A commemorative Barack Obama t-shirt. Credit: Nichole Sobecki for the Wall Street Journal
Recent links of note:
Kenyans are Ready to Greet Obama With Open Cash Registers
Heidi Vogt, The Wall Street Journal
Add another accolade to President Barack Obama’s already overflowing trophy chest; apparently Mr. Obama is a “brand that generates serious capital.” At least in Kenya. Let us praise the entrepreneurial spirit of the Kenyans who, not wishing to miss a moneymaking opportunity, have organized parties and created commemorative attire to mark the President’s impending visit to Nairobi. Get your Obama-themed ringtones while they’re hot.
Godot Was a Eurocrat
Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Policy
What if the typical reference made regarding the Greek debt crisis is the wrong one? What if the parallel isn’t Aeschylus or Sophocles, but Beckett? In Robert Saretsky’s telling, the ongoing negotiations surrounding Greece’s place in the Eurozone are more modernist farce than classical tragedy.
Why Are NYC Taxi Drivers Getting into the Whitney for Free?
Noelle Bodick, ARTINFO
Faced with a general decline in admissions, museums have gotten creative with their marketing to ensure a continuous stream of visitors. Tactics have ranged from free nights to concerts, but the newly relocated Whitney has a different plan. Through the end of July the museum is offering free admission to all of New York’s licensed taxi drivers. As Jeff Levine, the Whitney’s chief marketer tells it, “If we want them to get a sense of where the building is, it would be even better if they came inside the building.” I wonder if the promotion applies to Uber drivers.
Shortcake summers
Bee Wilson, The Times Literary Supplement
Do you know why strawberries are called as such? Or how they were eaten in Tudor England? In a review of four new books on culinary issues, Bee Wilson explores the answers to the above and illuminates the ways in which cuisine can serve as an elucidating historical document.
From our pages:
Hard not to see
James Panero
You may not be able to gain free admission to the new Whitney but you can read James Panero’s review of it here.