At Lyric Opera of Chicago, El último sueño de Frida y Diego unfolds not as a linear narrative, but as a sequence of dreams, vivid, surreal, emotionally charged visions that blur the boundaries between life and death, memory and myth. And like any good dream, it lingers. From the moment the curtain rises, the audience...
Wars are rarely lost first on the battlefield. They are lost in leaders’ minds − when leaders misread what they and their adversaries can do, when their confidence substitutes for comprehension, and when the last war is mistaken for the next one. The Trump administration’s miscalculation of Iran is not an anomaly. It is the...
It’s a familiar feeling: You start a text message, and your phone’s auto-complete function suggests several choices for the next word, ranging from banal to hilarious. “I love…” you, or coffee? Or you’re finishing an email, and merely typing the word “Let” prompts your app to suggest “Let me know if you have any questions”...
Four years ago, I started a class at Temple University titled, “Social Perspectives of Digital Pornography: The Other Sex Ed,” centered on porn literacy, or what young people learn – or don’t learn – from digital porn. I wanted to create a space to examine these issues, not from the assumption that pornography is entirely...
I had been with my boyfriend, Tyler, for almost 10 years when we finally agreed that we should get engaged and married. Up until then, our respective jobs – mine as an academic, his as a fisherman – had forced us to endure long stretches apart. But I had been offered a permanent academic job...
Like many young, urban professionals, we run on coffee. We especially enjoy frequenting independently owned cafes that pride themselves on ethically sourced beverages, strong local ties and a hip aesthetic. They’re the kinds of places that sneer at the homogenization and predictability of Tim Hortons, Second Cup, Dunkin and Starbucks. But as public space and...
On opening night of Madama Butterfly at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, audiences were presented with a production that both honored and challenged one of opera’s most beloved works. As a first time viewer of Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece, the experience was both emotionally powerful and intellectually intriguing. The evening offered the sweeping music and tragic...
Legend had it that ravens followed wolves to fresh kills. A tracking study reveals a much more interesting scavenging strategy. Do ravens follow wolves to feed on their kills? For decades, biologists assumed they did. Ravens are often seen flying with wolves, following their tracks, or gathering quickly at fresh carcasses A twist in the tale: New...
Did you cry during “Hamnet”? On social media, many viewers shared the overwhelming emotions elicited by the film, which has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. One viewer commented on Reddit that the movie was an “out of body experience.” Another posted on X that it left them “covered in tears” and “ugly crying the...
Social media users are more likely to watch TV programs that are endorsed by members of their political party, a recent study suggests. However, individuals’ racial identity and their perceptions of racial and political ingroup norms and the demographics of a program’s intended audience also play roles in their decisions. Stewart Coles, a professor of communication at...
