Arts
The Arts
‘In The Heights’ Star Anthony Ramos Says The Movie Sees ‘Good In Every Hood’
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.
![Author Becky Albertalli with her book collection.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TT-203_Becky-Scott_6-500x500.jpg)
‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 13: Becky Albertalli & Scott Leadingham On Literature Helping Form Identity
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.
![book cover - House of Sticks - by Ly Tran](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/sticks_custom-a198525efd9bb83cb022a51c3fd3ed584127c305-500x500.jpg)
BOOK REVIEW: ‘House Of Sticks’ Is An Immigrant Success Story With Filial Bonds At The Core
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.
![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](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/nmprac-building-front_wide-babb1784056c07faf0e69e7a3dbeaca4c13ac3ec-500x500.jpg)
A New Report Shows Museums Had A Bad Year — But Not The Worst Possible
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.
![Image of Will O'Neal and Renee Love from Backyard Harvest.](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Backyard-Harvest-Thumbnail-Full-500x500.png)
‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 12: Backyard Harvest On The Importance Of Food And Community
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.
![Tulsa, Oklahoma - so-called Black Wall Street before 2021 massacre](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/gettyimages-1264513498_custom-05c8842d8e6e88747e888459f5e4130d022abf13-500x500.jpg)
Artist’s Black Wall Street Project Is About Tulsa 100 Years Ago — And Today
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 and flattened.
![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](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/gettyimages-12287155661-73f9f0172cd8270f83006adf29e88b9738712128-500x500.jpg)
A Moment Or A Movement? Black Bookstore Owners On Business One Year Later
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.
![Amazon has made a deal to purchase MGM for $8.5 billion. CREDIT: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/gettyimages-1232974607-34e25488d2876eea8906fd06c9092130adc405e7-500x500.jpg)
Amazon Makes A Deal To Buy MGM For Nearly $8.5 Billion
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.
![Heaven, by Mieko Kawakami](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/81t6pub-ipl_custom-4da562db61c47ff5984f0b61f6ff3ba9e2776144-500x500.jpg)
BOOK REVIEW: A Bullied Kid Finds Unconventional Freedom In ‘Heaven’
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.
![A photo of poet Ryka Aoki](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Ryka_1-500x426.jpg)
‘Traverse Talks’ Episode 11: Ryka Aoki On Culture, Transphobia And Giving It Your Best
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.
![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](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/gettyimages-170891554-4a988a4c3b8d2eac1b3472fbca3f413433ea5478.jpg)
How ‘Shuffle Along’ Changed Musical Theater 100 Years Ago
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.”
![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](https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/screenshot-7-_wide-8be9e49ee21dc79032fc1737111d18aa0f87362d-500x500.png)
‘Nobody Does A Comeback Like The Movies’: Beating Drums For The Blockbuster’s Return
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.