Arts & Life

In the summer of 1927, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston drove together from Alabama to New York. Just outside Savannah, Ga., they gave a ride to a young person running away from a chain gang. An essay Hughes wrote about that encounter has recently r

Books
Arts

In Lost Essay, Langston Hughes Recounts Meeting A Young Chain Gang Runaway

6:02pm July 17, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

The work, previously published only in Russian, was discovered by Professor Steven Hoelscher. The encounter occurred in 1927, when Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston went on a road trip through the South.

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Leah Esguerra (right), who is credited with being the first social worker installed directly at a public library, strolls through the fifth floor of the San Francisco Public Library's main branch, joined by the library's health and safety associates (from

Books
Arts

Your Local Library May Have A New Offering In Stock: A Resident Social Worker

6:01pm July 17, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

Libraries have never been just about books; they're also crucial hubs of community support. Some are even expanding that role, and supporting their librarians, by bringing in trained social workers.

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Satirist Randy Rainbow Uses Show Tunes And Pop Songs To Lampoon Trump

2:18pm July 17, 2019

by Terry Gross

"I always considered song parody kind of cheap," the Emmy-nominated lyricist and performer says. "But ... I've gotten [such a] response from others ... that I'm appreciating it as an art form."

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In the PBS program Molly of Denali, Alaska Native Molly Mabray helps her mom run a trading post in an Alaskan village.

Arts

Now Starring In Children's Cartoons: Authentic Indigenous Characters

12:01pm July 17, 2019

by Mandalit del Barco

An Alaska Native girl (Molly of Denali), an Andean boy (Pachamama), two half-brothers in Mesoamerica (Victor and Valentino): Three new animations feature Native people without bygone-era baggage.

Books
Arts

George Takei Recalls Time In An American Internment Camp In 'They Called Us Enemy'

11:13am July 17, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

Through his graphic memoir, the Star Trek actor-turned-author shows that while it may be too late to undo the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans, it's not too late to learn from it.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and his onscreen counterpart in 2019's The Lion King, the power-hungry villain Scar.

'The Lion King' Had The Perfect Villain Song. This Time, 'Be Prepared' For Less

11:09am July 17, 2019

by Glen Weldon

We know it sounds sordid, but there's something missing in the 2019 version of Scar's bad-guy anthem — and it's the very thing that made the mustache-twirling original so iconic.

'Escalante's Dream' Retraces The Steps Of The 'Spanish Lewis And Clark'

10:45am July 17, 2019

by Carson Vaughan

After a cancer diagnosis, author and noted mountaineer David Roberts sets out on the trail of Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, remaining dutiful to the route some 240 years later.

Vegas, Bambino! The Metropolitan Opera's 2019 production of Rigoletto.

'Rigoletto' In Vegas And The Pleasures Of The Metropolitan Opera

10:40am July 17, 2019

by Linda Holmes

A recent Pop Culture Happy Hour trip to New York took the team to see Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. A jester in a rat pack? We saw it.

Arts

2019 Emmy Award Nominations Announced

5:16pm July 16, 2019

by Eric Deggans

2019 Emmy nominations were announced Tuesday. There are some expected nominations — Game of Thrones, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, some surprises such as Fleabag, and some snubs.

Arts

Netflix Edits Out Controversial Suicide Scene From '13 Reasons Why' Season 1

4:29pm July 16, 2019

by Andrew Limbong

The Netflix show 13 Reasons Why took out a controversial scene from its first season depicting a suicide. Mental health experts say it's a step in the right direction.

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