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Arts

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 18: Sandra Williams On The Black Experience In The Inland Northwest

By McKayla Fox July 20, 2021

Sandra Williams, creator of The Black Lens, talks virtually for a recording of 'Traverse Talks.'

In this episode of Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella, founder of a local newspaper, The Black Lens, in Spokane, Washington. Sandra Williams shares her life story growing up in the predominantly white Inland Northwest as a Black woman, her work ethic and what she is doing to insure future generations have a place that feels like community in Spokane. Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 17: Esmy Jimenez On Life As A Journalist And DACA Recipient

By McKayla Fox July 13, 2021

In this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," KUOW reporter Esmy Jimenez talks about her life growing up in a rural part of central Washington as an undocumented immigrant, being the first in her family to attend college, and the fun and hardship of reporting on the never-ending news cycle. Read More

TV REVIEW: An Old Murder Is ‘Unforgotten’ In This Masterpiece Crime Drama’s 4th And Finest Season

By NPR News July 10, 2021

Sunny (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and Cassie (Nicola Walker) head up a police unit in charge of cold cases in the series Unforgotten. Mainstreet Pictures LTD

If you regularly watch police shows, you know that very few of them make you feel anything. For every Mare of Easttown, there are 20 fast-paced crime dramas — from CSI to Line of Duty — that pass off sensation as emotion. Read More

Cannes Rolls Out The Red Carpet For An Expanded, More Inclusive Film Festival

By NPR News July 6, 2021

Jury members Mylène Farmer, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Hausner, Mati Diop, jury president Spike Lee, jury members Mélanie Laurent, Tahar Rahim and Song Kang-ho attend the Jury photocall during the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 6, 2021, in Cannes, France. Kate Green/Getty Images

There will be 24 films in the official competition this year, a few more than usual over the festival's almost two-week duration. There are dozens of additional films from around the world being screened out of competition. A new section called Cannes Premieres has also been organized to show selections from a year's worth of cinema that were missed because of the Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 16: Artist Jesse Clyde On The Art Of Being Present

By McKayla Fox July 6, 2021

In this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," cartoonist Jesse Clyde is radiating good vibes and positive energy. He shares how he tries to be present in the moment and explains how money and other societal distractions can take away from his artwork. Read More

After Decades In The Background, Queer Characters Step To The Front In Kids’ Media

By NPR News July 1, 2021

Ruby and Sapphire get married on Steven Universe. Cartoon Network

The Peabody award-winning series Steven Universe, which broke barriers in queer representation by airing the first LBGTQ wedding in a kid's series when Ruby and Sapphire (who are actually living rocks, yes, but feminine-coded rocks who use she/her pronouns and present as female) got married. Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 15: Jennifer Griffin On Dyslexia And Playing To Its Strengths

By McKayla Fox June 29, 2021

In this episode of Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella, speech language pathologist Jennifer Griffin talks about dyslexia and signs that you or your child may be suffering from it. Continue Reading ‘Traverse Talks’ Read More

The Limitations Of ‘Latinidad’: How Colorism Haunts ‘In The Heights’

By NWPB News June 28, 2021

Singer and actor Leslie Grace stars as Nina Rosario (center), the beloved and brilliant neighborhood sweetheart in the film adaptation of the musical In the Heights. Macall Polay/Warner Brothers

On the Monday after the release of In the Heights, its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda posted not a congratulatory note but an apology. Over the weekend, the conversation around colorism and In the Heights reached a fever pitch as more viewers began to wonder why there weren't any dark-skinned Afro-Latinos in any of the leading roles to represent a place as diverse as Read More

FILM REVIEW: Dive Into ‘Luca’ And ‘Undine,’ 2 Under-The-Sea Films To Treasure

By NPR News June 25, 2021

Two sea creatures go undercover as boys in a small Italian Riviera town in the charming Pixar film Luca. CREDIT: Pixar

By curious coincidence, two of the lovelier movies I've seen so far this summer — the family-friendly animated fable Luca and the German art-house fairy tale Undine — tell stories about mythic sea creatures making contact with the human world. That's hardly a new concept, as we've seen in films as different as The Shape of Water, Aquaman and countless versions of The Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 14: Chigozie Obioma On Finding Differences And Similarities Between Cultures

By McKayla Fox June 22, 2021

In this episode of Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella, author Chigozie Obioma talks about how his time in Cyprus for school and growing up in Nigeria shaped his work, the types of racism he has experienced in his travels and the meaning behind his name. Read More

BOOK REVIEW: This Family Saga Finds Grace And Beauty In Ordinary Lives, Fully Lived

