Until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Japanese government made it difficult for outsiders to explore the country. Even with rapid industrialization and modernization, Japan remained a hard place for […]
Arts & Minds
Celebrating the creative and sometimes quirky culture of the Outer Cape.
Browse all Arts & Minds stories below or dive into a topic:
HEY DAHLIN'
Olde Townie Crossword
And the solution, too
PHOTOGRAPHY
In View This Week
The witch hazel is in bloom. (Photo Edwin Butter) Front row seats are now ready for sunset worshippers at Great Hollow Beach in Truro. Left to right: Lee Russell, Jeff […]
SKIN DEEP
To Tattoo Artist Ephy Kurucz, the Body Is a Canvas
Her adopted home of Provincetown is a ‘pirate hideaway’
At the end of Bob Gasoi Memorial Art Alley, at 290 Commercial St. in Provincetown, as you descend the stairs to Coastline Tattoo’s small, underground shop, you enter an otherworld […]
ARTISTS
Jane Lincoln Has Had ‘Enough’ of Gun Violence
Her paper creations are powerful and visceral
“Enough is enough, and it’s time for us to take action,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse after the March 22 shooting at the King Soopers grocery in Boulder, Colo. At […]
INDIE PLAYLIST
Songs for a Spring Awakening
Musical picks from Independent staff and contributors
For this spring edition of the Indie Playlist, contributors chose songs traversing the genres of country, rap, disco, funk, blues, and rock. Many of them, though undeniably feel-good, express something […]
ART EDUCATION
For Illustrator Neal Nichols Jr., Drawing Is Like Breathing
He travels the world, teaching people the secrets of his art
On an early spring day, Neal Nichols Jr. stands on Hamblen Island in Wellfleet, overlooking Duck Creek and Wellfleet Harbor. “I have a photographic memory,” he says, tracing the view […]
BOOK REVIEW
Finding Order in the Chaos of Fractals
Oliver Linton’s book is not for the number-phobic
I don’t know what I was expecting when I requested a reviewer’s copy of Oliver Linton’s Fractals: On the Edge of Chaos. The pocket-sized book, published in February, appeared to […]
INDIE SCREEN
When Personal and Political Spheres Explode
Two Oscar nominees and a dazzling documentary
The testimony of Christine Blasey Ford during Congressional hearings for the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 was devastating. She was as believable as a victim of […]
APPRECIATION
Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions
Happy 100th, Al Jaffee
On March 13, 2021, the irreverent Mad magazine artist , a part-time Provincetown resident, turned 100 years old. Jaffee is best known for his “fold-in” comic illustrations, which transformed one […]
CROSSWORD #19
Cape Cod Cinema
Need some answers? Just ask and we’ll send them.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Wellfleet’s Susan Wilson Tells of Shooting Stars
A show of her work honors women musicians
If you were to walk down Tremont Street in Boston, you’d come upon a digital show of photographs of women musicians on the marquee of the Boch Center. They’re by […]
AUTHORS
Revealing the Intimacy of Sex With Strangers
Michael Lowenthal explores the nexus of love, loneliness, and desire
“Intimacy is about the experience of saying to another person — not necessarily in words — ‘This is who truly I am and what I want. Who are you? What […]
OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT
Wired for Stories
TONY KAHN / STORYTELLER / TRURO Tony Kahn worked in public TV and radio for more than 40 years. He hosted a news program, pioneered podcasts, and told stories of […]
BOOK REVIEW
Once Behind Bars, Forever Barred Entry
Reuben Jonathan Miller reckons with America’s ‘carceral system’
Michelle Alexander changed conversations about race-based discrimination in 2010 when she published The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander explained that four in five Black […]
