Quantcast
Channel: Culture & Arts
Viewing all 18483 articles
Browse latest View live

Terrance Hayes Gives Stirring Speech On Race And Poetry At National Book Awards

0
0

Just a week after a presidential election that has left many marginalized communities reeling, award-winning poet Terrance Hayes gave a searing speech at the 2016 National Book Awards that asked the audience to “be the dogs guarding the house” for black writers.


Speaking to a crowd of authors, publishers, and arts patrons on Wednesday night, Hayes presented the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award to Cave Canem Foundation, a nonprofit that supports black poets. In his wide-ranging yet pointed introductory remarks, he shed light on the history and necessity of poetry by and for black people. 


Hayes cited the Latin meaning of Cave Canem ― “beware of the dog” ― and the warning’s presence in a mosaic at Pompeii’s House of the Tragic Poet.


“What does it mean to be the dog guarding the house of poetry?” he asked, before segueing into a discourse on the evolution of black American poetry in the face of slavery, oppression, and brutality. “It’s such a futuristic idea,” he said. “A world in which the descendants of slaves become poets.”


Quoting Lucille Clifton, and Elizabeth Bishop’s description of poetry as “a way of thinking with one’s feelings,” he remarked, “Imagine 20 years of thinking with one’s feelings while someone is trying to kill you.”


Cave Canem, founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996, set out to create a safe, welcoming space for black poets, by bringing them into dialogue with each other and championing their voices. “Cave Canem is a fortification of your language, your history, your future,” declared Hayes. “We must be the dog that guards the house. We must be the bark and the bite.” 


“What would happen,” he asked, “if you brought a bunch of black poets together in a safe place?” This is the mission of Cave Canem, but it’s also a galvanizing question for book lovers looking for ways to offer support within the literary community during a time many find threatening. 


Watch Hayes’s powerful words:





To see Hayes’s speech, start at 26:30 ― or watch the whole video!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


World's Earliest-Known Ten Commandments Stone Fetches $850,000 At Auction

0
0

The world’s oldest-known stone carrying the full inscription of the Ten Commandments sold for $850,000 at a Beverly Hills auction Wednesday night. 


The late Roman-Byzantine era marble tablet, dating from around A.D. 300-830, weighs 115 pounds and is inscribed with 20 lines of chiseled Samaritan script. It was likely displayed at the entrance of an ancient synagogue destroyed by either the Romans between A.D. 400 to 600 or 11th century Crusaders, according to Heritage Auctions, which hosted the sale.


The auction house said the stone’s middle portion was heavily worn, likely due to foot traffic.


Experts believe that the stone’s finders did not know its value when they uncovered it during a railway excavation near the city of Yavneh, Israel, in 1913. They either gave it or sold it to a man who set the tablet, inscription side up, into the threshold of a room. 



The tablet was eventually sold and evaluated in the early 1940s, and its significance as the world’s earliest-known complete inscription of the Ten Commandments became known. 


By 2005, the Israel Antiquities Authority granted export approval for the piece to the Living Torah Museum, which put the stone up for auction with the approval of IAA. 


The new owner, who has not been identified, is under obligation to display the tablet for the benefit of the public. Bidding started at $300,000.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Tom Ford, Newly Enlightened

0
0

Tom Ford is not the same person he was 10 years ago. 


Recovering from an acrimonious split with Gucci after a decade as the brand’s creative director, Ford had just launched his eponymous line. “I knew I wanted to go back into fashion, but I also still want to do a film — I don’t even want to get into it, because everybody will laugh at me and I’m sick of it, but I am really serious about making movies and I will get one made,” Ford told New York magazine in 2007.


Two years later, he self-financed the tender, surreal “A Single Man,” which won enthusiastic reviews and an Oscar nomination for Colin Firth. He has since dressed Michelle Obama for dinner at Buckingham Palace, inspired a Jay Z song and welcomed a son with his husband. 


No one is laughing at Ford anymore. His second directorial effort, “Nocturnal Animals,” opens this weekend. The layered melodrama has proven more divisive than “A Single Man,” and that’s a good thing. People pay attention to Ford’s films. 


Based on Austin Wright’s 1993 novel Tony and Susan, “Nocturnal Animals” revolves around Susan Marrow (Amy Adams), a Los Angeles art-gallery owner disillusioned with her excessively primped surroundings. Susan’s marriage to a distant businessman (Armie Hammer) is crumbling, and the silky world she superintends highlights the insecurities bred by her Southern belle of a mother (Laura Linney). Like a wake-up call slung onto her doorstep, Susan receives a manuscript written by her estranged ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal). The novel’s sinister revenge plot plays out in Susan’s mind as she reads, transporting her ― and us ― to a barren stretch of western Texas where murder lurks around the bend.



For the 55-year-old Ford, that duality is personal. It marks a gulf between lacquered professional gloss and a newfound recognition that the world is grittier than materialism allows it to be. While writing “A Single Man” in his 40s, Ford realized he had neglected his “spiritual” growth, just like Susan. He began reading Eckhart Tolle and the Eastern philosophy texts that Christopher Isherwood, the source novel’s author, had studied, including China’s Tao Te Ching. The mindfulness Ford was absorbing resonated in the book’s opening line: “Waking up begins with saying am and now.” 


“Maybe it’s just been going through a certain spiritual transformation and the struggle with the material world, which I actively participate in, obviously, as a fashion designer, and am drawn to, and the conflicts of that,” Ford said a few weeks ago during a phone conversation. “I struggled with that starting as early as the late 1990s.”


Knowing that “beauty brings us pleasure,” Ford, who has been criticized for objectifying women in his brand’s advertisements, aims to “strike a balance” between the two realms ― something Susan must reconcile as “Nocturnal Animals” progresses. Even though he sees the fashion and film industries as separate beasts, Ford recognizes that superficiality haunts both.



“The main similarity is that, on the surface, everything is perfect,” he said. “Everything is slick and smooth. I think what a lot of people who are not involved in either of those industries do not realize is that such a massive amount of work, pain, sacrifice and effort go behind creating that facade of perfection, which is unnatural.”


The contrast is personified in the film’s opening-credits scene, a dreamlike tableau of nude, obese women dancing before a flowing red curtain as glitter falls like snow around them. This spectacle is an installation at Susan’s gallery. In Ford’s eyes, it’s meant to showcase a liberation that defies Western beauty constructs. 


Inclusivity in fashion is a hot-button topic right now, because inclusivity everywhere is hot-button topic, especially in light of Donald Trump’s election. Ford balks at the lack of diversity on some runways, but when I ask about the need for plus-size models similar to the women at the start of “Nocturnal Animals,” he responds, “Let’s talk about movies ― let’s not veer off into fashion.”


