Alex Gallafent
Mahler’s Songs on the Death of Children
One week after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary school, The World’s Alex Gallafent looks at the structures of grief and–in particular–Gustav Mahler’s song cycle, Kindertotenlieder.
Québécois Couple Sells Christmas Trees in NYC
Each Christmas, dozens of Québécois make the trip south to New York City to sell Christmas trees. They operate around the clock, sleeping in shifts, and work for cash under the table. The World’s Alex Gallafent met a young couple from Montréal who are selling trees to fund their continuing travels around the world.
New York Through the Eyes of a Senegalese Immigrant Tour Guide
Ibrahima Diallo moved from Senegal to New York in 2003. Since then he’s made a career as an accredited New York City tour guide. But, like everyone, Diallo has a personal map of the city too, of places that are special to him, and he gave The World’s Alex Gallafent a tour.
Letting Your Computer Buy You Gifts
Game developer Darius Kazemi has written a program that randomly purchases items from an online retailer and sends them to his home. His first surprise shipment included a recording of avant-garde European music. And he liked it.
Ambassador Anna Wintour? That’s So Next Season!
President Obama is likely to make a raft of new appointments as he begins his second term, including at some plum US embassies around the globe. One prominent name being mentioned for an ambassadorship is the British-born editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour.
Japanese Composer Asuka Kakitani Committed to Jazz Orchestras
Jazz orchestras are rare creatures nowadays: it’s hard to find the money or the venues to support them. But new jazz artists, such as Japanese composer Asuka Kakitani, are committed to the format, arguing that it offers a palette of sounds like no other.
Tolkien’s Take on America: Middle Earth’s Fiscal Cliff?
The World’s Alex Gallafent assesses British fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien’s views on, not Middle Earth or hobbits, but America.
Church of England Blocks Women Bishops
The Church of England’s governing body voted against allowing the consecration of women bishops. In other parts of the global Anglican communion, including in the Episcopal church in the US, women already serve in that role.
If I Were President: British Schoolkids Imagine
In London, The World’s Alex Gallafent speaks with six new Presidents of the United States. Well, not quite. The six are 12- and 13-year olds from Northumberland Park Community School in the north of the city. They tell Alex how they’d act if they really could be president.
The Early Years of Thin Lizzy Singer Phil Lynott
Phil Lynott, the lead singer of Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, died in 1986 after abusing heroin. His mother, Philomena Lynott, has spoken to the BBC about giving birth to a bi-racial baby in the late 1940s, and the difficulties that that entailed.
Two Vacancies: J.K. Rowling’s Novel and a New Archbishop
‘The Casual Vacancy’ is not like Harry Potter. Rowling’s latest novel is decidedly for adults. The World’s Alex Gallafent talks with anchor Marco Werman about the type of local English government that forms the backdrop to the novel, and about related developments in the Church of England.
Undulatus Asperatus: Say it Loud, it’s a New Cloud
Cloud-spotters around the world are calling for a ‘new’ kind of cloud to be recognized. Undulatus asperatus, says Britain’s Cloud Appreciation Society is a cloud variant that, until recently, had gone unnoticed.
London One-Man Play Tackles Overpopulation
It was a limited run in a tiny London theater, but the producers consider it a success, a one-man show about overpopulation and global ecological collapse.
The Many Voices of Jacob Collier
The World’s Alex Gallafent looks at the online sensation Jacob Collier, a young Englishman who loves to sing and arrange. Collier has created an online hit with his version of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely?”
Growing, and Sustaining, the Mormon Church in Chile
Latin America is one of the big growth areas for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But in Chile, Mormons are trying to move beyond just signing people up to creating a more mature church.
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