culture

Reuters: Obama To Troops: ‘Yes We Can (Stay in Iraq Another 18 Months)!’ Reuters: ’09 Hurricane Forecasts—If You’re Black and/or Poor, Please Take Note BJ: Lockheed Assesses Sec Def’s Spending Plan, May Take Bombs and Go Home AP: Vt. Cool with Adam and Steve, Legalizes Gay Marriage CW: Recessions Hurt What Matters Most: Apple to…

Hell hath no fake fury like a blogosphere confronted with Madonna trying to adopt an orphan from the Motherland. It’s as if the Material Mama were some winged she-devil sweeping down on Malawi, armed with moneybags and hell-bent on stealing cute, little black babies. The horror! And so it is with glee that bloggers are…

It’s hard out here for authors these days. You really can’t be just an author. In order to support yourself—because, let’s be honest, most book advances only go so far—you have to be writer, teaching artist, lecturer, hustler, marketing guru, business owner and grant junkie. And when you do get a chance to write, you’re…

CAPE TOWN—While the rest of the world concerned itself with North Korean rocket launches, the G-20 summit meetings in London and the brief embrace shared between Queen Elizabeth and Michelle Obama, thousands of music lovers—perhaps seeking some refuge from those issues and more—descended on Cape Town for its 10th annual jazz festival. And although the…

“I was in the lead that had overshot the mark a couple of miles,” Matthew Henson told a reporter in March 1955, relating the moment when, 46 years earlier, he knew he had conquered the world. “We went back then, and I could see that my footprints were the first at the spot.” “The spot”…

If the championship in NCAA men’s basketball was based on the graduation rates of black players on the teams, it would be Duke and Villanova taking the court tonight in  Detroit rather than Michigan State and the University of North Carolina. Both Duke, which lost in the third round, and Villanova who lost to UNC…

Underlying President Barack Obama’s historic election as the first African-American president of the United States remains a campaign promise to find new ways of re-engaging the world and to create a “new American leadership” for a “common humanity.” In recent years, unilateral foreign policy endeavors and egregious human rights abuses have resulted in a dramatic…

AP: High Court Upholds Abu-Jamal Conviction; Black Militants Still Have ‘Free Mumia’ to Fall Back On AJE: Israeli Army Won’t Shoot Messenger, Will Shoot Medic According to Reports CNN: South African Leader Has Corruption Charges Dropped; South African Leader Not Mandela FG: Finally: Thunder and Lightning Give Us Tickets to the Gun Show ESPN: Class…

MONDAY SFC: Six Members of Family Die in Murder-Suicide WP: Surprise, Surprise: Israeli Military Finds No Misconduct in Gaza War FOX: White House Not Super Into Auto Industry Plan, Says ‘Try Again’ NYT: Cholestrol Drug May Cut Risk of Clots; Not a License to Eat More Bacon DS: Dallas Cop Apologizes to Moats (That Should…

Mention the phrase “soul man,” and a litany of names runs through your mind: Otis Redding, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, Teddy Pendergrass and, of course, Sam Cooke. Even newbies like Anthony Hamilton and Jaheim are likely to make the cut, particularly for those who like their contemporary soul,…