Even if Ford has restrictions in comparing his film to the style sphere, the story’s inherent politics invite such reflections. Some voters spent 2016 at war with the establishment. Many who supported Trump resented the legacy politicians who were (or seemed) isolated from the dusty realities of working-class America, sort of like the gap between Susan’s experiences in Los Angeles and the grimy Texas represented in her ex-husband’s novel. For Ford, a Democrat, underscoring that “disenfranchisement” is the one “positive” result of Trump’s candidacy. (Or at least it was before Hillary Clinton’s shocking loss.) 


“For those of us who do live a life of privilege, in urban centers, we don’t know that,” Ford said. “We don’t see that. We don’t realize that. It’s the same thing in England, where I lived part of the time. Brexit brought that to the attention, I think, of many of the Brits who lived in this very rich London bubble. I think this gap between the rich and the poor is too big.”


There’s more of this subtext to mine, but Ford did not intend an overt political statement about America’s social divide. Instead, it was Tony and Susan’s themes about not throwing away valuable relationships that spoke to him. The same tenant was pivotal in his personal evolution. 


“Somehow, life just caught up with me,” he said of the past decade. “God knows where time goes.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

'The Little Mermaid' Directors Debunk Notorious 'Hidden Message' Once And For All

0
0

“What’s that thingamabob?” is a question parents probably dread when their children watch “The Little Mermaid.” Sorry, your kids ain’t talking about utensils.


The randy bishop in “Little Mermaid” has become a Disney legend. Supposedly, during the wedding scene on the ship, the bishop presiding over the ceremony can’t control his, uh, “dinglehopper,” resulting in kids all over the world pausing the movie to snicker uncontrollably.





But what’s the real story? Is this whosit actually unable to control his whatsit?


The Huffington Post previously spoke to the scene’s animator Tom Sito, who told us, “People are just seeing what they want to see.” Now, thanks to the “Little Mermaid” directors, we’re erecting the whole truth.


While on the “Moana” press tour, directors Ron Clements and John Musker told us, “It’s a misunderstanding. Honestly, we were there, so we know.”


Clements echoed sentiments from the animator, Sito, saying, “The minister has knobby knees.” He continued, “He was designed with knobby knees by animator Tom Sito who was not thinking of anything other than this slightly weirdly designed character. That was never the intention.”


Musker added that the hoopla surrounding the moment was so crazy that Mike Wallace even asked former Disney chairman and CEO Michael Eisner about it on “60 Minutes.” 


Clements said the truth is apparent when you watch the whole scene.


“[His knees] show other times in the movie that you can see clearly,” he said.


It happens briefly, but it does appear the protrusion from the character’s outfit is his knees:





Musker said, “Yeah, that is an urban legend. It’s not true.”


Clements added, “While we’re talking about this, in ‘Aladdin,’ when he’s with Jasmine on the balcony and the tiger is coming up to him, there’s an ad-lib that Scott Weinger [the voice of Aladdin] did to fill in a little space where we opened things up. He says, ‘Good, tiger. Take off, cat. Go!’ That’s what he said, swear to God, that’s what he said. Some people think he said something else.”


Anyone who owns an “Aladdin” VHS and grew up in the ‘90s probably already knows this, but the “something else” people think he’s saying is, “Good teenagers, take off your clothes.”





Who knows if the directors’ new movie “Moana” will inspire another myth. If so, Clements and Musker probably won’t sweat it. They’re used to it.


“These things come, and they take over,” said Musker.


Clements agreed, “There’s not a lot you can do about it.”  


When you make Disney movies, urban legends are just ... part of your worlddddddd!






Hit Backspace for a regular dose of pop culture nostalgia.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

What Would Hermione Granger Do? She'd Fight Like Hell.

0
0

A week after a devastating election loss, and the dawn of a new and terrifying era in American life, most people on the left are still reeling. Or numb, or sleepless, or at a loss for words.


Many among them are turning to the Harry Potter books and movies for solace and inspiration as they struggle to understand the election and steel themselves for the fights ahead.


Perhaps you’ve seen the tweets and the memes:












As an ardent fan of Rowling’s magical books, I empathize with the urge to look to the wizarding world at a time like this. For a generation of young people, particularly those who don’t hold to any particular faith tradition, the Potter series is the closest thing to a holy book: a story of love triumphing over hate, a tale of courageous people helping each other and those less fortunate than them, a series full of models for how to live a good life.


The Potter books, with their obvious real-world parallels, are a metaphor for understanding our real world, a way to think through some of the thorniest questions we face ― questions about prejudice and power and privilege. And, most comfortingly of all in these dark times, when we’re reading “Harry Potter,” we know who wins in the end. We know that whatever disasters befall our heroines and heroes, their suffering won’t be in vain. Good will vanquish evil, because love trumps hate.


Some disdain the turn toward Potter-world and other pop culture comfort food as an attempt at escapism, which is often viewed — wrongly — as the suspicious half-sibling of denial. After all, if this election shows us anything, it’s that out here in the real world, love doesn’t always win: what’s the use in burying ourselves in a children’s fantasy that insists it will? Still, Rowling’s world serves as inspiration for activists and proponents of social justice, and not just in the abstract: The Harry Potter Alliance seeks to harness young people’s passion for the books and direct it toward causes and campaigns that are in keeping with the values explored in the series. That means campaigns to enhance the safety of transgender people, and to build libraries, and to build leadership skills in girls and young women. Their argument is that, “fantasy is not only an escape from our world, but an invitation to go deeper into it.”


I count myself among those who’ve been spending more time with Hermione and Harry lately: I’ve been listening to the audiobooks as much as I can ― on the train, while I cook, as I fall asleep at the end of each long, dispiriting and frightening day. And in the moments when I can’t be listening to them, it’s because I’m working, at my desk, above which is pinned a handwritten sign that asks: “WWHGD?” What would Hermione Granger do? That plucky, brainy, homework-loving, hardworking, courageous young woman who, for so many of us, is the real protagonist of the series: what would she do in this situation, as prejudice blooms into violence and new discriminatory policies loom? Judging by the number of posters and T-shirts available for purchase, I’m not the only one who finds this motto helpful.





The answer to that question isn’t a simple one. It’s not tied in a neat bow like the final 20 pages of any Potter book. Because what Hermione Granger does, time and again over the course of seven books, is take very real risks in the name of what she thinks is right.


