Arts
The Arts
BOOK REVIEW: Charles Blow’s ‘The Devil You Know’ Is A Black Power Manifesto For Our Time
Some time into his new book The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto, Charles Blow recalls hearing Harry Belafonte give a speech.
Amanda Gorman’s Poetic Response To Pandemic Grief: ‘Do Not Ignore The Pain’
When Amanda Gorman wrote her poem, “The Miracle of Morning,” it was early on in the coronavirus pandemic, when we were only beginning to comprehend the scale of national mourning to come. But even then, she wanted to acknowledge the promise of healing, like the light of morning, that springs from despair.
13,140,000 Minutes: It’s Been 25 Years Since The First Performance Of ‘Rent’
On Jan. 25, 1996, a new rock musical by a little-known writer, Jonathan Larson, gave its first performance. Friends and family filed into a small off-Broadway theater to see Rent. The show was a retelling of La Boheme, set on the Lower East Side of New York, as people were dying of AIDS. It became an international phenomenon, winning the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, among others, but the performance almost didn’t happen. Early that morning, Larson died of an aortic aneurysm. I spoke with some of the people who were there that night.
Misty Copeland’s ‘Bunheads’ Is An Ode To Friendship In The Dance Studio
The new children’s book by ballet star Misty Copeland is filled with direct nods to real people in her life who have encouraged her talent over the years, but also the more universal ways that dance friends become sources of inspiration for one other.
BOOK REVIEW: In ‘Remote Control,’ Drones Fly Over The Yam Fields Of A Near-Future Africa
At the start of the story, Fatima is a young Ghanian girl who has taken on the mantle of the Adopted Daughter of Death. Renamed Sankofa — an avian symbol of the West African Akan people, one that embodies the idea of harnessing the past to forge a better tomorrow — she wanders the land, inducing dread and awe in the towns she encounters, a living legend wielding the power of annihilation. The dead pile at her departing feet.
‘Not Broken But Simply Unfinished’: Poet Amanda Gorman Calls For A Better America At Inauguration
Amanda Gorman echoed, in dynamic and propulsive verse, the same themes that Biden has returned to again and again and that he wove throughout his inaugural address: unity, healing, grief and hope, the painful history of American experience and the redemptive power of American ideals.
Art Project Of Seesaws Built On U.S. Border Wall Win Prestigious Design Prize
An art project that turned the border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border into the temporary base for pink seesaws – inviting children on each side to come play together – has won the London’s Design Museum award for best design of 2020.
Poetry Challenge: Honor Martin Luther King Jr By Describing How You Dream A World
As we enter 2021, we can all draw inspiration from both King and Hughes. Morning Edition resident poet Kwame Alexander and host Rachel Martin suggest we write our way out of the unprecedented events of the past year and into a space of possibility.
With A Leap Across Gender Norms, Northwest Ballet Student Looks To Rewrite Rules Of Dance
The way that ballet dancer Ashton Edwards leaps through the air is pure art. The fact that he does it in pointe shoes is a rare feat. Edwards is an 18-year-old ballet student with the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s elite Professional Division in Seattle. He has been studying classical ballet since he was 4 — but always in male roles.
‘I Just Followed My Interests’: Garry Trudeau On 50 Years Of ‘Doonesbury’
The ground-breaking comic strip Doonesbury has been with us for a half-century. It was the first daily comic strip to win a Pulitzer Prize for tackling social issues, politics and war. It’s also been censored for some of those same reasons.
‘Ambitious Girl’ Book Reminds Kids: Your Dreams Are Not A Drawback
When now Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris was “accused” of being “too ambitious” on the campaign trail, it spurred her niece, activist and author Meena Harris, into action.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Outlawed’ Frontiers Of Gender And Sexuality Beckon In This Sly Western
Outlawed opens in an alternative America of 1894 that was torn asunder by a flu epidemic some 60 years earlier. West of the Mississippi, centralized government has been replaced by a patchwork of Independent Towns. One of the few things this fragmented America agrees on is that women are put on Earth to bear children. That’s it.
