Tag: Arts & Culture

Did Dana Schutz’s painting engage with her subject, Emmett Till, ethically and responsibly?

The space has become a vital convening point for creatives, culture workers, and audiences interested in ideas of black excellence.

It was job of the ensemble to be the voice of the people. Then actual protestors rushed the stage.

“Once, when I was sick for a long time and too weak to eat, she chewed my food for me and put the small pieces in my mouth to swallow.”

Chinese writers can bring a lot more to the table when it comes to writing about Chinese food.

“…the ferocious pace of change in media at that point, and the need for novelty, for an answer, any answer, meant that a character like Milo (a charismatic conservative chameleon) could walk right in.”

Daniel Spielberger wonders whether turning Melania Trump into a laughable, campy caricature is more than just mockery, but a way to feel a sense of control in a disempowering political climate.

Lauren Alwan narrates her family’s migration from Syria to California to explore how people’s evolving identities help gain them a foothold in America and create unintentional tensions across generations.

Long after winter has ended, hating on Christmas remains popular sport, as much a holiday tradition as eggnog and overspending.

We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in arts and culture writing.

Darrin DuFord uncovers the history, meaning, and ongoing controversy behind the true “Panama Hat.”

The gospel of yoga, mindfulness, and organic-everything didn’t come out of nowhere. In a world in which once-cherished social safety nets rapidly disappear, taking care of oneself has become an increasingly privatized—and increasingly expensive—endeavor. At The Baffler, Laurie Penny unpacks the ascendant ideology of self-care, and explains why it’s so hard to find an alternative […]

The best in arts and culture writing.

This whitewashing of Jewishness out of pop culture is an old, old story, and it isn’t specific to camp movies; it’s true of plenty of other Hollywood representations of American teens, too. The Czech Jew who wrote the novel that was the basis for Gidget (1959) was inspired by his own surfing daughter, Kathy Kohner, who went on […]

Yes, we’re all connected now. We can tweet a revolution in the streets or chronicle achievements large and small. But we’re also caught in a feedback loop of defame and shame, one in which we have become both perps and victims. We may not have become a crueler society—although it sure feels as if we […]

“When Our Kids Own America,” Gene Demby, NPR.