A new issue of First of the Month is out. Zev J. Eigen (Northwestern) and Nicholas Menillo and David Sherwyn (Cornell): When Rules are Made to Be Broken. Richard Restak on laughter and the brain: Can humor help us better understand the most complex and enigmatic organ in the human body? Kate Irby, Ali Watkins, Trevor Graff and Kevin Thibodeaux on all the ways you’re being watched. Calum Mechie and Simon Morley on how the Orwell Prize serves to neutralise political writing — under its aegis, the Orwell for whom writing was always a form of action has become a passive symbol of establishment approval. One day my prince will bomb: Linda Peach on why teenage girls love a killer. Brian Chidster on the unstoppable ascendency of street art: Shepard Fairey, Banksy, and FAILE are just some of the artists bridging the gap between the establishment art world and the grittier creative forces of city streets.