She risks her safety by standing up to bullies at school. She risks her social status by founding an organization that her friends and classmates think is unnecessary and uncool.


She risks her education by breaking probably hundreds of school rules, and plenty of laws, to do what she believes is just: she sneaks forbidden books out of the library, and steals school supplies, and breaks curfew, and messes with the laws of time and space, and aids and abets a convicted criminal, and imprisons and blackmails a journalist, and breaks into government property and oh, yeah, she co-founds a secret child army.


She sides with her friend, the wizarding world’s most wanted man, putting a price on her own head in the process.


She drops out of school and goes on the run. She cuts herself off from her family in order to ensure their safety while she drops out of school and goes on the run. She forgoes the option of leaving the wizarding world and going back to her Muggle life.


She endures torture. She risks her life again and again.


What would Hermione Granger do? A lot. She’d take real risks, lots of them, and endure a great deal of uncertainty, fear and suffering. We’re going to have to do the same. Social justice movements require sacrifice ― of comfort, or money, or friendships, or political status, or safety, or all of the above. Resistance to governments that target minorities is dangerous, and it demands courage and persistence. And unlike in an already-resolved book, real-world movements require us to make those sacrifices without knowing if they’ll pay off ― without knowing how the story ends for us, or for anyone else.


Activism comes in all shapes and sizes, and there’s a place for acts and sacrifices small and large. Some of us have less to give, less to sacrifice, less leeway to take risks. In some ways, Hermione has less to give up than others — her Mudblood status grants her less social and political capital than some in the wizarding world.


Still, in other ways, she has far more: she’s financially secure and able-bodied and can leave the wizarding world if she wants. She has a lot, so she gives up a lot. She puts herself on the line for people who are more vulnerable than she is. We’re going to have to do the same. Identifying with Hermione is not the same thing as following her example, and doing the latter will take fierce determination and a willingness to act.


In the last week, we’ve seen a huge outpouring of emotion and a renewed interest in collective action and social justice work. We’ve seen a wave of donations to organizations that defend the rights of the marginalized and we’ve seen thousands of people in the streets. But I’m afraid that a week from now, two weeks from now, our outrage will fade and that those of us who can afford to will begin to make peace with our frightening new reality. That we will stop practicing constant vigilance. I am afraid our courage will fail us. I am afraid we will want to be Hermiones, but choose instead to be Slughorns — protecting our own comfort, our own interests, trusting that someone else will take the risks and make the sacrifices, always waiting until our own safety is imperiled before we’re moved to act.


I’m the last person to sneer at the urge to watch all eight “Harry Potter” movies back-to-back or immerse oneself in the books in search of hope, clarity, comfort or inspiration. But while you’re looking, remember why Hermione is our heroine.


At its core, it’s not her quick wit and her encyclopedic knowledge of arcane wizarding history. It’s because she’s willing to ask herself the hard questions: Why are things this way? Is this just? Whose responsibility is it to make it right? And even when the answers are frightening, she doesn’t ignore the truth. She gets to work.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

What It Means To Be An Artist In The Time Of Trump

0
0

Being an artist today means something very different than it did just two weeks ago. As the nation collectively struggles to come to terms with what a Donald Trump presidency means, we call upon artists as activists, optimists, truth-tellers and revolutionaries, to resist the normalization of hate and prejudice, to stand up for the communities that have been marginalized, and advocate for an America that serves all of its citizens. 


Shortly after the election, we reached out to artists whose work we admire, asking their opinion on the role of an artist over the coming four years. Our questions were simple: What is your mission as an artist today and what is your advice to others in the field?


The answers we received are full of the emotions many of us have been grappling with over the past week. Feelings of pain, anger, sadness, fear ― but also of hope, unity, compassion, motivation and strength. We have compiled the responses and artwork of 21 artists, ready and willing to accept to challenge of making artwork today.


Their words and their visions are important reminders of the creativity, energy and resilience that make this nation worth fighting for. 


1. Natalie Frank



”Despair has become anger which is a wonderful tool to help mobilize. I’ve thought about what I can do: for me, becoming involved in Planned Parenthood in a meaningful way is a first step. Throughout  the election, Trump waged war on women, like we needed another body on that ship ... I’m fearful that our rights could slip away, and fearful for so many others who have been targeted by Trump, whose rights aren’t as solidified as ours. I am hopeful I can work with a larger organization that safeguards these rights (access to healthcare, counseling, mammograms, abortions), if only by my small contribution. Numbers add up to a voice and power.



Despair has become anger which is a wonderful tool to help mobilize.



”I’ve always been interested in women’s bodies, our stories, desires and the sexuality and violence that intertwine. I’m also hopeful that in using portrait in paintings, I can start to represent real women, real stories and convey to those who might not understand, that these issues of self-determination, feminism, humanism are shared and NOT bound by gender.” ― Natalie Frank, painter


2. Vivek Shraya




In the aftermath of the Trump win, the role of the white artist is to continually name white supremacy.



”In the aftermath of the Trump win, the role of the white artist is to continually name white supremacy, and to recognize their privilege by supporting and amplifying the work of artists of color. The time for quirky, white indie covers of songs by black artists is over.” ― Vivek Shraya, writer and visual artist


3. Tona Brown



”Since the beginning of time artists have been able to use our various art forms to inform people of issues in a way that is more impactful then politicians. Often times people vote without really understanding the issues but because of party lines. Rarely are we seeing in today’s society voters who take the time to study the issues.



As a person of color, who is also transgender, our community has always felt the way that people are feeling today .



”As a person of color, who is also transgender, our community has always felt the way that people are feeling today with almost every presidential election. A fear and hope that the new president will care about us.


“But the time is now to fight! [...] There isn’t a woman alive that has not felt the way Hillary Clinton feels right now in the classroom, in corporate America, or even in our households.


“What I am doing to help spark change is to start a college tour around the country to help teach young people that their voices matter! We need them more than any other time in history! [...] I will also be performing at more fundraisers and events to encourage women, minorities and LGBT Americans to fight for what’s right during this painful and confusing time in history. I will also collaborate with artists of various genres and get back in the studio to let my voice be heard. To the nation: stay encouraged, get more involved in your local politics, read and study the issues so that something like this NEVER happens again.” ― Tona Brown, violinist and mezzo-soprano


4. Irena Jurek



”Our current political and social climate is arguably the most divisive, chaotic, and turbulent period that anyone of my generation or younger has ever experienced in this country. Still, I remain optimistic about the future, since dark and challenging times often lead to positive change. Sexism and racism are endemic to the art world just as they are to the larger world that we inhabit. We should each consider how we are contributing to the problem, and ways in which we can level the playing field.



