CultureDesk

CultureDesk, 7 hours ago to history

70 years ago, the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education led to the desegregation of schools. However this also led to thousands of Black teachers losing their jobs. "Prior to 1954, there were about 82,000 Black teachers in the United States," write a team of academics for @TheConversationUS. "A decade later, with hundreds of segregated schools closing, more than 38,000 Black teachers had been fired by white school leaders." Read more about the importance of Black teachers and why 70 years after Brown, school educators are still mostly white.

https://flip.it/ijpFGJ

#History @histodons #BlackHistory @blackmastodon #Schools #Education

For more stories like this, follow @ConversationUS's Politics and Society Magazine, @politics.

CultureDesk, 8 hours ago to Travel

What do you do when you're a happy camper but your partner is less keen on a night under canvas? Wally Byam's solution was to invent the Airstream, which started in the late 1920s as a wooden platform atop the chassis of a Ford Model T and by 1937 was a sleek aluminum-clad trailer marketed as "an airplane without wings ... luxurious in the extreme." Here, @Smithsonianmag looks at the origin and evolution of this American classic.

https://flip.it/8cXKu6

#Travel #HIstory @histodons #Automotive #Airstream #USA

CultureDesk, 11 hours ago to food

In this week's The Tastiest newsletter, we invited Michelle, the creator of @SiftandSimmer, to share her tips and recipes for making dim sum. Here's her @Flipboard Storyboard, which has recipes for all your brunch favorites, from siu mai and spring rolls to silky mango pudding. There's even a method for how to cook chicken feet, if that's what floats your culinary boat. Sadly, the Storyboard won't make you magically acquire the skills to fold and wrap dumplings, but there are plenty of tips and diagrams so you can start practising.

https://flipboard.com/@siftandsimmer/how-to-cook-dim-sum-dv4k52gehqrn6rds

#Food #Recipes #Dumplings #DimSum #ChineseFood #CantoneseFood

CultureDesk, 12 hours ago to australia

Another day, another unflattering portrait of a public figure, and this time, the Streisand effect is in play too. TIME magazine reports on Australia's wealthiest person, Gina Rinehart, and her attempts to get a painting of her removed from the National Gallery of Australia. The portrait by Vincent Namatjira, an Aboriginal Australian artist, is part of a series in which he uses humor and exaggerated features to portray the rich. “People don’t have to like my paintings, but I hope they take the time to look and think, ‘why has this Aboriginal bloke painted these powerful people? What is he trying to say?’” he said in a statement shared with TIME. The gallery, to which Rinehart is a donor, is not backing down, saying it “welcomes the public having a dialogue on our collection and displays.”

https://flip.it/OPmVWz

#Australia #Art #Gallery #Museum #Indigenous #Aboriginal #StreisandEffect

CultureDesk, 13 hours ago to television

When we saw that @IndieWire had chatted with Gary Oldman, we thought that meant "Slow Horses" was on its way back to Apple. Alas, we have to wait until the fall for that, but in the meantime, enjoy this interview, in which he talks about his favorite "Succession," line, why he loves playing the slovenly Jackson Lamb, and his love of reality TV. “I wanted to be on ‘Project Runway,'” Oldman told Ben Travers. “I wanted to be a judge.”

https://flip.it/GO7yc2

#Television #TV #TuneIn #GaryOldman #SlowHorses #AppleTV

CultureDesk, 1 day ago to history

In 1995, Nintendo released its Virtual Boy, touted as the first console that could display stereoscopic 3D graphics. By the following year, it was all over, with the Virtual Boy dismissed as a commercial failure. Here's an extract from @arstechnica reporter/tech historian @benjedwards and Dr. Jose Zagal's new book, "Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy," covering the development and demise of the console, and the philosophy of Gunpei Yokoi, the designer behind it.

https://flip.it/HNuOQa

#History #VideoGames #Culture #Nintendo #Gaming #Tech

CultureDesk, 1 day ago to ukteachers

Courtney Gore, the co-host of a right-wing online talk show, won a seat on a Texas school board on the basis that she would undo leftist indoctrination and get rid of educational materials with inappropriate messages about sexuality and race. Then she took office and actually read the curriculum, finding that the subject matter simply taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.” The Texas Tribune talked to her about why she ran for office, what she thinks is behind the push to take over school boards, and the backlash she's faced since speaking out against the ultra-right element of the Republican party.

https://flip.it/JY-7Pf

#Schools #BookBans @bookstodon #Education #Teaching #Texas #Parenting #Children #SchoolVouchers

CultureDesk, 1 day ago to books

The Turkish British writer Elif Shafak has published 19 books, many of which are bestsellers, and her novels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Yet she's also one of Turkish literature's most attacked authors, the victim of a campaign that started with fringe nationalist groups and has now been taken up by individuals associated with the ruling Justice and Development Party. Kaya Genç writes for The Dial about how this case is part of a wider trend in President Erdoğan's "new Turkey."

https://flip.it/gUUPny

#Books @bookstodon #Literature #Turkey #Turkiye #Erdogan

CultureDesk, 1 day ago to writing

Alice Munro's death was announced yesterday. Her self-described "second oldest remaining friend and colleague," fellow Canadian author Margaret Atwood, has written this tribute to her on her Substack, In the Writing Burrow. It's meant for paying subscribers, but a substantial portion is free to read.

"Alice could be quite mischievous, and not only in her writing. Both of us had dark curly hair at one time. We were about the same height.

