Prince Shall Forever Remain the Enigma: 'This Thing Called Life'
Instead of cherry-picking facts and quotes, Joseph Vogel lets Prince's legacy shine in all its vague and erratic splendor.
30 Apr 2018
Recent
Informed or Inflamed? Author Steve Almond Talks About How We Consume Trump
With the recent release of Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country, Steve Almond talks in-depth about the US president whom most parents wouldn't even let on the playground -- and about his beef with the American left.
06 Apr 2018
From the Women of Dahomey to Black Panther's Women of Wakanda
Black Panther is more than just another Marvel blockbuster; it's a revelation in Western depictions of Africa and African women.
23 Mar 2018
Is Dave Chappelle's Humor Too Out of Touch for a Comeback?
In light of movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too, Dave Chappelle's 2000 film, Killin' Them Softly may be even more relevant today. But how's his humor holding up?
07 Mar 2018
Sundance 2018: 'Sorry to Bother You' + 'Blindspotting'
First-time directors Boots Riley and Carlos López Estrada tackle racial identity in radically different ways.
24 Jan 2018
Louise Thompson Patterson and the Long Tradition of Radical Struggle
Reading the struggle of Patterson and her comrades a century ago reminds us that today's racist violence is not a temporary aberration but a deeply rooted and pervasive flaw in American society.
18 Jan 2018
James Baldwin Matters
There's a reason why Ta-Nehesi Coates is often compared to James Baldwin, and there's a reason why Baldwin's work is so relevant in the age of Black Lives Matter.
15 Jan 2018
Walk a Comfortable Mile in All Kinds of Shoes
If you can't make it to the Bata Shoe Museum, then pick up this oddly thrilling explanation of things we already suspect about footwear.
12 Jan 2018
For People of Color, 'Real American' Is a Memoir with Big Questions
Julie Lythcott-Haims gives a voice to the internal dialogue—the self-loathing, really—of living a life as a biracial woman who, for most of her life, wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to call herself black.
13 Dec 2017
Rock Pioneer Lloyd Price Has a Couple of Stories to Tell
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and rock pioneer Lloyd Price’s life has been much more interesting than yours or mine, from writing hits with Fats Domino to playing an influential role in the Rumble in the Jungle. Yet Price still has many more yarns to spin even now.
02 Feb 2016
Professional Wrestling, Racism, Transracial Identity, and Why We All Need to Lighten Up
In contrast to our ossified conceptions of race in other aspects of life, race in professional wrestling is a gimmick, a performance of an identity, which one can adopt or drop as part of the game.
Alexander Zubatov
Sports
18 Aug 2015
Diasporic Memories of a Jewish Family
Strangers in a strange land has been the universal theme of the Jewish story. Roger Cohen's 'A Girl from Human Street' provides an emotional account of his family's diasporic journey.
05 May 2015
The Fluke That Wasn't: Reconsidering the Success of Ray Charles's Country Music Landmark
It's no accident that country is considered a white genre; it became white over time, and minimizing issues of race has been a key component of maintaining this whiteness.
Joshua Friedberg
Music
02 Feb 2015
The 'Grand Theft Auto' Rampage: The Violence of Cultural and Subcultural Politics
Grand Theft Auto V's Trevor picks on social groups, rednecks, gang bangers, military personnel, and hipsters, and when he does so, he takes offense at one or two members of that social group before he then allows his rage to explode into a kind of murderous generalization. If one hipster offends, then kill them all.
30 Oct 2013
A Stranger in His Own Land, or 'Assassin's Creed III' and the Alien
The worst thing about Connor as a character seems to me to have less to do with him possibly serving as an ethnic stereotype and more to do with the fact that he often just doesn't seem human at all.
22 Jan 2013
An Affectionate Look at the Privilege of the White and the Middle Class: 'The Last Days of Disco'
Amongst themselves, the main cast of characters are nominal equals, and that contributes to a particular kind of status parsing.
06 Sep 2012
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