I'm being very lazy today

[mojosmom]

but I am using the excuse that I was out very late last night. I went to the Jeff Awards (a Teatro Vista ensemble member was up for Actress in a Principal Role - she didn't win, but the competition was stiff), and didn't get home until well after midnight. So this morning, I woke up, fed the cat, and went back to bed. The fact that it is gray and dreary and raining was further incentive to catch a few extra winks.

Also yesterday, I plumbed. The handle of the toilet in the master bath busted on Sunday, so I learned all about reverse threads and fixed it myself. Another benefit to the internet: there are all kinds of videos on YouTube showing you how to do simple stuff like that.

I've been to a few Chicago Humanities Festival events. The theme this year is Technology, so I heard Laurie Anderson talking about the use of technology in her work (with a slam at Mp3s), David Staley on how digitization is changing the way history is taught, and Travis Jackson on "Capturing the Jazz Moment", about technology as a key player in the way recordings are made. Good stuff.

A couple of plays this week, too, both featuring Teatro Vista ensemble members. Chicago Boys, part of the Goodman Theatre's "New Stages Amplified" series, is about a protegé of Milton Friedman's who goes to Chile to promote free-market economics at the time of the Pinochet coup. Then I saw "The Great Fire" at Lookingglass Theatre, about, obviously, the Chicago fire of 1871, the text of which is, in large part, drawn from contemporary accounts of the fire. Here's the fun part: the theatre is housed in the Water Tower pumping station, one of the city's surviving pre-fire buildings. The fire itself was personified by a red-haired, innocent-faced, actress/acrobat/dancer in white Victorian-style garb, who did an absolutely amazing job. Great show.

Comments

[fancyhorse.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering how digitization is changing how history is taught (but I'm afraid that it might be too technical for me to understand it). Was this evident at all in the play about The Great Fire?

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

The main difference for teaching is that it has become easier to use primary sources, as so many libraries and other institutions have begun to digitize their holdings. But it also allows for more interactive presentations and study. Of course, he did note that only a very small percentage of such sources have been digitized, so scholars still have to travel. It was quite an interesting talk!

The issue really didn't come up in the play, though it wouldn't surprise me to learn that digitization made research for it easier.

[islandmomma.livejournal.com]

That talk sounds fascinating. In fact, it all sounds fascinating. I have the strongest desire to run away to the city :=)