In many ways, the performing arts are undergoing a quiet transformation. Six ballet directors discuss that evolution, and how they see the future of dance.

Respecting shared public space is becoming as quaintly archaic as tipping your hat to a lady, now that the concept of public space is as nearly extinct as hats, and ladies.

Hearing, for the most part, is a no-brainer. When we listen, that’s when the neurons really fire.

The richness of life doesn’t lie in the loudness and the beat, but in the timbres and the variations that you can discern if you simply pay attention.

In his latest sketch, Carl Richards makes the case for buying better things and hanging on to them for longer. It may save money in the long run.

Simple rules for becoming a better writer, from the author of “Zone One.”

1. Show and Tell. 

2. Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you. 

3. Write what you know.

4. Never use three words when one will do. Be concise. 

5. Keep a dream diary.

6. What isn’t said is as important as what is said. 

7. Writer’s block is a tool — use it. 

8. Is secret.

9. Have adventures. 

10. Revise, revise, revise. 

11. There are no rules.

An entire pizza and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s may not be enough.

Who knew there was such a mainstream market for artfully arranged pictures of other people’s stuff?

Guilty. Spot on for me. 

If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”

Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs  who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.