culture

J: The Aged Believe Not in Personal Space SOHH:This (Money) Is Bigger Than Hip Hop: Jay-Z, Kelly Clarkson Paired Up in Concert MG: Net Gain: Soweto Serves Tennis Dreams AJC: Not Post-Racial Anymore: Leah Ward Sears a Possible Supreme Court Replacement CNN: Maybe It Was in Leviticus? Churchgoers More Inclined to Back Torture INON: Ante…

I often suggest that hard-working people make soups and stews in bulk as a way to have healthy, sustainable and inexpensive food on hand throughout the week. I mean, once you prepare your stock, most soups don’t take that long to make. They are great for using fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. And they freeze…

A close inspection of the roadkill in the NBA playoffs so far reveals how quickly the mighty have fallen. The first three teams to clean out their lockers and make early summer plans—the Detroit Pistons, the Utah Jazz and the San Antonio Spurs—were three of the league’s four conference finalists two years ago. The fourth…

HP: CNN Assesses Obama’s “Swagga”; Attempt Is in No Way Awkward (…) NPR:South Africa’s New Black Opposition Party Can’t Cope NS: Huge Gene Study Sheds Light on African History (So Thaaaat’s Why We’re So Fast!) USNWR: Civil Right Leaders Dissatisfied with Obama on Race Relations; CBC: “Take a Number, Pal!” NWS: Do ‘Babyfaceness’ and Warmth…

She never learned to read or write, and the only known example of her signature seems to spell “Sonnog.” The only photographs are of her in old age, high cheekbones and strong features, her tight curls covered in a white bonnet. Isabella Baumfree — she didn’t call herself Sojourner Truth until she was 46 —…

Way, way back in the day, there was an Afro-Polish violinist, a biracial child prodigy of such virtuosity that even Beethoven felt compelled to dedicate a sonata to him. There were honors and accolades and patronage from a prince. But fortunes changed, as poet laureate Rita Dove describes in her novel-sized book of poems, Sonata…

PPG: Obamas Make Chocolate City ‘Chocolate People Who Run Ish’ City WSJ: Turning His Swag On: The Making of a Celebrity President NYDN: Don’t Let 44 Fool You: Racial Equality Still a Work-in-Progress SPP: Where Are the White Guys with Money and/or Guns?!? The GOP Base is Shrinking! WP: DOJ Urges Equalizing Drug Sentences Because…

WP: 100 Days Allows Media to Talk About Something Other Than Recession, Their Decline in Paper Form TIME: Can Alabama Spark Democratic Revival in South? Eh…Sure Why Not? Reuters: Obama’s Many Challenges May Overshadow Africa; Besides, It’s Africa So… GC: Why Africa’s Moment is Now HP: Toward Real Criminal Justice Reform NYT: Test Results: Persistent…

This year’s NBA playoffs provide a stern challenge to the conventional NBA wisdom that youth, sooner or later, crack under the weight of the intense media scrutiny and high fan expectations, and that the veterans will come out ahead. I’ve always doubted the conventional wisdom, and not just because it’s what I do for a…

USAT: Obama: Swine Flu ‘Not Cause for Alarm’; Vegas Takes the Under on That NYDN: Century Marks: 100 Events that Helped Shape President’s First 100 Days NYT: Putting a Pen to the Inkwell: Colson Whitehead’s ‘Sag Harbor’ CNN: Three Wounded in Hampton University Shooting AJE: Yemeni Forces Re-Take Seized Tanker WP: Bond and Jealou: NAACP, Like…