culture
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Writer Pearl Cleage Tells the Messy Stories of Her Life
By her 20s, Pearl Cleage was on a completely different trajectory, living the kind of life for which a Spelman College degree presumably prepped one: power career as press secretary-speechwriter to Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor; power marriage to up-and-coming politico Michael Lomax (now president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund); powerful friends occupying powerful…
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Barack Obama's Aunt, Zeituni Onyango, Dies at 61
Zeituni Onyango, the aunt of President Obama, became ill in January and passed away on Tuesday at the age of 61. According to NPR, Onyango had been receiving treatment for respiratory problems and cancer within recent months. She died at a Boston rehabilitation center in her sleep. Onyango moved to the United States in 2000.…
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Petition Wants Michael Vick Banned From Jets Practice Site
The New York Jets are realizing that their newly acquired quarterback comes with more baggage than they may have bargained for. With training camps not even under way, students at SUNY Cortland’s campus, where the Jets hold practice, don’t want Michael Vick there and have started a petition to get him banned. The petition, which…
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UMass Basketball Player Becomes 1st Openly Gay NCAA Division I Athlete
Derrick Gordon, a sophomore guard for the University of Massachusetts men’s basketball team, decided that he had carried his secret too long, so after speaking with his family, coaches and teammates privately, he told ESPN on Wednesday that he is gay. “I just didn’t want to hide anymore, in any way,” Gordon told ESPN. “I didn’t want…
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Body Pulled From Indiana Lake Positively Identified as Teleka Patrick
Authorities have positively identified the body pulled from Lake Charles in Indiana as missing Michigan doctor Teleka Patrick, USA Today reports. It is believed that the Kalamazoo, Mich., doctor drowned, and to date, investigators do not believe that foul play was involved, since no trauma was found on her body, the news site notes. Toxicology reports,…
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Baseball Legend Hank Aaron Likens GOP to KKK
Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron isn’t impressed with the advances in race relations in the United States, comparing members of the GOP who stall President Obama’s initiatives to the Ku Klux Klan, USA Today Sports reports. “Sure, this country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is…
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Rapper 50 Cent Ordered to Pay $16 Million in Headphone Settlement
Looks like 50 Cent is going to have to fork over $16 million. That’s because the rapper turned mogul was supposed to produce a line of headphones with Sleek Audio but reportedly snagged design secrets from the Florida company and used them to create his own headphones, the Miami Herald reports. According to a recently…
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GM to Invest $449 Million in Detroit-Area Auto Plants
General Motors is investing $449 million in two Detroit-area factories that will build the next generation of the Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car, the Associated Press reports. GM would not say how many jobs would be added, but the cash infusion will eventually create a second shift at the Detroit assembly plant that makes the…
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Nursing Home Faces Lawsuit for Strip Show
A Long Island nursing home’s attempt to entertain its residents didn’t go as planned, as the facility faces a lawsuit for staging a strip show for its patients, CBS news reports. The risqué event featuring male dancers was discovered after the son of one of the residents apparently found a photo among his mother’s things…
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Belle: A Lesson About British Slavery Buried in a Love Story
Fresh off the Oscar success of 12 Years a Slave, another slavery-themed, major motion picture is set to hit theaters next month. For now you’ll just have to take my word that it’s about slavery, because if you watch the trailer for Belle, you might think it is strictly a love story. You wouldn’t know…