Photo“We want to give people new wind against their sails,” said Cecilia A. Conrad, a managing director of the foundation and the leader of the fellows program. The MacArthur Fellowship, awarded since 1981, is one of the most prestigious prizes in the United States. The award has come to be known as the “genius” grant, a term that tends to provoke annoyance at the foundation. PhotoAnne Basting, 51, a professor of theater at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, recalled that when she wanted to write her doctoral dissertation about the social performance of aging, her advisers tried to talk her out of it. “Our laws and our policies tend to be really ignorant of the beautiful ways that people are helping each other,” he said.

Source: New York Times September 22, 2016 03:56 UTC