culture

The older brother of Avonte Oquendo, the New York City autistic teen who went missing and was found dead, took to the Autism Speaks website to voice his family’s pain over losing Avonte only two months ago. “Picture in your mind having a loved one who does not possess the ability to communicate effectively. Now…

A California high school couple on their way to a dance on Friday were walking on train tracks when an approaching freight train caught them unawares. The 16-year-old boy tried to push his girlfriend out of the way and was struck and killed immediately. The girl, also 16, suffered critical injuries, a hospital spokesman confirmed…

It’s good to have options.  And if you’re Chad Thomas, a senior at Booker T. Washington Senior High in Miami, you have a ton of options. Thomas, 18, has received 150 scholarship offers for his football skills and his abilities as a nine-instrument musician, 10 News Tampa Bay reports. Thomas, who helped the Booker T. Tornadoes…

Growing up, I was the only biracial girl in a white family in a rural Wisconsin town. My hair has always been natural, but back then, I had no idea what “natural” was. I was raised ignorant of most black cultural issues, leaving my education about the debate between natural vs. processed hair to college…

The theater world has long been considered one of the most elite—and least diverse—in American culture. And as I’ve previously covered for The Root, at present there are only a handful of African-American Broadway producers, despite the fact that 46 new shows opened last season. Over the years, though, there have been occasional African-American playwriting…

Science fiction authors and philosophers have asked: Could a computer have a soul? I have a different question: Could a computer produce soul (if you dig what I mean)? The computer is an instrument, just like a piano and a human voice. So just as Nina Simone used those instruments in her song “Mississippi Goddam,” the computer…

Chicago police are searching for the mother of a baby found abandoned in the lobby of a South Side apartment building, NBC Chicago reports. Thomas Freeman told police he found the child wrapped in a purple blanket about 11:30 p.m. Friday at the building in the 8200 block of South Justine Street. The child was…

Freedom of speech and unrestricted access to information make countries stronger, Michelle Obama told students in China, the Associated Press reports. China has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on the Internet. The first lady spoke Saturday at Peking University in Beijing during a weeklong visit designed to advance educational exchanges between the United States…