By NPR News June 21, 2021

Read at night, at the end of a too-long day, and characters will enter and exit the rooms of memory, trailing the scent of cigarette smoke and faded perfume. With Simon Van Booy's new novel, Night Came With Many Stars, open in front of me, I know the smell of summer afternoons and the pattern of paint spattered on a workingman's boots. I can hear the bugs in the dark and Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 13: Christine Hemp On Finding Your True North

By Gabriel del Rosario June 15, 2021

Author Christine Hemp talks about her latest book, a memoir "Wild Ride Home," finding red flags in relationships, taking care of aging parents and always keeping your true north. She is an author, poet, musician, speaker and teacher. Continue Read More

‘In The Heights’ Star Anthony Ramos Says The Movie Sees ‘Good In Every Hood’

By NPR News June 14, 2021

Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) runs a corner bodega and dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic in In the Heights. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The first time actor Antony Ramos saw In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway production about a Latinx community in New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood, he was floored. Continue Reading ‘In The Heights’ Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 12: Becky Albertalli & Scott Leadingham On Literature Helping Form Identity

By Gabriel del Rosario June 8, 2021

Author Becky Albertalli with her book collection.

In this unique episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," NWPB's Scott Leadingham interviews author Becky Albertalli. The two talk about identity, representation of LGBTQIA+ books in school libraries, and how people come out and present themselves to the world. Read More

BOOK REVIEW: ‘House Of Sticks’ Is An Immigrant Success Story With Filial Bonds At The Core

By NPR News June 6, 2021

book cover - House of Sticks - by Ly Tran

Ly Tran's memoir House of Sticks brings to mind both the story of The Three Little Pigs and the myth of the unassimilated other in Francois Truffaut's The Wild Child (L'Enfant Sauvage), in its unsentimental yet deeply moving examination of filial bond, displacement, war trauma, and poverty. Read More

A New Report Shows Museums Had A Bad Year — But Not The Worst Possible

By NPR News June 2, 2021

The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago cut some programming but retained its small staff during the pandemic. National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture

Billy Ocasio feels like one of the country's luckier museum directors. He runs the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, still standing strong in Chicago after the pandemic wiped out dozens of small museums across the country. Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 11: Backyard Harvest On The Importance Of Food And Community

By Gabriel del Rosario June 1, 2021

Image of Will O'Neal and Renee Love from Backyard Harvest.

In this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," Will O'Neal and Renee Love, leaders within the organization Backyard Harvest, share how the group serves its community and how both they and many of their volunteers got a close-up view of food insecurity within local households. Read More

Artist’s Black Wall Street Project Is About Tulsa 100 Years Ago — And Today

By NPR News May 31, 2021

Tulsa, Oklahoma - so-called Black Wall Street before 2021 massacre

Artist Paul Rucker is fearless when it comes to taking on terrible moments in American history. One of them, in Tulsa, Okla., was destroyed by a white mob 100 years ago, on May 31, 1921. The catastrophic attack on what was known as Black Wall Street might be the worst single episode of racial violence in American history, with 35 city blocks of Black community destroyed Read More

A Moment Or A Movement? Black Bookstore Owners On Business One Year Later

By NPR News May 28, 2021

Derrick Young, co-owner of Mahogany Books in Washington, D.C., says his store has seen new customers in the last year who seem to be "willing to do the work" to educate themselves on issues of race in America. Bonnie Jo Mount/Getty Images

With the sale of print books rising just over 8% and all unit sales of books surpassing 750 million, Black bookstores would play an integral role in feeding the nation's "sudden" appetite in the plight of Black people. Continue Reading Read More

Amazon Makes A Deal To Buy MGM For Nearly $8.5 Billion

By NPR News May 26, 2021

Amazon has made a deal to purchase MGM for $8.5 billion. CREDIT: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Amazon has made a deal to buy Hollywood studio MGM for almost $8.5 billion. It's the second-largest acquisition for the company after purchasing Whole Foods. Continue Reading Amazon Makes A Deal To Buy MGM For Nearly $8.5 BillionRead More

BOOK REVIEW: A Bullied Kid Finds Unconventional Freedom In ‘Heaven’

By NPR News May 25, 2021

Heaven is a raw, painful, and tender portrait of adolescent misery, reminiscent of both Elena Ferrante's fiction and Bo Burnham's 2018 film Eighth Grade. I cannot, in good conscience, endorse it without a warning: This book is very likely to make you cry. Read More

‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 10: Ryka Aoki On Culture, Transphobia And Giving It Your Best

By Gabriel del Rosario May 25, 2021

In this episode of "Traverse Talks with Sueann Ramella," author Ryka Aoki shares how growing up in the U.S., she had a hard time seeing what happens on a societal level, but still wants it to be better, as well as her personal experiences as a transgender woman. Read More

How ‘Shuffle Along’ Changed Musical Theater 100 Years Ago

By NPR News May 23, 2021

American composers and musicians Noble Sissle, center left, and Eubie Blake, on piano, perform with a group of women on stage in the early 20th century. Sissle and Blake wrote the score for Shuffle Along. Anthony Barboza/Getty Images

Not only did Shuffle Along bring jazz to Broadway, it was the first African American show to be a smash hit. Its composer Eubie Blake recalled on WNYC in 1973: "When we put Shuffle Along on, on Broadway, we put negroes back to work again." Continue Read More

‘Nobody Does A Comeback Like The Movies’: Beating Drums For The Blockbuster’s Return

By NPR News May 21, 2021

Theater patrons cheering at the climax of an Avengers Endgame screening — a moment of shared excitement experienced by many millions of movie patrons worldwide — is part of the sell Marvel is offering as it welcomes audiences back to cinemas, as seen in this screenshot. YouTube

With just two weeks to go before A Quiet Place Part II makes your local multiplex a less quiet place, Hollywood has started the back-to-cinemas drumroll. Continue Reading ‘Nobody Does A Comeback Like The Movies’: Read More

The Story Of ‘Sesame Street’: From Radical Experiment To Beloved TV Mainstay

By NPR News May 19, 2021

Jim Henson, the puppeteer behind Ernie, and Frank Oz, the longtime voice of Bert, on the set of Sesame Street. Robert Fuhring/Courtesy Sesame Workshop

For generations, Sesame Street has been a mainstay of American children's television. But when the show premiered more than 50 years ago on Nov. 10, 1969, it was considered controversial, even radical. Continue Reading The Story Of Read More

TV REVIEW: ‘Underground Railroad’ Is A Hard But Beautiful Reflection On Black Pain

By NPR News May 15, 2021

Barry Jenkins served as showrunner, executive producer, writer and director to the 10-part Amazon series, The Underground Railroad. CREDIT: Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon Studios

For this Black TV critic, completing Barry Jenkins' ambitious, beautifully brutal, 10-episode adaptation of Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad was an emotional journey that touched every nerve of what it feels like to be a person of color striving to matter in America. Read More

Engaging With Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Month: A Reading List

By NPR News May 15, 2021

In the past year, and throughout history, narratives surrounding Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been rife with violence, hardship and grief. Yet they are so much more than their experiences of suffering — beyond tales of war and isolation, there is joy, confusion, anger and relief. Read More

The Artist Behind A George Floyd Mural Reflects On How It Became A ‘Ubiquitous Icon’

By PBS Newshour May 14, 2021

A mural of George Floyd at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue S. in Minneapolis, United States, on January 18, 2021. (Photo by Tim Evans/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

One of the most recognizable images of Floyd sits just above the spot where he drew his last breath – at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis. It’s a haunting, 12-foot mural of Floyd, painted in black and white by Minneapolis-based artist Peyton Scott Russell. Read More

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Son Of The Storm’ Explores Power And Its Transformations

By NPR News May 12, 2021

Son of the Storm, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

"Son of the Storm" defines these tensions clearly from the start, as a prologue whirls readers into a society already at a dangerous crossroads, at once reaching for new levels of power, and busy walling itself off from risk. The effect is rich, wild, and occasionally dizzying. Read More

Brood X Is Back — But Cicadas Have Been In Chinese Art For Millennia

By NWPB News May 10, 2021

Album Leaf of Flowers and Insects, bequest of the Hofer Collection of the Arts of Asia, 1985.904.6 Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College/Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum

You might be using Cicada Safari to track Brood X, which appears to be slowly emerging from the earth in the U.S. all the way from Florida to Michigan. But cicadas are global citizens. In China, the critters have long been symbolically significant. Read More

A Constitutional Quirk Inspired Stacey Abrams’ New Fiction Thriller, ‘While Justice Sleeps’

By NPR News May 9, 2021

Book cover of 'While Justice Sleeps' novel by Stacey Abrams

A Supreme Court justice is gravely ill, ideological control of the court hangs in the balance — throw in a ruthless president and an international conspiracy, and what you have is the plot of Stacey Abrams's new novel, While Justice Sleeps. Yes, that Stacey Abrams, the Georgia politician, and she's written a thriller ripped straight from the headlines — inspired by a Read More

