Word: civics
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Benedictine chronicler once wrote of a "white mantle of churches" stretched across medieval France. In a related way, America in the past century has mantled itself with museums, as the temple of art gradually replaced the church as the emblematic focus of civic self-esteem. Now, two grand projects by leading American architects, utterly different from each other in purpose, appearance and design philosophy, may be said to mark the climax of the age of American museum expansion. One is in Los Angeles and opens officially in December--though small flotillas of previewing VIPS have been trawling through...
...uptown and downtown New York Guggenheims put together. And it is by far the most completely realized of Gehry's public buildings. On his native ground, this most original of American architects has had terrible luck: witness the endless and (to Los Angeles, in a civic sense) humiliating delays involved in the Walt Disney Concert Hall...
...that continues to haunt the field...a demographic profile that tends to be older, wealthier, better educated, and whiter than a typical cross-section of the American public." One prescription: "No longer restricted solely to the sanctioned arenas of culture, the arts would be literally suffused throughout the civic structure...from youth programs and crime prevention to job training and race relations--far afield from the traditional aesthetic functions of the arts...
...should religious duty supervene on civic duty? At what price is the Dionysiac impulse repressed? On the other hand, what happens to society in a climate of total vengefulness? When does reason fail to account for our experience? Is the rejection of reason ultimately worth the danger it invites? Why does religious ecstasy give way to violence? And what does this say about our gods' anthropomorphism? Does the beauty of divine ritual withstand the "rage for meaning...
Governing China is indeed an enormously difficult job. But the systematic abuse of human rights by Jiang's regime goes far beyond any need to maintain the civic order necessary to keep China fed or increase literacy. Only maintaining a corrupt, elite Communist cadre necessitates such outrages; the meal ticket Jiang really cares about is his own. It is not coincidental that the two greatest famines that occurred during in the 20th century apart from those during civil wars were in Soviet Ukraine (1930s) and Communist China (1960s). History has shown that democracy is more likely to care...