Sightings

"A popular misconception is that all manuscripts were made by monks and contained religious texts, but from the 11th century onwards professional scribes and artists were increasingly involved in a thriving book trade, producing both religious and secular texts." Spanning the 8th to the 17th centuries, the 150 manuscripts and fragments [in the exhibit] guide us on a journey through time, stopping at leading artistic centers of medieval and Renaissance Europe. more »

The three crime novels reviewed are not your ordinary fast beach reads. They take place in different cultures and all the crimes, which occur in the present, are connected to a specific historical context. None of the three novels makes you feel like you are reading a textbook, but each raises issues about international politics and social justice in a completely engaging way. more »

Ann Voorhees Baker writes: The lesson is that sometimes it's worth breaking the fourth wall, to borrow a term from the theater when an actor breaks the imaginary wall at the front of the stage and speaks directly to the audience as himself, not his character. Sometimes when the whole beautiful program or platform just gets messed up, or you mess it up, it's time to break that fourth wall and exit the system entirely and contact the humans who built it and say 'what the heck.' more »

The move to deinstitutionalize care [for those with disabilities] has provided care that is more personalized while also saving states money. Average costs for care in a state-run institution, in 2013, ranged from about $129,000 a year in Arizona to about $603,000 in New York, while the average state costs of community-based services nationally is $43,000. About 198,000 people were waiting for home- or community-based services in the 34 states that reported data in 2013. The longest waiting lists were in Ohio (41,500), Illinois (23,000) and Florida (22,400).  more »