We Have Moved

Virginia Grise’s "blu" wins 2010 Yale Drama Series competition

Virginia Grise’s blu is the winner of the 2010 Yale Drama Series competition. In honor of her achievement, Grise will receive $10,000 from the David C. Horn Foundation, and her play will be published by Yale University Press and performed as a staged reading at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

The story of a Mexican American family's response to the loss of their oldest son in Iraq, blu was selected from among 960 submissions by contest judge David Hare. It is the second consecutive prize to be awarded to a woman, following Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's Lidless in 2009. As the New York Times reported today, Hare noted that, "Of the 12 plays on this year’s shortlist, nine were written by women."

Grise, a native of San Antonio, is a Chicana cultural worker, writer, performer, and teacher. Hare—whose many works for stage and screen include Plenty, Amy’s View, Stuff Happens, The Blue Room, The Vertical Hour, The Reader, and The Hours—has served as judge of the competition for the past two years.

For more information about the Yale Drama Series and to view past winners, visit its homepage on yalebooks.com.

Superman's debut becomes world's first million dollar comic book

He may be known as the Man of Steel, but after yesterday's record-setting sale of Action Comics #1 for $1 million, Superman has officially gone platinum. The transaction smashed the previous comic book sale record, which was set in 2009 when another, less pristine copy of Action Comics #1 sold for $317,200.

To many comic book fans, Action Comics #1 is not merely the publication that introduced Superman to the world, it is a cultural icon. "[It] changed the course of pop culture forever," asserts the press release posted on ComicConnect.com, the site that brokered the record-setting deal. This boast might find a sympathetic audience in Tom De Haven, author of Our Hero: Superman on Earth and eminent authority on the hero.

In his book, De Haven looks at Superman as an American Icon, a figure that represents both the struggles and triumphs of life in America. As a hero that arose from the desolate landscape of the Great Depression, Superman promised the power to redeem a nation in need. In that light, the sale of Action Comics #1 adds yet another unbelievable feat to the Man of Steel's list of achievements, proving that sticking up for the little guy is a trait that Americans continue, quite literally, to value.

The social economics of the spice trade

Tuesday's episode of NPR's Planet Money features an extended piece on the booming spice economy of the Middle Ages, which seems to hold some of the earliest lessons in global economics. Always in high demand in the West, spices were not only used to enliven the bland European cuisine of the time, but were also held as status symbols by royalty, who consumed them as ostentatiously as present-day moguls might quaff Cristal.

The introduction to Paul Freedman's Out of the East describes such displays of indulgence by referencing the series of lavish banquets that marked the marriage of Duke George “the Rich” of Bavaria with Princess Jadwiga of Poland in 1476. According to official records, the proceedings required "386 pounds of pepper, 286 of ginger, 207 of saffron, 205 of cinnamon, 105 of cloves, and a mere [sic] 85 pounds of nutmeg." Rich, indeed.

To read more about how spices became symbols of beauty, affluence, taste, and grace, click here to read the full introduction from Out of the East.