Sam Stall foresees the same grim future for arts criticism as I do: produced by “freelancers or retired people who still want to contribute,” self-funded (like this blog) or minimally subsidized by some grants organization, self-published (like this blog) or presented at the subsidized website of a non-profit arts organization. In short, exceedingly narrowcast, and isolated from other subjects of cultural commentary — the very antithesis of newspaper-based cultural journalism. […]
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In the end, it seems fittingly ironic that the Occam’s-Razor explanation for all of Capa’s missing D-Day negatives turns out to be the scissors of the censor. The legend of the lost negatives resulted from nothing more or less than the needs of Capa’s outsize ego. […] I have come to believe that Capa’s actions on D-Day resulted from considered planning and calculated risks. He knew that he would have only a short time on the beach. He knew that he had to get back quickly to some ship — preferably the Chase, but if not another — in the convoy scheduled to depart at noon for the English coast. That represented his only hope of getting his films to LIFE on time. […] So when Capa clambered onto LCI(L)-94, it wasn’t a result of knowing it would get him back to the Chase. It was simply his best chance to get off the beach quickly with his films. Lt. Gislason recognized Capa’s name and understood the importance of his films and his assignment for LIFE. So they flagged down one of the Chase‘s returning LCVPs that they encountered on the return trip. […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |
Straight Outta Stone Ridge: Sumer is Icumen In
Evidence showing that Covid-19 enters the brain and causes dementia, especially in older brains provides ample reason to err on the side of caution, regardless of whether masking up entails experiencing head shakes and smirks and side-eye and even aggressive verbal snark from a-holes in the supermarket. […]