It is our responsibility to visit studios and to seek out artists who are often overlooked because of their racial and ethnic backgrounds.



“Curating is one of the most effective ways that artists can subvert the power structures that are in place, and it is also a direct way to take matters into our own hands. Sadly, apartment shows often suffer from the same lack of diversity as museum shows. It is our responsibility to visit studios and to seek out artists who are often overlooked because of their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Let’s work together to make the art world a more inclusive place. My suggestion extends not only to artists, but to other people involved in the art world as well, since we are all interconnected within the prevailing structures of power.” ― Irena Jurek, visual artist 


5. Roxanne Jackson



”I think the role of an artist in general, and especially during this time, is to question the status quo. This can simply mean questioning notions of beauty ― as definitions and expectations of this idea are too often merely passed down from generation to generation without question. This mode of non-thinking has consequences and leads to prejudice.



I think the role of an artist in general, and especially during this time, is to question the status quo.



”I think dealing with abjection is one of the most powerful and effective roles of contemporary artists. Transgressive work is a more accurate expression from a culture that has been engaged in war as long as we can remember, one that has a severely unequal stratification of wealth, a culture that disproportionately locks up poor minority groups for maximum sentences (while the same crimes from white offenders are penalized with rehab), religious groups that denounce science and inspire their congregation with fear and hate ― not love and tolerance. In this polarizing climate, abject work is relevant. Its holds a space and gives us permission to be outraged, to feel deep emotion and to express vulnerability. To cry out. And, ultimately to unite and stand against oppressors as humans have always done.” ― Roxanne Jackson, multimedia artist


6. Genevieve Gaignard



”As an artist, I’m constantly responding to popular culture and the political world around me. It’s how I make work.That being said, the news of a Trump presidency is scary and upsetting but this type of upset isn’t new ― these kinds of tragedies happen all the time, every day, constantly.



I think this election is just forcing a lot of people to confront a dark reality that so many others already face on a daily basis.



”I think this election is just forcing a lot of people to confront a dark reality that so many others already face on a daily basis. Art has always served that same function for me and it will continue to. I also think there’s a lot of collective grief happening and art is a really powerful space for expressing that anger. If you’re not the type to protest on the streets or don’t have the words to express your outrage, your voice can still be heard through your art.” ― Genevieve Gaignard, photographer and installation artist


7. Emma Sulkowicz



“In a lecture two days after the election, Gregg Bordowitz said something along the lines of: ‘Many people are wondering is art enough? That depends on how you define ‘enough,’ and what you expect art to do. If you expect art to do what art does, then yes, art is enough.’


“Everyone has different superpowers. For those whose superpower is helping people through their art, it’s important that they now put that superpower to use. Too many people abstract the meaning from their work. More than ever, artists who have the privilege of any audience must speak clearly about the issues that matter most.



Everyone has different superpowers. For those whose superpower is helping people through their art, it’s important that they now put that superpower to use.



”I disagree with those who believe that we all have to make art about Donald Trump now. That approach might work for some, but there are many of us who have intimate and personal knowledge about specific topics. If you have one pointed thing to say about, for example, misogyny, it might be more powerful.


“I believe that bad things happen because people desire to do them. Legislation can punish people for being bad, but can’t prevent their initial desire. Art is powerful ― is enough ― because it can make people feel differently. It forces people to be sensitive to others. It creates compassion. Our mission as artists is to remember that we have the power to make each other feel.” ― Emma Sulkowicz, performance artist


8. Katya Grokhovsky



”I am finding words are failing my mouth, leaving me in an increasingly non-verbal state of existence. Fingers twitching, feet bound, dust settling in my eyes and ears, my languages are not sufficient. Scrambled thoughts, galloping forward, pulling my body through the thick mud. My mission is to rise eventually and keep working. Art, in a guttural radical battle cry of communication and expression, must simply dare to persevere, to keep keeping on, to participate, criticize, analyze, improve. Artists, please do not isolate, hide, retreat. Instead, speak through your work, however softly. Be brave.



Artists, please do not isolate, hide, retreat. Instead, speak through your work, however softly.



”Refuse the apathy, reject the hopelessness, engage, connect, change perceptions. Overcome and expose the bitter cynicism settling in the crevices of civilization, elevate, educate, uplift, ascent: generate hope. Expand your vision and dialogue, protect the vulnerable and ask for help, ignite a light, be a catalyst for powerful thought and ideas, muster up the courage.” ― Katya Grokhovsky, visual and performance artist


9. Sylvia Maier 



”The day before the election I had been working on my painting of the mothers who’ve lost their children to police brutality and institutionalized racism. I had been working on this project with Hawa Bah, Constance Malcolm, Kadiatou Diallo, Iris Baez, Valerie Bell and Sybrina Fulton ― a project meant for healing relationships between the police and community by working together to prevent this tragedy from reoccurring. 



Be the voice of the voiceless. Shine a light in this darkness.



“As I am working I feel a stronger calling to counter all the darkness this person has stirred up. I have made my mind up to counter the hate against the LGBT community, xenophobia, sexism and racism with paint. To paint our people together fighting for everyone’s freedom. Painting women as the major characters and catalyst for change. Painting women with admiration and respect.


“Be the voice of the voiceless. Shine a light in this darkness. Using art to preserve our ideals and beauty of humanity in spite of this whirlwind of negativity that has been unleashed and condoned. I think of artists like Goya who lived in turbulent times and documented them anyway.” ― Sylvia Maier, painter


10. Marilyn Minter



”Not all artists are politically minded, and they don’t have to be, I wouldn’t want to see a lot of bad illustrations. But for those who are politically engaged, it’s often when they do their best work. Keith Haring was a product of Ronald Reagan (who wouldn’t even say the word AIDS). In my experience, great art emerges from the marginalized and the angry. No one is saying it better than Jerry Saltz.



In my experience, great art emerges from the marginalized and the angry.



”Right now I’m licking my wounds, and allowing myself to feel the pain and get on the other side of it. Then I’m going to get angry and get tough. I’m taking notes. We have to start organizing. The gods have given us a HUGE target ― all of his ideas are going to fail miserably. Manufacturing is never coming back. The wall will never be built. Let them try to overturn Roe v. Wade! I hope this WAKES EVERYONE THE F**K UP!” ― Marilyn Minter, multimedia artist


11. Aaron Johnson 



“The Trumpocalypse came as a severe shock to me. How could the people of America be so duped by this conman? I spent the first few days after the election just glued to my couch, paralyzed, reading countless articles online, trying to make sense of it. Is this alt-right-embracing sociopath going to start WWIII? How much is his regime going to squash our freedom of speech, freedom of the press ... how soon until my access to empowering myself with information is revoked? How soon, if history repeats itself, will degenerate artists come under assault by the government? It’s nothing short of horrifying.



