The Problem with Glorifying Rural Life

-
According to an article on the Poverty Reference Bureau website based on the work of William O'Hare, rural poverty is more prevalent than urban poverty; just under 24% of children in rural areas live in poverty (as of 2007), compared with around 18% in urban areas. Rural poverty is also tenacious:
... while many people move in and out of poverty as their circumstances change, spells of poverty last longer for rural children. They are the "forgotten fifth" of poor children because most programs and policies to help the poor are focused on urban areas. 
Appalachian Spring, listening to "Flyover State," that farmer ad on the Super Bowl: all help us feel a little bit better about the reality of this situation. They tell us that it's OK, that the grit and ingenuity of these (white, they mostly are white) people will carry the day, that they'll lift themselves out of the rut, carry themselves through hard times.

Popular posts from this blog

What Are the New Models of Professional Musicianship?

-
On his own blog, my colleague Nate Zeisler describes two models for musical careers . In the first model, musicians are mechanics, creating within "a very narrow, accepted window of performance practice which has been dictated by your teacher, conductor and the music written on a page." In the second model, musicians act more like designers, and come up with "new ways of thinking about the art form" by drawing on new genres of music and artistic disciplines. For Nate, the path toward a successful career is to fuse the two: In the field of classical music, there is very little room for people who can’t infuse qualities from both sides of the aisle into their career. Great designers in music will have little to say and won’t have credibility in the field if they aren’t great mechanics. Great mechanics, for the most part, won’t have a sustainable career if they’re not thinking as designers. I agree that the most successful musicians will be able to be both mechanic
Read more

HEAR Initiative Makes the Philadelphia Orchestra Look Like a Do-Gooding Think Tank, and That's Awesome

-
More and more, orchestras in the United States are investing in non-traditional, community-based programs  that are not only helping to re-establish themselves as part of the civic fabric but are also broadening the notion of what constitutes an orchestra musician. Earlier this month, the Philadelphia Orchestra became the latest and most prominent American orchestra to take this step when it announced i ts HEAR initiative . It's cutesy acronym that stands for Health, Education, Access, Research , but is looks like the work behind it is anything but frivolous. An example of a HEAR project is the orchestra's partnership with the Temple University Arts and Quality of Life Research Cente r and the Broad Street Ministry.  After receiving music therapy training, orchestra musicians perform together with ministry guests, who include victims of homelessness and abuse. Temple University researchers then observe these performances to determine, as the ministry website puts it , "
Read more