Editor's note

This weekend, Coachella will unofficially kick off America’s music festival season. While Coachella expects record crowds, many similar festivals had a disappointing turnout last year. Does the country have festival fatigue? UMass-Amherst’s Jonathan Wynn explains how a growing corporate presence at many festivals has led to a creeping conformity that may be turning off music fans.

As new Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court, Daniel Rockmore and Michael Livermore use machine learning and text analysis to document how the court’s rulings have shifted over time, becoming less like a court and reading more like political messages.

And today is Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball, the 70th anniversary of Robinson’s debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. While the story of his first game and season are enshrined in baseball lore, fans might not know about the role politics played in his signing – or the insults and threats lobbed his way during his first spring training in Florida.

Nick Lehr

Editor, Arts and Culture

Top story

People watch Father John Misty perform at the 2015 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Are there too many music festivals?

Jonathan Wynn, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Music festivals have been a boon to the music industry, but now we're starting to witness some pitfalls of commercial success: consolidation and creeping conformity.

Ethics + Religion

  • Is temptation such a bad thing?

    Mathew Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross

    While temptation can be an invitation to sin, experiencing temptation can also make us consider more deeply: What is it that tempts us and why?

Arts + Culture

Jackie Robinson Day

Science + Technology

Economy + Business

Politics + Society

Environment + Energy

Health + Medicine

 
 

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