It’s time for artists to be activists, I truly believe that.



”Getting into the studio was hard. I began by spending Friday painting protest signs, and Saturday handing out signs to fellow protestors as we marched up from Union Square to Trump Tower. It’s time for artists to be activists, I truly believe that. Personally I’ll be following Shaun King’s Trump resistance platform, Bernie’s Our Revolution, and Michael Moore as directives for how to fight back. It’s also time for artists to keep making art. Keep painting, otherwise the fascists win! I’m trying, today, a week after the election, to get my painting will back. The visions are dancing in my head. I can take on this autocrat monster and his cabinet of hate mongers in my paintings, and I can be vicious.


“If this oncoming Trump blood bath is as brutal as it threatens to be, I can go right there with them and retaliate in my paintings. At the moment I’m a little scared to even put those gloves on, or reluctant to fill my head with all that evil. The other road, escapism (certain modes I work in when I’m turning away from the political) has its allure as well. To be decided. This week it’s one day at a time in the studio.” ― Aaron Johnson, painter


12. Eric Yahnker 




Standing still is not an option.



“The artist’s job is the same as it’s always been, only now on a Viagra/steroids cocktail: Feel, react, repeat. Standing still is not an option. We’ve all been thwacked upside the skull by a flaming, ass-soaked sack of tangerine, barbed, electric jellyfish dicks. If a time like this doesn’t move you to act, then get the hell out of the way, or go apply to fucking dental school, or something.” ― Eric Yahnker, visual artist


13. Zoe Buckman 



“Personally I’m drawn to art that aims to spread critical thinking, inspire discussions, and challenge the status quo ... but today this kind of art needs to reach and expand much further than it has done to avoid us continually preaching to the converted.


“As artists we need to stop making work only for gallery or museum walls, or the coffee tables of collectors. Rather, in tandem with these shows and pieces, we also need to make work for the people. For free. On billboards, train stations, public parks, etc. In order for that to happen, public art organizations need to be braver and stop highlighting work that is safe and decorative. The boards that control them need to give more power to the curators, and American cities need to lift much of the red tape that hinders and prevents artists from making challenging public art.



As artists we need to stop making work only for gallery or museum walls, or the coffee tables of collectors.



”Personally, I’m not on a ‘We need to feel good and heal’ flex right now. I don’t judge those that are, and of course I believe that we do need to come together and collaborate and repair. But my stance is more ‘We need to continue to feel uncomfortable, get our hands dirty, and clean out this gutter.’ Racism, misogyny, homophobia, intolerance, anti-Semitism and xenophobia have now risen to the surface and it’s time for a major extraction. I believe that artists can ― and must ― play a role in that, but we need both the resolve and the opportunities to take our work much, much further.” ― Zoe Buckman, multimedia artist


14. Hanksy 



“Like most people, I listened to big media and thought Nov. 9 would be like any other hangover. Take a few Advil and try to recover from a shitty election cycle. And then Donald was elected.



In hindsight I could have done more positive work. We all could have.



”I spent a good portion of Trump’s horrific presidential candidacy focusing on tearing him down. Most artists did. Because the negativity bandwagon is always much more fun to ride, right? Rather than uplifting and pushing for Bernie or getting out the vote, I put down Trump. Of course it was lighthearted, but it was much easier and bound to get more press. In hindsight I could have done more positive work. We all could have.


“But I played my hand over a year and a half ago. I randomly painted a mural that ended up taking on a life of its own. Now that he’s the next President-elect, that silly image of Trump as a poop emoji will be around forever. For better, for worse.” ― Hanksy, anonymous street artist


15. Stephanie Sarley  




My advice to other artists is to not let fear change your process.



”I’m staying strong, continuing to create art like I always have. My advice to other artists is to not let fear change your process. Art is a language, use it wisely.” ― Stephanie Sarley, multimedia artist  


16. Maureen Drennan 



“I believe the role of an artist is more important than ever and ideally should compel and challenge us to think in different ways. Artists can be powerful dissenters and transgressive to political and societal conventions.


“Good art often comes from an uncomfortable place. While it can be painful to explore, the creation and consumption of such art can be very therapeutic. In such a divisive time that we live in, the hardest thing we can do is to show compassion to those in opposition to our beliefs.



My goal is to deepen my understanding of other people’s experiences and share those stories with a wide audience.



”I feel enormously privileged to be an artist and to have met and photographed such inspiring people. My goal is to deepen my understanding of other people’s experiences and share those stories with a wide audience. Stories and narrative foster empathy and compassion, something that is sorely needed during this contentious time of anti-immigrant rhetoric. My advice to fellow artists is to not be afraid to explore things that are uncomfortable.” ― Maureen Drennan, photographer


17. Natalie Baxter




Art creates an alternative context for dialogue on issues that elsewhere divide us.



”I strive to create work that is approachable to a wider audience than just those who share my political beliefs. Art creates an alternative context for dialogue on issues that elsewhere divide us.” ― Natalie Baxter, multimedia artist


18. Rebecca Goyette



“The art world needs to confront its own systemic racism and misogyny. Our cultural institutions have made progress, but there is so much more work to be done, before we are truly representing and monetarily backing diversity. In order for us all to form a united front against racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia, we need to act in solidarity with each other. We need to form tighter bonds.



Together as artists, we must use our power and creative capital to address the violence against people of color and LGBTQ happening now.



“Resistance must become our way of life. Together as artists, we must use our power and creative capital to address the violence against people of color and LGBTQ happening now. We must protest, organize, reach out to Muslim organizations, immigrant rights groups, protect services for people with disabilities.


“I have been struggling with my emotions as many have, since the news that Trump was elected last week, volleying from rage to sadness. I was inspired last night when I went to work with a group of artists with developmental disabilities. The artists had already formed an activist team and were gathering letters to share their thoughts, feelings and fears of Trump’s presidency with their local and statewide officials. They are fighting to keep funding for their services that are vital to their daily lives. [...] Anytime I feel stopped by emotion, I need to remember last night, where we stepped out to continue not business as usual, but stronger than ever.” ― Rebecca Goyette, visual and performance artist


19. Nina Chanel Abney 



“In the coming years, I do not foresee anything magical, per se, happening with art. Art is constantly in flux, it’s always changing and moving. If anything, we will see and hear more truth-telling. Personally, I’m going to use this time to take a more radical approach to my work, take more risks with the hopes to incite more conversation. 



