broader understanding of what literature is and might do.
The Tyranny of the Tale
We’re told that story will set us free. But what if a narrative frame is also a cage?
newyorker.com
