Arts

Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia, by Thomas Healy

In 'Soul City,' One Man Envisions A Place Where Black People Have Power, Opportunity

7:10am January 29, 2021

by Michael Schaub

Author Thomas Healy chronicles how, in 1969, Floyd McKissick went about building a city from scratch, only to have his dreams dashed by a combination of prejudice and bureaucracy.

A girl makes chalk drawings on the driveway in West Islip, N.Y., in March 2020.

Arts

'This Is Our Dream': A Crowdsourced Poem To Inspire Hope

6:04pm January 28, 2021

by Rachel Martin

NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander's latest community poem started with a request to consider what follows after the words "I dream a world."

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Arts

2021 Sundance Film Festival: Questlove, Rita Moreno, Pandemic Films

4:12pm January 28, 2021

by Mandalit del Barco

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be mostly virtual this year. Highlights include a documentary from Questlove, a biopic about Rita Moreno and films made during the pandemic.

The Stoop Stare Down (Nia & Afiya, Two Generations in Harlem), Jan. 26, 2020, 3:30 p.m., 42 degrees

Arts

With Power, Poise And Confidence, These 'Women R Beautiful'

9:00am January 28, 2021

by Susan Stamberg

Ruben Natal-San Miguel likes to photograph people where they live. He calls his pictures "environmental portraits." Dozens are on view in the exhibition "Expanding the Pantheon: Women R Beautiful."

Journalist Jon Fasman says local police departments are increasingly using powerful surveillance tools — with little oversight.

Surveillance And Local Police: How Technology Is Evolving Faster Than Regulation

8:30am January 28, 2021

by Dave Davies

Journalist Jon Fasman says local police are frequently able to access very powerful surveillance tools with little oversight. He writes about the threat to privacy in We See It All.

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Cloris Leachman, pictured in 1974, seemed game for anything, from playing a creepy housekeeper in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein to competing on ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

Arts

Actress Cloris Leachman, Who Played Both Silly And Serious, Dies At 94

1:39am January 28, 2021

by Jacki Lyden

The actress seemed game for anything: She played a heartbroken lover in The Last Picture Show, a creepy housekeeper in Young Frankenstein and even competed on Dancing With the Stars.

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Vera Gissing, shown above at age 6, was one of 669 children from Prague whom Nicholas Winton helped save in the lead-up to World War II.

Books
Arts

He Saved 669 Children From Nazis — A New Book Tells His Story To Kids

6:04pm January 27, 2021

by Elizabeth Blair

In Nicky & Vera, Peter Sís chronicles the work of Nicholas Winton, who helped hundreds of kids escape Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939.

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The Lady and the Dale tells the true story of Elizabeth Carmichael, an automobile executive who introduced a bold new three-wheel car in the 1970s.

Arts

'Lady And The Dale,' A 4-Part Series About A 3-Wheeled Car, Is A Wild Ride

10:56am January 27, 2021

by David Bianculli

HBO's new documentary miniseries tells the story of Elizabeth Carmichael, the auto executive who tried to market a three-wheeled, gas-efficient car at the height of the '70s oil crisis.

Joan Didion attends The American Theatre Wing's 2012 Annual Gala at The Plaza Hotel on Sept. 24, 2012 in New York City.

Books
Arts

Joan Didion's 'Let Me Tell You What I Mean' Offers Plenty Of 'Journalistic Gold'

9:37am January 27, 2021

by Heller McAlpin

What's particularly salient in this book of previously uncollected essays is Didion's trademark farsightedness — especially striking decades later. But it does leave one wishing to hear from her now.

Alan Tudyk plays an alien who's not comfortable in his (human) skin in SYFY's Resident Alien.

Arts

'Resident Alien': The Truth Is Way, Way Out There

5:00am January 27, 2021

by Glen Weldon

The great Alan Tudyk gets a role he can sink his sharp pointy alien teeth into on a darkly funny series boasting an ensemble cast of characters with surprisingly nuanced interpersonal histories.