Personally, I’m going to use this time to take a more radical approach to my work, take more risks with the hopes to incite more conversation.



“Artists should not be safe. We are in the unique positions, through our respective mediums, to elicit a response without using violence or direct action. Why not push the boundaries?


“As far as my mission: I plan to continue what I’ve been doing ― just on a grander scale and hopefully to a larger audience. I think now more than ever people are open to dialogue on issues thought to be taboo or subjects once left unspoken of.” ― Nina Chanel Abney, painter 


20. Rebecca Morgan



“I live in rural Pennsylvania. In the center of the state, deep in the rural T, my entire life, on and off. I left for grad school in Brooklyn and eventually moved from the city back to the country and bounced around to residencies and other experiences, but always back to my hometown for weeks, months, or years while waiting for the next opportunity. Now, I’m living in my hometown for my foreseeable future.


“I make art about this place and my complex and often conflicting rural identity. I make paintings, drawings, and ceramics that emanate from stereotypes of rural Appalachia and are at once diaristic examinations of myself romanticizing the rural and being repulsed by it. My work touches on truths about poverty, addiction, and off-the-grid living, as well as idealizations of uncultured country life, and in the same breath, low brow but loving portraits of characters, family and scenarios that I experience daily. I have more or less built a career around my diaristic experience living and growing up in this place. This is a place that I love, and I have worked very hard to love, even when it has not loved me back, or given me reason to love it.


“Living and working in rural Pennsylvania, in the last few months of the election in particular, has really started to make me re-evaluate my relationship with my rural identity and those that share it with me. As my work features lighthearted examples of local characters or cheeky representations of these rural individuals, it’s now a seeming impossibility to render them in bittersweet love; it seems the scale is tipped drastically the other way.



My advice to other artists is that there is no wrong way to deal with the next four years EXCEPT to be passive and inarticulate with your time, words and values.



”Artists have always reflected society. I think the role of artists and creatives is to provide some kind of levity, clarity and lightness in the rough days ahead. In my own work, I want to make images for others to identify with. I want the images that I make to resonate with others ― to mirror events in their lives and have them relate to it as a moment of relief and think, ‘I’ve been there.’ If I can create a moment that someone can laugh at or help them to accept or laugh off darkness, embarrassment, hopelessness ― that is exceptionally powerful to me.


“I usually draw every day. I haven’t wanted to make work about the election and I haven’t wanted to make the work that I was making only a month ago, and also because I didn’t want to do ANYTHING. I was heartbroken. I still am, to many degrees, but the predominant feeling now is to get back on the horse. [...] My advice to other artists is that there is no wrong way to deal with the next four years EXCEPT to be passive and inarticulate with your time, words and values. There is no wrong way to make art; whatever voice you choose is the right thing ― whatever work you make is the right thing.” ― Rebecca Morgan, visual artist 


21. Brendan Fernandes 



“I feel daunted, a little numb today. Yesterday morning was a process of grieving in a way that I haven’t felt before. This is a shocking moment. A life-changing experience for this country, but one that is also rippling out, affecting many throughout the world. It will take time to process this, but in that I am gathering myself to act up, to take action. 



It is my responsibility as an artist to voice what I believe in and reflect what my communities are going through.



“This vote acts against women, Muslims, climate change, immigrants, people of color, and queer communities. These are communities that I am a part of, communities that I am supportive of, and communities that were already disenfranchised before this election reinforced our oppression. This is a capitalist win. And what’s more is that it was a predominantly white, working class who has made this decision. A decision that will no doubt benefit the one percent far more than it will benefit themselves. Have those most vulnerable in our communities ― women, people of color, immigrants, queers, the Land ― being taken advantage of by a failing education system? Are we being victimized by massive frustration with a lack of employment and income inequality? Are we being made to look blamed? Are we again the casualties of desperate supporters looking for a ‘hero,’ a promised hope ― false or not ― that someone with make it right?


I am searching out what I am feeling. Enraged? Perhaps angry? Something is burning underneath. I know that as an artist I can use this to create. As an immigrant, a queer, a person of color and a feminist, I will raise a deeper, more powerful, more important voice to reflect my issues and defend the right to be different. It is my responsibility as an artist to voice what I believe in and reflect what my communities are going through. We must work together. In this moment of uncertainty, the world will turn to its artists as leaders, as voices of support, of hope and of unity. Now is the time to mobilize as artists, as galleries, as institutions of allies.” ― Brendan Fernandes, multidisciplinary artist


These responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Man Who Lied About Being Banksy Says He Helped Elect Trump

0
0

The Washington Post published an interview on Thursday with Paul Horner, a 38-year-old whose life’s work is creating and spreading viral hoaxes.


Most recently, Horner is reportedly responsible for many of the controversial fake news articles that served as the main course for many Trump voters’ media diets ― stories about Clinton supporters being paid to protest at Trump rallies and Obama banning the national anthem at sporting events nationwide.


Stories like these, many are claiming, helped Trump to his unexpected presidential victory.


“Honestly, people are definitely dumber,” he told The Washington Post. “They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore — I mean, that’s how Trump got elected. He just said whatever he wanted, and people believed everything, and when the things he said turned out not to be true, people didn’t care because they’d already accepted it. It’s real scary.”


The name Paul Horner might already be familiar to art world regulars. That’s because the very same Horner successfully tricked parts of the internet into thinking he was Banksy ― twice. In 2013, and then again a year later, the satirist published fake stories alleging that he himself was the notoriously elusive anonymous British street artist. 


In Horner’s most effective hoax in 2014, he broke a story on the National Report claiming Horner, aka Banksy, been arrested by an “Anti-Graffiti Task Force” for vandalism, conspiracy, racketeering and counterfeiting. The National Report, of course, is one of Horner’s satirical (read: fake) news sites. But before long other blogs and newspapers jumped on the news before fact-checking it, and the story spread. Fast. 


Eventually, the art world realized the error of their ways and the publications who impetuously jumped on the Banksy bandwagon redacted and amended the false claims. Unfortunately, the right-wing readers who furiously read and shared Horner’s election-centric fake news stories never quite realized that, well, they were fake. 


Horner himself believes these faux articles played a crucial role in Trump’s election. 



Horner, who considers his work in the vein of The Onion, staunchly opposes Trump. He continued to post fake news articles, exaggerating right-wing mentality to absurd and nonsensical scenarios, hoping to bait Trump supporters into sharing the stories and looking ignorant as a result. Only that moment of revelation never came, and Horner’s plan backfired wildly.