"Alice: I was standing on a train platform and a man came up to me and said, ‘You’re Margaret Atwood!' 'Yes,' I said, 'I am.' Then we had quite an interesting conversation about your working methods and where you get your inspiration.

"Turn and turn about: After we both had white hair, and after Alice had won the Nobel, people would come up to me and murmur, 'Congratulations.' 'For what?' I would say. 'You know. Winning that prize.' After a while I stopped trying to explain, and just murmured back, modestly, 'Thank you.' Though the Thank Yous were really for Alice."

https://flip.it/kIFzPF

#Writing #Literature #Bookstodon @bookstodon #MargaretAtwood #AliceMunro

CultureDesk, 1 day ago to art

Microbial art — the process of creating living paintings with bacteria — has been around for nearly 100 years. It was first created by Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin in 1928 and was also an amateur artist. Atlas Obscura looks at this blend of art and science, some of the skilled folks who make it, and the potential health risks if it's not done carefully.

https://flip.it/vnxNsp

#Art #Science #Culture #Microbes

CultureDesk, 1 day ago to food

America's dining scene has been overtaken by chains — not just Chipotle, Chili's and Starbucks but local restaurants that open up multiple spin-offs in cities, neighborhoods and even streets. Is all this flattening and homogenizing the dining experience? Or are there upsides too? @Eater has built this @Flipboard Storyboard exploring the issue from all angles. Tell us in the comments what you think.

https://flipboard.com/@eater/the-chainification-of-america-cgqrme21cvc7q998

#Food #FoodCulture #USA #Restaurants

CultureDesk, 2 days ago to history

Environmental historian Vicki Szabo and her team of archaeologists, historians, folklorists and geneticists are trying to figure out medieval Icelanders' attitudes to blue whales. Did they revere them as their protectors? Did they hunt them for food? Was it both? @hakaimagazine's Andrew Chapman reports on the work of this multi-disciplinary team, and what their findings might tell us about historical and modern whale populations.

https://flip.it/re1a4P

#History #Science #EnvironmentalHistory #Scandinavia #Iceland @histodons

For more stories like this, follow @hakaimagazine.

CultureDesk, 2 days ago (edited 1 day ago) to television

"Baby Reindeer" is a massive hit for Netflix, and its creator and star, Richard Gadd, is now grappling with fame, a loss of anonymity, and criticisms that he failed to protect the identity of his alleged stalker. He talked to the Hollywood Reporter about how he became a performer, his early failures, and how he feels about internet sleuths. Have you watched the series? What did you think?

https://flip.it/W0NuZh

#Television #Entertainment #BabyReindeer #Netflix

CultureDesk, 2 days ago to Entertainment

A 15-episode weekly medical procedural starring Noah Wyle! Live-event coverage, appointment TV and mega sports deals! Bundled content and stacks of commercials! Is it 1997, or is new television starting to look remarkably like old television? Variety's Michael Schneider looks at how streamers are dusting off some of the old broadcast playbook for a new era.

https://flip.it/-ZeWPO

#Entertainment #Television #Streaming #TuneIn #EntertainmentBusiness

CultureDesk, 2 days ago to books

Alice Munro, the Canadian writer, has died at age 92. In 2013, she became the first Nobel winner cited exclusively for short fiction — an achievement that came after her retirement from her 60-year writing career. Prior to that, she had won Canada's Giller Prize twice, then disqualified herself in 2009 to make way for younger writers. Ms. Munro “brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels,” the jury of the Man Booker International Prize declared in 2009, awarding her the prize for her overall contribution to fiction. Here's a tribute to her from the Globe & Mail. [Story may be paywalled]

https://flip.it/BN0BKb

#Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Literature #ShortStory #AliceMunro #Canada #RIP #InMemoriam

CultureDesk, 3 days ago (edited 3 days ago) to books

Until high school, Kate Feiffer believed that her mother Judy's novel, "A Hot Property," was about real estate. Then a boyfriend plucked the book from the shelves, started reading passages aloud, and revealed it was a piece of 1970s erotica. From then until just a few years ago, Kate considered "A Hot Property" to be her literary Waterloo — the book she'd hoped to conquer but never been able to. But after her mother's death, she picked up the novel and — between bouts of screaming and cringing — found something more thoughtful and reflective than she was expecting. Here's what she wrote for LitHub.

https://flip.it/cbERa2

#Books @bookstodon #Family #Lifestyle #Bookstodon

CultureDesk, 3 days ago (edited 2 days ago) to DoctorWho

"Doctor Who" returned at the weekend with a double bill — "Space Babies" and "The Devil’s Chord." Here's a Rolling Stone U.K. interview from last year with the 15th Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, in which he talks about his approach to the character and how he identifies with them. "As a child, Gatwa and his family fled Rwanda, escaping the genocide against the Tutsi minority. They settled in Scotland," writes journalist Alison Rumfitt. “This person survived a genocide. This person fits in everywhere and nowhere. I am the Doctor. The Doctor is me. I decided that I had to get this role,” Gatwa told her. How do you feel about the new series so far?

https://flip.it/ndz85Q

#DoctorWho #NcutiGatwa #Television #Entertainment #TuneIn

stevenrosenthal, 3 days ago to random

Hey look at that. I somehow won a Peabody award!

(Actually the whole amazing team did. Hire all of them. They pulled off the impossible!)

https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/jury-duty/