Kids Explain The Darnedest Things
John Emerson’s Social Design Notes blog studies recent self-explanations by museum and presidential library creators, and sums up the their evil work:

“I keep seeing this trend: stories of monuments and memorials sold on infantilism, using the lens of “childhood” to conjure an air of authenticity and gravitas.“

Emerson quotes the Washington […]

Complex Questions
 
The New York Times reviews the morality of architects building for the lovely regimes of China, Abu Dhabi, and Kazakhstan, and such past patrons as Hitler, Stalin, the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein.

“The ideological issue is as old as architecture itself. By designing high-profile buildings that bolster the profile of a […]

Witness for the Prosecution
The impetuous youth of Long Island’s Ward Melville High School are taking Harry Truman to trial, charged with crimes against humanity for the Hiroshima bombing.

Joseph Stalin is among the witnesses summoned from beyond to make the case against Ol’ Harry.
The defense bizarrely offers intimidating the Russians as […]