Wendy S. Walters

Jake Heggie’s Adaptation of ‘Moby Dick’ Comes to the Metropolitan Opera (Gift Article) Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s 2010 adaptation of Melville’s unruly novel opens this week at the Metropolitan Opera.

Moby Dick, sung (and not by whales): a terrific, lucid assessment by the redoubtable @walterspot.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/a...

Jake Heggie’s Adaptation of ‘Moby Dick’ Comes to the Metropolitan Opera (Gift Article) Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s 2010 adaptation of Melville’s unruly novel opens this week at the Metropolitan Opera.

Here's a little number I wrote about Moby Dick, opera and the art of adaptation for @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/a...

Opinion | Kendrick Lamar Can’t Save the World. Why Do We Expect Him To? Now that he’s performing at the Super Bowl, it seems like he’s inherited a no-win situation for all the conflicted expectations that await him.

"We raise young performers up, call them prophets when they validate our worldview, then scan their work for inconsistencies and blast them because they don’t deploy the privileged vocabulary, expertise or nuance of a graduate student." -- Dan Charnas
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/o...

Opinion | Kendrick Lamar Can’t Save the World. Why Do We Expect Him To? (Gift Article) Now that he’s performing at the Super Bowl, it seems like he’s inherited a no-win situation for all the conflicted expectations that await him.

"We raise young performers up, call them prophets when they validate our worldview, then scan their work for inconsistencies and blast them because they don’t deploy the privileged vocabulary, expertise or nuance of a graduate student." -- Dan Charnas
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/o...

Practical advice for victims of the LA wildfires Humanitarian architect and post-disaster reconstruction expert Cameron Sinclair, who lost his house in the ongoing wildfires in LA, shares practical advice for people in a similar position.

This is a comprehensive list of what to do if you or someone you know lost their home to the fires in LA (or any disaster) written by post-disaster reconstruction expert Cameron Sinclair, who lost his house in the ongoing wildfires in LA. Sharing in case it's helpful. www.dezeen.com/2025/01/20/l...

I don’t think people understand how devastating the end of net neutrality, and consumer protections around internet connectivity, are going to be. Imagine the situation where you pay for 4 or 5 different streaming services, each with different “exclusives” — but for the Internet itself.

Rebecca Solnit · In the Shadow of Silicon Valley: Losing San Francisco I don’t know whether these billionaires know what a city is, but I do know that they have laid their hands on the city...

Wrote about them here. "Driverless cars are often called autonomous vehicles – but driving isn’t an autonomous activity. It’s a co-operative social activity, in which part of the job of whoever’s behind the wheel is to communicate with others on the road." www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Everything is a product for these people.

What’s the word for the kind of loneliness that’s a result of treating all relationships as transactional?

Matthew Morris is the Winner of Seneca Review Books’ 2024 Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize for his manuscript F-cked Fable/Ghost Hand.

SRB has some exciting news! Congratulations, Matthew Morris!

Many thanks to @walterspot.bsky.social for judging!

Cover of book featuring moss, trees, rocks, and flames.

Teaching You’re the Woods Too, by Dennis James Sweeney just out from Essay Press. A vital lyric: imaginative, mournful, and verdant. 🌱🍁🌳

Colors of the day.

Detroit sky typical.

Green and yellow autumn leaves on dark hexagonal pavers.

Colors of the day.

So many of these guys are the same guy.

Andrew Sterman of Philip Glass Ensemble is giving a workshop in The Art of Practicing at NYU Abu Dhabi. I’ll be sharing some of his teachings.

Oh look! Here’s @senecareview.bsky.social

Which of your fave journals & indie presses have made their way over to the other side? Boost them here?

Omar Carreño, Relief 1, 1952

The way people think climate change is going to go in their favor.

The Legendary Fashion Brand That Inspired a Musical Revolution In the 1980s, Detroit teenagers were fascinated by the jet-setting fashion house Charivari. Their obsession would lead to a whole new musical genre and a festival that lives on today.

For Harper’s Bazaar, I reminisce and look forward with gratitude to Detroit's vast history of music cultures and the enduring spirit of Charivari.

What’s your favorite lyric essay? All grace afforded, as I know this is a tricky question.

Stuart Davis, Visa, 1951

Theo van Doesburg, Simultaneous Counter-Composition, 1929-30

If you can’t apologize for the small things, how will you ever be prepared to apologize for the big things?

So much repair can be accomplished with a simple, sincere “I’m sorry,” especially to those one thinks they need not worry about saying it to.

I like it here but think there is probably only a small window in which it will be good. That’s how everything tech seems nowadays.

The Tyranny of the Tale We’re told that story will set us free. But what if a narrative frame is also a cage?

This piece by Parul Sehgal is timely and likely controversial. I'm not opposed to storytelling, but its increasing alignment with sales/markets put us at risk for losing a broader understanding of what literature is and might do.