A country with warm-hearted people and a Mediterranean lifestyle. Lying on the western edge of the Balkan Peninsula, only a couple of hours from most of Europe the first part of our journey takes us to the north of the country to the Albanian Alps, near the border of Montenegro.
While seabirds predominantly reside at sea, they return to land to breed and raise their young. In this process, they deposit mineral-rich nutrients that sustain the whole island ecosystem. But the arrival of human settlers introduced non-native predators and extensive development. Together, these compromised many seabird habitats — and decimated their populations. Several species are now teetering on the brink of extinction.
The Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project engages a multifaceted approach to protect these crucial birds: eliminating invasive predators, restoring native plants, and monitoring burrows for fledgling success. In one instance, they have established a dedicated sanctuary complete with artificial burrows, bird-shaped decoys, and audio speakers to attract one highly endangered shearwater species.
Through their efforts, the team gives seabirds a chance to raise the next generation on the very islands they helped bring to life.
From the South Bronx to the Summer Olympics, this urban dance style finally gets its due.
A group of U.S. lawmakers recently visited South America with a fresh perspective on U.S. foreign policy in the region.
We’ve become increasingly alienated from one another. It’s time we get back in touch with each other, get out of our heads, and reconnect with our common humanity, writes Ruth Conniff.
He doesn’t run very fast or jump very high, and seems to prefer the company of horses. But he has mastered the game’s new geometry like nobody else.
When Golden was a young curator in the nineties, her shows, centering Black artists, were unprecedented. Today, those artists are the stars of the art market.
The philosopher was a champion of political and intellectual freedom, but he had no interest in being a martyr. Instead, he shows us how prudence and boldness can go hand in hand.
By Adam Kirsch
The Globalist Podcast (February 5, 2024) – The latest on the US response to the drone attacks in Jordan, assess how Azerbaijan’s presidential election will impact the wider region and review the day’s papers.
Plus: we meet designer Camille Jaillant of Olistic The Label and look at last night’s Grammy Awards.
The attack on Houthi militants in Yemen came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed for the Mideast to try to defuse escalating tensions.
As libraries become battlegrounds in the nation’s culture wars, their allies are fighting to preserve access to their collections and keep themselves out of jail, or worse.
In the year since earthquakes devastated southern Turkey, the Karapirli family has struggled to heal, find a home and cope with a bottomless sense of loss.
Pushed by an advocacy group, Arkansas became the first state to shield noisy cryptocurrency operators from unhappy neighbors. A furious backlash has some lawmakers considering a statewide ban.
New York pianist, Tiffany Poon, played Robert Schumann’s “Kinderszenen”, Op. 15 at the Dresden Music Festival 2023. The concert took place on June 17, 2023, at the Palais im Großen Garten.
Video timeline: (00:00) Coming on stage (00:21) 1. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and Peoples) (02:02) 2. Kuriose Geschichte (A Curious Story) (03:07) 3. Hasche-Mann (Blind Man’s Buff) (03:39) 4. Bittendes Kind (Pleading Child) (04:39) 5. Glückes genug (Happy Enough) (05:17) 6. Wichtige Begebenheit (An Important Event) (06:09) 7. Träumerei (Dreaming) (08:51) 8. Am Kamin (At the Fireside) (09:47) 9. Schumann Ritter vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the Hobbyhorse) (10:32) 10. Fast zu ernst (Almost Too Serious) (12:40) 11. Fürchtenmachen (Frightening) (14:13) 12. Kind im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep) (16:16) 13. Der Dichter spricht (The Poet Speaks)
Robert Schumann’s “Kinderszenen” was composed in 1838 and published the following year without a dedication and with the misleading subtitle “Easy Pieces for the Pianoforte.” Unlike the “Album for the Young,” which Schumann had composed for “younger children” in his own words, he did not write the “Kinderszenen” for children, but for adults reflecting on their own childhood.
At first, the cycle was to be titled “Children’s Stories” and preceded or appended to the “Novelettes,” Op. 21. However, Schumann later refrained from doing so. He wanted to have the “Kinderszenen” published as a separate opus. Although the work was not very successful during the composer’s lifetime, it eventually evolved independently and was highly regarded. It had a significant influence on the Romantic program miniature for piano.
Monocle on Sunday, February 4, 2024: Emma Nelson, Isabel Hilton and Vincent McAviney on the weekend’s biggest talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, in Gustavia and our Asia editor in Bangkok, James Chambers.
The airstrikes, meant to deter attacks on ships in the Red Sea, came one day after the United States struck at other Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.
China’s leader built up a nuclear arsenal, steeling for a growing rivalry with the United States. Now China is exploring how to wield its newfound strength.
After a nearly two-year ban, a legal ruling brought bullfights back to La Plaza México in Mexico City. But the fight continues after a federal judge again stopped the events.
The death of a pet during a train journey has given Russians a safe space to speak out and connect, and allowed the Kremlin to shift attention from wartime gloom.
Literary Review – February 2, 2024: The latest issue features ‘We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience’;
By STUART JEFFRIES
We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience By Lyndsey Stonebridge
When Hannah Arendt looked at the man wearing an ill-fitting suit in the bulletproof dock inside a Jerusalem courtroom in 1961, she saw something different from everybody else. The prosecution, writes Lyndsey Stonebridge, ‘saw an ancient crime in modern garb, and portrayed Eichmann as the latest monster in the long history of anti-Semitism who had simply used novel methods to take hatred for Jews to a new level’. Arendt thought otherwise.
By Norma Clarke
Hardy Women: Mother, Sisters, Wives, Muses By Paula Byrne
The title of Paula Byrne’s Hardy Women is a pun on Thomas Hardy’s name and a gesture to the enthusiasm that greeted Hardy’s fictional women. Bathsheba Everdene in Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess Durbeyfield in Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Sue Bridehead in Jude the Obscure were new kinds of women, and Hardy’s fame, which was immense and began with the publication of Far from the Madding Crowd, rested to a large extent on the heroines he created. One young reader wrote to him of Tess, ‘I wonder at your complete understanding of a woman’s soul.’ Hardy’s discontented wife Emma wondered at it too. She observed, ‘He understands only the women he invents – the others not at all.’
Boomers Daily 