culture

As politicians tussle over weapons legislation, the gunshots continue to fly in cities like Chicago, eventually landing on someone’s doorstep. Young Tania Williams writes at Ebony that after the first time she experienced a friend being shot, she couldn’t stop shaking. As my mom called the ambulance, she told me to get him some water,…

Jay-Z may have begun as an MC, but he’s branching out into sports management with the imminent sale of his stake in the Brooklyn Nets and the birth of his fledgling Roc Nation Sports agency, reports Billboard. Jay-Z launched Roc Nation Sports, a joint-venture sports management agency with Creative Arts Agency, at the beginning of…

Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett spoke with Esquire about the personal anecdotes and advice that she’s used throughout her life.  Anytime I was hesitant about taking a chance, my grandmother would say, “Valerie, put yourself in the path of lightning.” I was the first person in my family to become a lawyer. I was…

On Monday, award sponsor the Cleveland Foundation announced the winners of the 78th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. The recipients are the following: * Laird Hunt, Kind One, Fiction * Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds, Fiction * Eugene Gloria, My Favorite Warlord, Poetry * Andrew Solomon, Far From the Tree, Nonfiction * Wole Soyinka, Lifetime Achievement …

Following his last statement regarding the capture of the second Boston-bombing suspect on Friday, President Obama has asked for a moment of silence on Monday at 2:50 p.m. EDT, the time when the first bomb exploded at the Boston Marathon, to remember victims Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu and Martin Richard, according to USA Today. Massachusetts…

As the Boston area recovered in the wake of Friday’s manhunt for the Tsarnaev brothers, London’s marathon on Sunday went on without incident. Two African athletes took home the winning prizes, according to the Daily News. The men’s race was won by Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede; the women’s champion was Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo, not to be…

Amid the investigation and news cycle following the Boston Marathon bombings, Colorlines contributor Rinku Sen offers advice on how Americans can mend after such violence. When I heard about Boston, I wanted to push it away. I’m so exhausted from the cycle of sorrow, panic, defense and more sorrow that every incident of mass violence…

With new gun control legislation derailed, Marian Wright Edelman writes at the Huffington Post why Americans must stay focused on changing the status quo.  The fight to protect children, not guns is not over because:  Ninety percent of Americans want a universal background check. This includes 94 percent of North Dakota voters, 89 percent of…

In the New York Times, Ross Douthat looks at some of the ethical, philosophical and political issues exposed by the trial of abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is on trial for murder in Philadelphia. In a society more comprehensively pro-abortion than our own, there would presumably be more doctors willing to perform late-term abortions and…