Dread in Venice
Rousseau, Pascal, and a large dog.
What Would Orwell Say?
Language lessons. Words that Work.
Briefly Noted
July|Aug 2007
Biscuits Rising
The Disco Biscuits—Penn’s own jam band of the 1990s—have a new sound (some call it Bisco), a different (and non-alumnus) drummer, and a growing fan-base (“this whole, like, people-following-us-around-the-country, circus type of thing”). Their headlining performance at this summer’s Jam on the River at Penn’s Landing may have been their most memorable ever—even if it was shut down after only 30 minutes.
A Writer by Any Other Gender
Feminist Toril Moi on not being a “woman writer.”
Digging Iran
Rediscovering the first American archaeological expedition to Persia.
Out of Armenia
Poems political and personal by Gregory Djanikian C’71.
Faith Amid the Deathworks
An appreciation of the late Philip Rieff.
Warehousing the Arts
Paul Ruppert C’89 stocks art and theater at the Warehouse.
Big Bells
The latest addition to the Penn neighborhood’s collection of outsized, outside art.
The Wife, the Lady, and the Book of Dames
When an English professor set out to create an animated opera based on “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” she decided to bring in some very un-Chaucerian characters. That’s when the real fun began.
Oldies School
From Penny Loafer to Swing Doll.
Where’s That Other Eakins Clinic Again?
Whatever happened to Penn’s Eakins masterpiece?
On the Road Again
Kelly Writers House celebrates Kerouac classic
Gilding the Villa
The money-pit in paradise. Vizcaya
Game Nation
Art and video games. 8 BIT
Tapping Franklin’s Currents Onstage
Puppets and props bring legend to life. Currently Franklin
Free! At Last
Interview Lorene Cary C’78 G’78 on Free!
Crossing the River on Horseback in the Night
One slave’s escape
Briefly Noted
Mar|Apr 2007
Journey to Estonia
Louis Kahn Ar’24 Hon’71 left Estonia as a little boy in 1906. A century later, some members of the great architect’s “family through choice” went back to explore his tangled roots and legacy.
The Radical and the Restorer
As the international blockbuster King Tut exhibition comes to Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, the Penn Museum has unveiled an eye-opening companion show on the radical religious and political experiment imposed by the boy-king’s predecessor (and putative father), the Pharoah Akhenaten.
Shooting the Men of Steel
Rustbelt rescue. Titusville Steelworkers
Murder in the Air
When creation and destruction intersect.