culture

Your brother needs to borrow money to pay the mortgage on a house he could have never afforded in the first place. Your parents’ 401k has been decimated, and they need a little help. Your sister is drowning in credit card debt, and it is up to you to throw her a lifeline.  Commercial lenders…

The marriage of jazz and spoken word is an iffy one—the seemingly promising union is often better on paper than in practice. Such is the case with Wynton Marsalis’ newest disc, He and She (Blue Note), a clumsy endeavor that finds the celebrated trumpeter and composer in dual roles as bandleader and narrator of a…

Bill Cosby, one of the country’s most enduring and familiar entertainers, has been selected to receive this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center announced this morning. Cosby, 71, has conquered many media platforms in his nearly 50 years in show business, from stand-up to recordings to television to publishing. His wide-ranging…

Reuters: Taliban Spokesmen Say the Darnedest Things! WFAA: Police Misconduct Is for Quitters: Officer in Moats Incident Resigns ABC: Rio Plans to Wall in Slums, US: “Just Call it a ‘Housing Project’ and You’re Set” USAT: Calipari: ‘ I Do Not Walk On Water’, Leaving Feat to Obama, Jesus The Job: Conservation Can Be Deadly!…

I had only been teaching at Duke University for a few months when I caught one of my first public glimpses of John Hope Franklin. It was a chance encounter at a local supermarket—one of the many times I would encounter him during his daily routine. Flanked by my then-7-year-old daughter, I approached Dr. Franklin…

BBC: Iran, US Have ‘Cordial’ Chit-Chat; Exchange Baby Pics, Nuclear Schematics UPI: British Hand Over Basra Command to US, Don’t Let Door Hit Behind on Way Out AP: Netanyahu Wants ‘Full Peace’; Says ‘We Can Do This the Easy Way or the Easier Way’ LAT: 200 Migrants Feared Drowned in Mediterranean Reuters: Record Drop in…

For years—decades really—I’ve drifted away from college basketball. As I lamented a year ago, it wasn’t the same game I watched as a kid and as a young adult. It was exciting, no doubt, but the quality of play had declined. I still watched, but the thrill was gone for me. This season, I came…

The water is still on at Morris Brown College in Atlanta. At the very last minute, the 128-year-old historically black college came up with the money to pay its past due water bill of $64,887.32 in March. The historically black college was able to tap its proud history. The school reached out to alumni, churches…

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 Just…

MONDAY MSNBC: Tips for Making College Affordable—Step One: Have Money AJE: Deadly Attack on Iraq Funeral (Yeah, It’s Reaaallly Time for Us to Go) CNN: Tyra Gets Her Robin Givens On, Talks to Oprah of Abuse WH: Obama Talks Green Jobs *Live* IS: Indiana Near Top of Black Homicide Rate; Buzz Didn’t Know Hoosiers Were…