“There’s nothing you can’t write about now that people won’t believe,” Horner said. “I can write the craziest thing about Trump, and people will believe it. I wrote a lot of crazy anti-Muslim stuff — like about Trump wanting to put badges on Muslims, or not allowing them in the airport, or making them stand in their own line — and people went along with it!”


Rather than exposing the foolishness of Trump supporters, Horner’s fake articles only exacerbated their suspicions and beliefs. Even still, Horner did not stop, mostly because he never really considered Trump could win. 


“I didn’t think it was possible for him to get elected president,” he continued. “I thought I was messing with the campaign, maybe I wasn’t messing them up as much as I wanted — but I never thought he’d actually get elected. I didn’t even think about it. In hindsight, everyone should’ve seen this coming — everyone assumed Hillary [Clinton] would just get in. But she didn’t, and Trump is president.”


Now that both Google and Facebook are attempting to crack down on the unchecked fake news spreading across the internet landscape, Horner is glad to see sites with “no creativity or purpose” go. But he hopes his somehow make the cut.


It’s another bizarre scenario in which the art world and the presidential election overlap. And yes, a truly frightening one. Wherever the real Banksy is right now, I hope he’s preparing a scathing street-art takedown of one Mr. Paul Horner. 


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Zadie Smith Wonders Why She's Never Accused Of Cultural Appropriation

0
0

In September, novelist Lionel Shriver whipped the literary universe into an angry froth when she gave an address at the Brisbane Writers Festival wearing a sombrero and defending fiction writers’ right to cultural appropriation. Not long after, she followed up with a strident New York Times essay reiterating her thesis.


On Wednesday, acclaimed writer Zadie Smith, known for bold comic novels depicting the day-to-day lives of multicultural families and communities, weighed in ― and her response may surprise readers.


Smith has made no secret, in the past, of her frustration with being dubbed an expert in multiculturalism. In an interview discussing her new book, Swing Time, the literary possibilities of the Trump family, Brexit, male critics and parenthood, Smith told Slate’s Isaac Chotiner, “I don’t think I’m a particularly political person.”


When it comes to multiculturalism, she said, “I’ve always dealt with it as a descriptive fact” rather than as “a kind of ideological principle.”


Asked to address Shriver’s explosive comments, Smith tactfully told Chotiner that “it’s just a question of approach. I would not take Lionel’s approach.” That doesn’t mean she entirely disagrees with the American novelist, however. “I [...] think there’s an enormous amount of pious cant spoken about it. [...] It’s a kind of fake piety.”


Smith, whose breakout novel White Teeth featured not only the child of a Jamaican mother and a white English father, but also a Bengali Muslim family, pointed out that she’s “almost never accused of cultural appropriation —why not? Because I’m brown and Bengalis are brown and so it’s all the same to white people?”


Some artists of color have been criticized, in the past, for appropriating trappings of other cultures ― and even Smith says she’s almost never, not never, accused of it herself. But in her Slate interview, she pointed to how much this critique tends to center white artists and lump all non-white artists together:



The whole thing is told from a white perspective, which is completely annoying to me. In terms of things that I borrow, of course I use things all the time. I have absolutely no defense apart from I love and am curious about other people’s lives and I am explicitly a voyeur. That’s why I started writing: because I wanted to know what’s it like to be a Jewish Chinese guy or an old black woman or a white professor or whatever. That is my absolute intention to get under the skin and do that.



Smith also noted, “I do resent the idea of being portrayed as such a vulnerable human that if you involved yourself in any aspect of my ‘culture’ I will crumble at the idea of you borrowing it from me.”


Is Smith right about cultural appropriation? She’s not one to oversell her expertise ― but she also doesn’t blink an eye at the prospect of ruffling feathers through pursuing her own artistic path. “I can be wrong,” she told Slate. “People tell me I’m wrong all the time. I get letters and people get grumpy, but that’s the risk you take.”


Read the full, fascinating interview at Slate.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


What It Means To Be A Writer In The Time Of Trump

0
0

Ernest Hemingway said, “The writer’s job is to tell the truth.”


You’d be hard pressed to find a writer who wishes to shirk this responsibility. But, there’s discrepancy among us about what “truth” really means. Should we share our emotional truths? Should we accumulate facts? Should we work to empathize with others, and in doing so learn to see one another more clearly? Should we make our political motivations clear? Should our truth-seeking and truth-telling change along with our political situation?


Hoping to better examine these questions, we asked authors ― most of them writers of fiction ― what it means to them to do their work during Trump’s presidency. Their responses are below.



Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You 


“Writing ― making any kind of art ― is always a political act, but at this particular moment it feels more important than ever. The fundamental job of a writer is to spread empathy ― something that’s been sorely lacking in the Trump campaign and from Trump supporters. When you’re fighting intolerance and hatred — as we appear to be ― spreading empathy is itself a form of fighting, maybe the most effective and radical and lasting kind there is.”



Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun 


“This morning a friend alerted me that a young college student she knows attempted suicide in fear of being deported. She said she thought I could help. ‘Just reach out to her,’ she pleaded. But I felt helpless in that moment. For what could I say to this student, who was so paralyzed with dread that she would rather end it? How could I possibly hold her hand and tell her that it will be alright, when I’m not even sure myself? I wrote about the struggle of undocumented immigrants in a recent Literary Hub essay, ‘My First Visit to the Church of American Democracy.’ Their existence here is a series of tentative footsteps: They have to apply for jobs they hate straight out of college that promise them sponsorship; some listlessly apply for PhD programs and post-docs in departments that work them like slaves just so that they can extend student visas; others marry abusive spouses with hopes of stability; many scrub floors, toilets, stadiums, among many other menial jobs, just to make enough to pay for rooms too small to hold them and the dreams they came with — dreams that this young woman fears she might have to let go of, and return home to a country that is not prepared to take her back.


“So, it was with great disappointment that I looked up from my sheltered world as a documented immigrant with no words to say to my young sister. My spoken words would be too sweet, insipid. Just words. Therefore, I sat before my computer to write. It’s the only way I know how to cope. I write to dismantle notions used to build walls that alienate people. Fiction is easier to digest, which is why I choose it as my medium for activism. My written words can change the world by changing attitudes and hopefully, policies. It is my gift to the unheard, invisible masses. Long before Trump, people of color have dealt with racism. A whole generation of African-Americans was sprayed down with hoses, denied housing, denied education, denied citizenship. Long before Trump, women have been denied ownership of our bodies. Long before Trump, immigrants have crouched in fear of getting deported. Long before Trump, gays and lesbians still could not order wedding cakes in certain towns and transgendered people were denied the human right to relieve themselves in the bathroom of their gender. Therefore, it is not Trump who is the driving force behind my reason to pick up the pen, but the motivation to write against a lifetime of bigotry.”



