A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, America then and now: the bitter legacy of 9/11. Why nations that fail women fail, (9:42) and a forgotten revolution in pottery (17:58)
Tag Archives: Women
Views: Anthropologist Jane Goodall Still Has Hope For Humanity (NYT)
Top Women: Inside Forbes 2021 ’50 Over 50′ List (Video)
For these dynamic women, growing older is about getting wiser—and bolder. Meet the inaugural class of entrepreneurs, leaders and creators who are part of an exhilarating movement redefining life’s second half and proving that success has no age limit.
Selected from a pool of more than 10,000 nominees, the members of the 50 Over 50 are founding and running companies at scale ($20 million or more in revenue for for-profit companies), leading movements and changing the world. They’re working across all sectors of the American economy—venture capital, education, politics, major league sports and more—and, importantly, they’re paying forward their after-50 success.
In a moment when a global pandemic has pushed a disproportionate number of women out of the workforce—and, among this demographic, forced hundreds of thousands into too-early retirements—it is our hope that the stories of the women on this list resonate, inform and inspire.
Read the full profile on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/50over50/
Cocktails With A Curator: Italian Painter Rosalba Carriera’s Portraits
In this week’s “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon celebrates Women’s History Month by examining two exquisite pastels by Rosalba Carriera that recently entered the collection through a bequest from Alexis Gregory and are on view for the first time on the third floor of Frick Madison. Celebrated for her technically innovative pastel portraits, Rosalba was one of the most famous artists of 18th-century Italy, particularly remarkable given the male-dominated society in which she lived. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Vesper Martini.
To view these paintings in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/rosalbaportraits
Culture: ‘Guinea-Bissau – A Matriarchy Rules’ (Video)
A matriarchy rules on one of the Bijagos Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau. The tribe of the same name lives on Orango, one of the most populated islands in the archipelago. Women dominate public and private life there. This documentary focuses on the women of the Bijagos tribe of Guinea-Bissau. Unlike many women in traditional and modern societies elsewhere, they pick their husbands, propose marriage and own their homes.
In addition to being responsible for raising children, they also act as high-priestesses in animist ceremonies, organize work, guard the keys to the rice stores, lead their families and ensure there are descendants to continue the line. The Bijagos revere women, who are believed to be in charge of the balance between the worlds of the living and the dead. A matriarchy of this kind is unusual, not only for Africa but around the world. Even though this culture has persisted for centuries, aspects of Western lifestyles are starting to gain a foothold. Rising rates of school attendance could contribute to the demise of the community’s traditions. Future generations will determine whether the Bijagos can retain their culture.
Guinea-Bissau is a tropical country on West Africa’s Atlantic coast that’s known for national parks and wildlife. The forested, sparsely populated Bijagós archipelago is a protected biosphere reserve. Its main island, Bubaque, forms part of the Orango Islands National Park, a habitat for saltwater hippos. On the mainland, the capital, Bissau, is a port with Portuguese colonial buildings in its old city center.
Video Profile: New Yorker Cartoonist Amy Kurzweil – ‘How To Draw Cartoons’
The New Yorker Cartoonist Amy Kurzweil will never read all three volumes and 1,928 pages of “On What Matters,” but she knows how to draw them.
Interviews: Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland (Podcast)
Was the first black principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre earlier denied roles because of her skin colour? She tells host, Anne McElvoy, how dance saved her from a difficult childhood and about her first performance in a classic Christmas production. And, which ballets would she remove from the repertoire?
Misty Danielle Copeland is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre, one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year history
Video Profiles: Asha Deliverance And Her ‘Fabric-Welded Domes’
In 1979 Asha Deliverance sewed her first geodesic dome on an old Singer sewing machine, finishing it in time to become her eldest child’s first home. Motivated by the work of Buckminster Fuller, she continued to build dome homes for friends until she responded to increasing demand and opened the country’s first retail dome company in 1980.
Today, Asha has stopped sewing and relies on her team at the Pacific Domes headquarters in Ashland, Oregon to fabric weld her domes. The company provides shelters for families, glamping sites, greenhouses, climbing, events (e.g. Coachella) and extreme outposts. “To test some of the possible challenges of living on Mars, NASA joined forces with Pacific Domes in early in 2013 to erect a 44-foot geodesic-engineered dome on the northern slope of Mauna Loa, Hawaii.”
The company offers DIY dome kits starting at $5,500 for a 16 foot (5 meter) shelter that can be erected with their manual in a couple of days (instructions for the deck are included). When we asked Deliverance about the frustrations of some dome builders like Shelter Publications’ Lloyd Kahn she explained that in the ‘60s people were building domes out of wood which required sealing multiple joints, but that using fabric has made all the difference.
Interviews: Design And Architecture In 2020 – Ilse Crawford & Julia Watson
A look back at the year that was in design and architecture, featuring conversations with creative director Ilse Crawford and designer and author Julia Watson.
Plus: Venice Biennale 2020 curator Hashim Sarkis.
Home Tours: ‘Tree House’ In Bronte Beach, Sydney, Australia’ By Madeleine Blanchfield Architects
Tree House by Madeleine Blanchfield Architects is a light-filled family home near Bronte Beach in Sydney. As the architect’s own home, the project exemplifies the studio’s experiential design approach, which sees light, form and materiality coalesce to create an experience of place.
The architecture and interiors evoke mood and respond to the changes in light over the course of the day, while the elevated position within the treetops that gives Tree House its name creates a calming atmosphere. With the living space located at the top floor of the architect’s own home, a journey is created through the architecture via a sculptural staircase.
The sculptural forms created by the spiral staircase are balanced by the more pared back interiors, which take their cues from the natural setting. Pale timber, concrete and terracotta tiles, along with the careful approach to both natural and artificial light, reflect the design’s connection to the garden that surrounds it and the nearby beach. This use of few materials detailed to create a highly refined architectural response is characteristic of an architect’s own home.
It highlights how Madeleine Blanchfield Architects has created an experiential home in which simple elements such as materials, details, and changes in light can enhance the mood of a space, resulting in a family home whose architecture, interiors and garden work together to create a sense of lightness and calm.
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