Tag Archives: New York
The best TED talk ever
Courtesy of Improv Everywhere. Founder Charlie Todd’s (real) TED talk is also very much worth a look. More videos here (including this one). (via TED)
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What do teachers make? They make a goddamn difference.
A classic performance by the fiery spoken-word poet, teacher, and teachers’ advocate Taylor Mali: A more recent version, coinciding with the publication of Mali’s book, What Teachers Make: I love this poem for what it says about teachers’ passion, commitment, … Continue reading
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The infinite city, cont’d: Welcome to the grid
A fascinating new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011,” commemorates “the 200th anniversary of the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the foundational document that established Manhattan’s famous street … Continue reading
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The infinite city, cont’d: A doorway to the underworld
Geoff Manaugh at BLDGBLOG has written a fascinating post about an innocuous-looking building in my borough that — to my delight — turns out to be a ventilator and escape hatch leading to NYC’s vast underground subway system: In the … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d: “Home. That’s it.”
A very inspiring video from the New York Public Library: Unlike critics of the Library’s plan to transform the central branch from a researcher’s storehouse into a vital hub of activity — a former curator sniffs that the Mid-Manhattan branch … Continue reading
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Voices from the 99%: the Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology
You must download this: a massive (and still-ongoing) compilation of poetry (and, it seems, a few prose pieces) submitted to the People’s Library by people from around the world, professional writers and amateurs alike, in support of the Occupy Wall … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d: The library is the weapon of the people
The website of the People’s Library at Occupy Wall Street has a roundup of media coverage of the library’s destruction by the police on November 15. The sharpest and pithiest of the commentaries must surely be Salman Rushdie’s scathing remarks … Continue reading
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“You cannot evict an idea whose time has come.”
The Occupy Wall Street protesters have been evicted from Zuccotti Park — with members of the press kept at a distance to minimize coverage. And the thousands of books of the People’s Library have been confiscated by police and thrown … Continue reading
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“The most important thing in the world”
Naomi Klein speaks to the Occupy Wall Street crowd (a transcript of the prepared remarks here): Alright, I have to get this out of the way: it’s unfortunate, and rather funny, that the “human microphone” solution to the amplification ban … Continue reading
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Why libraries matter, cont’d: “Information is liberation”
The blog of The People’s Library at the Occupy Wall Street protest site fiercely and eloquently lays out its raison d’être: To reimagine who we are, to understand who have become, is a group activity. It requires public truth-telling and personal … Continue reading
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