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Things We Lost To The Water’ Is A Literal And Allegorical Look At Dislocation

By NPR News May 7, 2021

Book cover - Things We Lost to the Water, by Eric Nguyen

Nước — the Vietnamese word for country and water — permeates Eric Nguyen's haunting debut. Signifying both a place of origin and the means by which a boat refugee departs from such place of origin, Things We Lost to the Water poignantly explores all the ways in which Vietnamese refugees are affected by country and water — in sum, by dislocation. Read More

How Racism Pushed Tina Turner And Other Black Women Artists Out Of America

By PBS Newshour May 1, 2021

Tina Turner on stage during her concert at Wembley Stadium in London, England, as part of her Wildest Dreams World Tour, 20th July 1996. Commencing in the spring of 1996 The Wildest Dreams Tour would last for 16 months, and included more than 250 concert dates in Europe, North America and Australasia. (Photo by Duncan Raban/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Black women artists like Josephine Baker, Nina Simone and Eartha Kitt contributed to those social gains. Their suffering came not only from their personal battles against day-to-day racism in America, but also having their careers struggle when they spoke out against it. Europe eventually became home to them as well. Read More

BOOK REVIEW: 2 Novels Explore The Big Romantic Bargains We Strike In The Name Of Love

By NPR News April 30, 2021

Early Morning Riser, by Katherine Heiny - book cover

You fall in love with a person, but you get a package deal. That's one of the big messages of two new novels that ruminate on love and family, particularly the family that's thrust upon you when you happen to mate with one of their kith or kin. Read More

On Netflix, Leigh Bardugo’s ‘Shadow And Bone’ Celebrates A Diverse Grishaverse

By NPR News April 27, 2021

Jessie Mei Li stars as Alina Starkov in the new Netflix series, Shadow and Bone, adapted from author Leigh Bardugo's works. Netflix

Every so often, a fantasy series with adventure, magic and an unfairly attractive villain comes along and captures the imagination and attention of a passionate base of readers. And when that series leaps into a fully realized television adaptation? Well then, that niche fixation can become a global fantasy phenomenon overnight. And Netflix is hoping its new adaptation Read More

Chloé Zhao Is The First Woman Of Color To Win Oscar For Best Director

By NPR News April 25, 2021

Director Chloé Zhao at the 2021 Oscars. She was the first woman to receive four Oscar nominations in a single year. Pool/Getty Images

Chloé Zhao has won the Oscar for directing Nomadland, becoming the first woman of color to win the award and the second woman to win (Katheryn Bigelow, was the first). Zhao was also the first woman to get four Oscar nominations in a single year, in the Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories. Read More

Louise Erdrich Takes Home Aspen Words Literary Prize For ‘The Night Watchman’

By NPR News April 25, 2021

Louise Erdrich, author of The Night Watchman

In a virtual ceremony, Louise Erdrich was named the winner of this year's Aspen Words Literary Prize, for her novel The Night Watchman. The $35,000 prize goes to a work that "illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture." Read More

An ‘Overjoyed’ LeVar Burton Welcomes Chance To Guest-Host ‘Jeopardy!’

By NPR News April 23, 2021

LeVar Burton will host a week of Jeopardy! this summer, after nearly 250,000 people signed a petition backing the actor and director's long-held aspiration to try out for the job that was left vacant by Alex Trebek, who died last year. Continue Read More

Missing Travel? This ‘Irreverent Guide’ Visits Anthony Bourdain’s Favorite Places

By NPR News April 21, 2021

The new book World Travel: An Irreverent Guide is credited to Anthony Bourdain. But it was not really written by the bestselling author, chef and TV personality who died in 2018. Continue Reading Missing Travel? This Read More

Not Heading To Paris This Summer? The Louvre Has Digitized 482,000 Artworks

By NPR News April 20, 2021

The Apollon Gallery at the Louvre museum in Paris on Jan. 14, 2020. CREDIT: Stephanie de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images

"The Louvre is dusting off its treasures, even the least-known," said Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre, in a statement on Friday. "For the first time, anyone can access the entire collection of works from a computer or smartphone for free, whether they are on display in the museum, on loan, even long-term, or in storage." Read More

BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Final Revival Of Opal & Nev’ Is A Faux Music History That Rocks

