culture

At first glance, recent scenes of Michelle Obama planting a White House garden were captivating because of the backdrop. The thought of berries, herbs, spinach, okra, cucumbers, radishes and sweet potatoes sprouting from the South Lawn of the “People’s House” is enough, on its own, to capture the public imagination. But there was something even…

TR: The Root: Proof Positive Blacks Besides Majora Carter and Van Jones Care about Earth* SPI: Company to Power Office with Bikes; If Productive, Expect Doping Accusations WGBH: African-Americans and the Environment: A Panel Discussion NYT: Green Begets Green: Making Money Will Green the Planet LAT: Totally Biting the DeLorean’s Steez, Engineer Tries to Make Fuel from Trash CT: Obama…

A fifth-generation New Orleanian, John Moore had made up his mind that The Big Easy was behind him. After graduating from Morehouse College in 2005, he settled in Atlanta and had no interest in going back. But Hurricane Katrina gave him a chance to put his experience as an environmental studies fellow at Atlanta’s Southface Energy Institute to…

Know what the problem is with black folks? No imagination. Sounds crazy, I know, but consider black music.Every significant moment in America’s history has been accompanied by its own soundtrack. And black musicians have often written the music and the lyrics. But what’s our soundtrack now? The music industry has imposed the same low expectations…

I’d like to dedicate this record Right here to my main man Johnny Cash, a real American gangsta… Grand Ole Opry, here we come —Snoop Dogg, “My Medicine” There’s long been an assumption that black folks and country music just don’t mix—even though that assumption completely erases from history the music and success of Charley…

FOX: Boston Med Student Arrested in ‘Craigslist Killer’ Case AJE: Tamil Tigers Have 24 Hours to Live; May Eat Fried Chicken, Drink a Nantucket Reuters: Obama Shakes Hands with Chavez; America Finds Strength to Carry On LAT: Obama Asks CIA to Chart New Course, Maybe Relax with the Water WP: Race Books Lead Arts Pulitzers; Being Black…

Pat Riley was always fond of saying that a playoff series doesn’t begin in earnest until the road team wins a game; his rationale is that home court is a huge advantage in the NBA. Riley probably liked the action this weekend in the NBA playoffs; four road teams won. The first round of the…

The winners of the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes announced Monday: JOURNALISM: Public Service: The Las Vegas Sun. Breaking News Reporting: The New York Times staff. Investigative Reporting: David Barstow of The New York Times. Explanatory Reporting: Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times. Local Reporting: Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick and staff of the…

New Orleans is my city Katrina had to move me… I’m the Ninth Ward, for sure -Kim “Black Kold Madina” Rivers Roberts, “Ninth Ward”  To watch Kim Rivers Roberts rap toward the end of the Oscar-nominated Trouble the Water, which debuts on HBO on Thursday, is to see the whole nightmare of Katrina crystallized in…

USAT: +10: Columbine Survivors Remember Madness a Decade Later NYT: Prisoner Waterboarded 183 Times; CIA: “If at First You Don’t Succeed…” HP: Some Give Prez a FAIL Over CIA Treatment; In Other News, GOP Suddenly Loves Obama CNN: CBC Mad at Prez Over Conference, Not Asking Their Permission for Stuff in General AJE: Pirates Seize Belgian Ship,…