culture
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In 2015, Supplement Your Musical Diet With Rap That Feeds the Mind
If you’re like me, listening to rap music in 2014 was like eating fast food on a daily basis. And just as no good comes from chowing down on sugar, carbs and processed foods every day, a steady diet of unhealthy rap can just leave the mind feeling empty. Thankfully, 2015 will offer some healthier…
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Pope Francis Selects a Diverse Batch of New Cardinals
Pope Francis’ selection of 15 new cardinals from 14 countries is seen as a demonstration of his commitment to instilling diversity in the church and “its growth in places like Asia and Africa,” CBS News is reporting. The pope revealed his list on Sunday; the nations represented include Tonga, New Zealand, Cape Verde, Myanmar, Ethiopia,…
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NYPD Officer Turns Himself In After Video Shows Him Assaulting Subway Conductor
New York City Police Officer Mirjan Lolja turned himself in after police released a video showing a man running out of a Bronx, N.Y., subway station on Dec. 23—the same man who is thought to have assaulted a subway conductor on the platform just moments prior, the New York Daily News reports. Lolja has yet…
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NYPD Officers Turn Their Backs on Mayor During Funeral Service for Slain Cop
Thousands—although, reportedly, not the majority—of New York City police officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio during his remarks Sunday at the funeral service for Officer Wenjian Liu. Liu was one of two New York City police officers gunned down late December by an assailant whom some have loosely tied to the #BlackLivesMatters protests…
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Selma, Ala., Residents Can See Selma for Free
The new movie Selma, which depicts the civil rights struggle and the 1965 voting-rights march led by Martin Luther King Jr. through the town of Selma, Ala., is being shown to residents of the town for free, but not everyone is sure that opening that old wound is good for the citizens of Selma. “I…
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Obama and Pearl Jam Frontman Kick It in Hawaii
Before ending their two-week Hawaiian vacation, the presidential family took a little trip along the island to visit with rock legend and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and his family, according to the Associated Press. AP reports that President Barack Obama and his daughters, Sasha and Malia (looks like Michelle Obama sat out this visit),…
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‘Black Brunch’ Protesters Stage Demonstrations Inside Businesses
Civil rights activists targeted Sunday-afternoon restaurantgoers in California and New York to remind them of the black lives lost to police violence across the country. The event, called “Black Brunch,” began last year in Oakland, Calif., according to Yahoo News, after the tragic police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in…
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Turning Action Into Law to Stop Police Killings
Federal legislation related to police brutality and inspired by the spate of killings of unarmed African Americans, particularly men, will be making its way through Congress in 2015. The large demonstrations related to the #BlackLivesMatter movement are sure to mean even more bills in the 114th Congress. Many assume that the new Republican Congress will…
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Stuart Scott Spoke the Language of My Generation
We didn’t have to know you to know that you knew us, got us and embodied us. That you spoke like us and got the duality of being both a professional and a poet. That a home run ball leaving the park wasn’t “hi-yoooo!” it was “boo-yahhhh!” And you got the difference for us, the…
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Okla. Lawmakers Weigh Hoodie Ban
In an effort to deter crime, an Oklahoma Republican lawmaker has drafted a measure to ban hoodies in public, following actions by several other states around the country, Oklahoma’s Channel 6 reports. Republican state Sen. Don Barrington has written a bill that would ban masks, hoodies and other face coverings that hide one’s identity in a…