The Troubled Maker: Transgressive Art, Public Shame, and Mike Tyson Tyson embodies the moral ambiguity of boxing’s rich tapestry: brutal and beautiful; entertaining and repellent; dishonorable and inspiring. Ric Royer 14 Dec 2020 · 11 min read
Commemorating Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary each paid a high price for defying convention. They both entered into relationships out-of-wedlock at a time when doing so was enough to put a woman out of good society. Lona Manning 18 Nov 2020 · 10 min read
What We Owe to ‘The Boys in the Band’—and Other Classics of Gay Film I’m grateful to every straight director, actor, and writer who has taken up the cause over the last 60 years, and to their closeted friends and colleagues who inspired them. Allan Stratton 28 Oct 2020 · 15 min read
Time and Perceptions of Trustworthiness—the Row over a Novel Study A society worth having rests on our willingness to co-operate, to be able to depend a little on the kindness and civility of strangers. Rosalind Arden 3 Oct 2020 · 9 min read
Then They Came for Beethoven Beethoven is a truly odd target for progressive critics, because his views on geopolitics are known to have been, by the highly regressive standards of his time, quite progressive. Daniel Lelchuk 19 Sep 2020 · 7 min read
At the Intersection of Art and Science: Revisiting EO Wilson’s 'Consilience' Artists and scientists have a reductionist’s idea of one another and perceive the other as a threat. Clint Margrave 9 Sep 2020 · 6 min read
Denunciation Staged as 'Dialogue': A Review of Claudia Rankine's 'Help' The lines spoken by the white men on stage were excerpted from responses to her Times article. Nick Comilla 20 Jul 2020 · 8 min read
The Hagia Sophia Should Remain a Beacon to All The Hagia Sophia was the brainchild of a unique figure in history. Lars Brownworth 15 Jul 2020 · 9 min read
Francis Bacon’s Very, Very Ordered Chaos Dyer hated the way Bacon painted him and watched with incredulity as rich collectors bought one huge, violently distorted portrait after another. Devon Britt-Darby 16 Mar 2020 · 8 min read
The Balkanization of Art How is art meant to happen when everyone is supposed to be thinking the same thoughts? Art goes against the grain. It’s the sand in the oyster that creates the pearl. Seth Greenland 25 Feb 2020 · 7 min read
Yale against Western Art Once word got out that this year would be the curtain call for the two introductory Western art courses, students stampeded to enroll. Heather Mac Donald 13 Feb 2020 · 10 min read
By Seeking ‘Safer Spaces’ for Actors, We’re Creating a Hostile Environment for Art I honestly have no idea why any actor would want to appear in a serious play featuring protagonists who are not, in some way, “screwed up.” Sky Gilbert 7 Feb 2020 · 8 min read
Create Dangerously: Albert Camus and the Power and Responsibility of the Artist For Camus, great art develops between the two chasms of frivolity and propaganda, where every step forward is a dangerous one. Clint Margrave 12 Dec 2019 · 7 min read
On Gender, Blurring the Line Between Dogma and Farce Every man should be free to invite others to regard him as a woman without fear of inviting violence, discrimination or the loss of basic rights. That is what being protected from transphobia means. Jonathan Kay 7 Dec 2019 · 6 min read
Experiments in Nurturing Classroom Curiosity In a classroom, curiosity should be sacred, because it motivates the pursuit of knowledge even when that includes ugly truths. Megan Gafford 24 Oct 2019 · 7 min read
