Monthly Archives: January 2023

My favorite obscure composers 3

This entry was posted in Music and tagged music spohr on by

This post is something new. I’m thinking of making blog posts on classical music a regular feature here, for no better reason than that I love it. Liberty Fund has published several articles I’ve written on classical composers. If computer security expert Bruce Schneier can devote a post every Friday to squid, I think I can diversify too. I’ve added a WordPress category, “Music,” for these posts.

Here I’d like to talk about some composers whom I like but aren’t currently as well-known as the regulars on concert programs. The idea for this came when I learned that Vivaldi was known only to a few in the nineteenth century. He came to prominence, oddly, because of a piece which Fritz Kreisler wrote himself but attributed to Vivaldi. On the other side of the ledger, Louis Spohr and Joseph Joachim Raff were among the top-ranked composers of the nineteenth century but aren’t heard very much today.
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Student journalism and cowardice 1

This entry was posted in Censorship Writer ethics Writing and tagged censorship Hamline religion on by

You may have heard about Hamline University’s recent outrageous action. Not everyone has, though, and there’s been misinformation going around, so let me start by summarizing it. A lecturer (not a professor), in a course on art history, devoted a session to Islamic art. Aware that some Muslims regard it as improper to portray Muhammad visually, he informed the class that he would be presenting such an image, a classic Islamic work from the 14th century, and gave people a chance to leave before showing the picture. A student complained anyway. The university announced that it would not renew the untenured lecturer’s contract, so strictly speaking, it didn’t fire the lecturer. The action, however, was intended as punishment for violating Islamic law. Hamline is a Methodist school, not an Islamic one, in Minnesota.

Since this is at least nominally a blog on writing, my focus won’t be on the university’s vile action, but on what played out at the Hamline Oracle, a student news publication. I suspect they took the actions they did under extreme pressure from the administration, but their rolling over as they did was an act of gross cowardice regardless.
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James Nicoll says no to Hugo nominations 1

This entry was posted in Writing on by

James Nicoll, a well-known reviewer of science fiction, has asked people not to nominate him for any Hugo awards.

Having won, they have gone on make extremely dubious choices for their Guests of Honour. Sergey Lukianenko an avid supporter of the ongoing Russian effort to obliterate Ukraine and Ukrainians, while Liu Cixin supports the Xinjiang internment camps. It’s their WorldCon, and they can do what they like but I am not going to supply implied support by standing for or accepting Hugo nominations connected to this WorldCon.

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Dark clouds over the Chengdu Worldcon

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged China conventions fandom on by

The video of the Chengdu presentation at Smofcon 2022 is up on YouTube. It provides some insight into how the 2023 Worldcon is going. Mostly, it’s going badly. The presentation was about a month ago, but I haven’t seen any significant change since then. Correct me if I’ve missed anything. My focus here isn’t on the logistical issues as such, but on the underlying problems.

PR wasn’t out then and still isn’t out. Ben Yalow said that members won’t receive it “until everything is locked in to the satisfaction of people who get very nervous. … We’re holding off on releasing PR 1 until everything in PR 1 we know is absolutely, completely certain.”
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