What was once shocking becomes quaint: That’s how it goes. The Charleston now looks like a silly dance, Elvis is just a sweaty guy, nobody’s fainting while watching screenings of “The Exorcist” anymore and jazz is now the province of TURTLENECKED NERDS. We’re assured there was a time when van Gogh’s paintings horrified audiences, but today reproductions of them hang in college dorm rooms. This process is not tragic; as these things lose their power to shock, they reveal new virtues. Nothing stays boundary-pushing forever. …

— “The Greatest Love Story of All Time Is Also the Strangest,” By B.D. McClay, The New York Times, February 14,  2026

— posted by Roger W. Smith

   March 2026