Arts

Rapper Abd Al Malik, who grew up in the depressed suburbs of France, has turned his story into a soaring film memoir.

Navina Haidar, an Islamic art curator at the Met, says she isn't interested in ideology: "The only place where we allow ourselves any passion is in the artistic joy ... of something that's beautiful."

The actor says he got his big break because of a college crush. When she went on an audition, he tagged along, inadvertently starting a career in cologne ads, soap operas — and hit TV shows.

Beverly Jenkins writes historical romances — about free black towns, lawmen and cowboys and Civil War vets. She says her mission is to illuminate the parts of black history you don't learn in school.

In 2008, the Brinton Museum was on life support. But an unlikely benefactor stepped in to save it, funding its revival as the home to a historic — and willingly given — collection of Crow artifacts.

As the 10th anniversary of the hurricane's landfall approaches, art museums across New Orleans focus on how the city sees itself today. In other words, no ruins and no people trapped on roofs.

In the film Ricki and the Flash, Meryl Streep plays a mother who abandoned her family to become a rock star. Both Streep and writer Diablo Cody say the story of the film hits close to home.