By NPR News April 17, 2021

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, by Dawnie Walton

To say that The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a sly simulacrum of a rock oral history is to acknowledge only the most obvious of this novel's achievements. Walton aspires to so much more in this story about music, race and family secrets that spans five decades. And, all the glitzy, quick-change narrative styles don't detract attention from the core emotional power of her Read More

Neither #OscarsSoWhite Nor #OscarsSoMale — What A Difference A Pandemic Makes

By NPR News April 16, 2021

Clockwise from top left: Audra Day in United States Vs. Billie Holiday, Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari, Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland director ChloÃ© Zhao with Frances McDormand. Takashi Seida/Hulu, A24, Glen Wilson/Warner Bros., Joshua James Richards/20th Century Studios

This past year of masks, lockdowns, and capacity restrictions has been the most catastrophic 12 months in the history of movie theaters. It has also been a banner year for diversity at the Oscars. Continue Reading Neither Read More

‘Today, I Am A Witness To Change’: A Crowdsourced Poem Against Anti-Asian Hate

By NPR News April 13, 2021

A boy holding a sign takes part in a Stop Asian Hate rally in Oakland, Calif.

LISTEN BY RACHEL MARTIN April is National Poetry Month, a celebration of poets and poetry that’s been in place for 25 years. Last month, as the U.S. grieved over attacks against Asian Americans, NPR’s Morning Edition collected poems on how people grapple with the increased violence and discrimination. Over 500 listeners shared powerful, poignant poems… Read More

‘I Feel Like I’m An Olympian’: Youn Yuh-jung On Her Historic Oscar Nomination

By NPR News April 12, 2021

Youn Yuh-jung plays a grandmother in the Oscar-nominated film Minari. She's the first Korean actor to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Courtesy of A24

Youn Yuh-jung is an institution in Korean cinema. Her career spans five decades and includes starring roles in classic Korean films and famous TV dramas. Now, at 73, she has newfound fame in the U.S. for her role in the Oscar-nominated film Minari. Read More

BOOK REVIEW: A Daughter Struggles To Escape Her Mother’s Shadow In ‘Libertie’

By NPR News April 10, 2021

Book cover - Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Libertie, a new novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge, is inspired by the life of Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, the third African American woman to earn a medical degree in this country. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: A Daughter Struggles To Read More

Northwest Native Brandi Carlile Talks Ambition, Avoidance And Finally Finding Her Place

By NPR News April 7, 2021

"Queer people love country music," singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile says. "... We just don't think that it's going to open its doors to us. And when it does, it's wildly satisfying." Austin Hargrave/AUGUST

Growing up poor in Washington state, singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile learned about harmony and rhythm while performing as a backup singer for a friend's dad, who worked as an Elvis impersonator. Continue Reading Northwest Read More

A Poem On How The Human Spirit Survives Overlapping Crises

By PBS Newshour April 5, 2021

House of Mercury poem as read by Dr. Fady Joudah

In Dr. Fady Joudah’s poem “House of Mercury,” a severe summer storm has blown over Houston. The storm’s destructive winds woke up the narrator’s father, who hears the “snaps and creaks” of the two oaks in the front yard. But it was a “nearly uprooted fig tree,” the poem notes, that brought the father to tears. Read More

Camping Is An Adventure For All Americans In ‘Fatima’s Great Outdoors’

By NPR News April 4, 2021

Fatima's Great Outdoors, by Ambreen Tariq and Stevie Lewis Kokila

Ambreen Tariq's new children's book, Fatima's Great Outdoors is a story about an Indian immigrant family's first time exploring the outdoors, and it's as much a story about curiosity and adventure as it is about trying to assimilate as an immigrant in this country. Tariq says Fatima's story is her own story. "Every moment in that book is real. Every snippet, every story." Read More

We Swoon, We Faint — ‘Bridgerton’ Will Return For Season 2 Without Its Hunky Duke

By NPR News April 3, 2021

Season two of the hit TV series Bridgerton will roll out for fans without its hunky star, Regé-Jean Page, who played Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. Set during the Regency era in 1813 London, the show's first season was a steamy love story between Simon and Daphne Bridgerton. Read More

Washington State Names Its First Native American Poet Laureate

By NWPB News April 3, 2021

On the first day of National Poetry Month, Bellingham-based Rena Priest is named the new Washington State Poet Laureate. She'll be a statewide ambassador for poetry during a two-year term. CREDIT: Lila Childs / Courtesy of Humanities Washington

The author of two poetry books and a member of the Lhaq'temish (Lummi) Nation, Priest is the sixth poet and first Native person to be selected for the two-year term, a program of the Washington State Arts Commission and Humanities Washington. Continue Read More