Derek Palacio, author of The Mortifications


“I am by nature a plotist. I love cause and effect, especially when it webs people together, revealing an interconnectivity that is perhaps subconscious or intangible, but still very real. In some ways this election suggests an America that wants to compartmentalize. The voters who cast their vote for Trump were willing to isolate the elements of his rhetoric that spoke to their wants while ignoring the sexism and racism equally woven into that very same message. And now we are being told that we can have one without the other, that Trump will abandon the denigrating perspective of his campaign; that his presidency will be about jobs and the economy.


“It seems to me, then, that to be a writer under this administration is to remember and remind others that such an approach is impossible, that one cannot build a wall without tapping into the bigoted fears underlying such a project. Those things are inextricably linked, and I am compelled and obligated to make clear such connections in my work. At the same time, I hope to also make clear the ways in which we as a citizenry are also still connected. Regardless of what we want for ourselves, we cannot ignore the effects of our decisions on others, which is something Trump’s campaign has asked us to do. I will not participate in that ignorance, and I will spend the next four years working against the baseless hierarchies and aloneness of his message. I will spend the next four years writing toward the American community the majority of citizens voted for.”



Alexandra Kleeman, author of Intimations


“As the election results came in on the night of Nov. 8, my heart broke: it felt impossible to swallow the discovery that the electoral majority of my country had chosen to affirm the racism, sexism, and dishonesty that characterized Trump’s campaign. As a non-white woman with loved ones in every one of the categories threatened under Trump’s politics, I feared for our bodies and our futures and I felt the loss of security as something visceral ― a cement block on my chest, a fist at the base of my neck, a hand around the lung, tightening. But when I thought of myself as a writer, I felt the loss of something less concrete. I felt I had lost the sense that I was writing to the world, to people I didn’t know and couldn’t imagine, people who I might find through my writing and who might find me back. I had always thought of writing as a sort of CETI signal sent out into the universe, which had a chance of touching someone even if it ultimately failed to. In this new reality, it felt like we shared no common language of values, ethics, or even basic agreement on facts. Is communication possible without those things?


“The simplest way to say it would be that I lost the sense of a shared world. A week later, I still don’t know how to negotiate the fissure: do I have a responsibility to try to find new ways to communicate the urgency of environmental and racial justice to people who are not inclined to listen? Or is my responsibility only to the people who’ve been put at risk by this election, who already have my compassion? What I do know is that being a writer in the political world to come will require much more of me than writing: it’ll demand my body, my time, the parts of me that I felt were personal rather than political. If we want to protect the values that make literature possible, we’ll have to step outside our discourse ecology and work for them in their more concrete, embodied form.”



Amber Sparks, author of The Unfinished World


“I have two separate lives, one as an activist and one as a writer, so right now I’m mostly thinking about the activist part and very little about the writer part.


“But when I do think about my life as a writer under a President Trump, I worry that I won’t be up to the responsibility. It’s so very difficult to write the kind of fiction that matters, that heals, that changes lives, and that isn’t just propaganda or something resembling it. I worry that the kind of fiction I write won’t matter at all in this Brave New Trumpian World; and I worry that it will. I tend to write, though obliquely, about women’s lives and the lives of those who identify as outsiders. That seems more important than ever during a Trump presidency - whether to bring comfort, or to tell someone ‘you are not forgotten,’ or to create a visibility through fiction for people who otherwise wouldn’t be seen at all.


“There’s also the more important work of opening up new avenues and opportunities to give direct access to new voices, to people of color and LGBTQ and disabled people and immigrants and refugees and the many other people who will be more marginalized than ever under Trump. That work needs to be continued and amplified times a thousand. I just hope I can do my part to be a responsible and engaged artist during the very tough times ahead, even when I’m personally despairing that art makes a difference at all. When Bush was elected in 2000, I put up a poster on my apartment wall and I’ve carried around the quote with me ever since ― a bit by Brecht, ‘In the dark times, will there be singing? Yes, there will be singing about the dark times.’ I’ll keep remembering that.”



Vanessa Hua, author of Deceit and Other Possibilities  


“As a journalist and author, I’ve always tried to shine a light onto untold stories, to foster empathy and to drive change. In other characters, we might find kindred spirits, even if we don’t share the same race or place, sexual orientation, social class or religion. I’m the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants. This country was built on the backs of immigrant and people of color, and in times of war, we have protected this country, too. We need to hear these stories more than ever, at a time when the president-elect questions our loyalty, when he denies the disabled, the queer community, and the marginalized their humanity. Every hurled slur, every stereotype and assumption denies us our stories ― and I’m vowing to tell as many and as deeply as I can in the years ahead.”



Nnedi Okorafor, author of Binti


“My first response to Trump’s win was not denial or shock, it was fury. Now, days later, that fury has stabilized and become another energy source. The writer in me is feeling wickedly mischievous.  


“I owe Trump as much respect as he gave people like me during his campaign. To me, he will always be a messy mistake America made while in pain. I’m witnessing this, I’m in this ... as a writer, and there is nothing more inspiring than being in the hurricane. I’ve been actively incubating a new book (I know the story; I’m just letting it sit until it says it’s ready). All this will affect it; I’m looking forward to seeing how.”



Tracy O’Neill, author of The Hopeful


“Like many writers, I teach, and under the Trump presidency, as always, our classrooms must act as microcosms of decolonized worlds. These are spaces for building communities gathered by storytelling, and if we really believe that the written word is powerful, we need to begin with taking seriously the idea that craft does not operate independently of ideology, to acknowledge that texts are sites of choice.


“How can point of view complicate power relations? How might syntax defamiliarize systems of inequality? Part of our job too is refusing the reproduction of problematic power structures in the texts to which we assign value. I see far too many syllabi that look as though their aim is passing the Mischling Test. Instead, we need to take responsibility for our future canon. I want to see syllabi that mash up form and genre, that move to the margins and say hell no to hegemony. Finally, we need to frame dissent as a necessary facet of our practice in workshop, emphasizing that consensus is not the constitutive material of community.”



Gary Soto, author of Partly Cloudy: Poems of love and Longing 


“The day after the election and an hour into a manageable hangover, I sat on the couch, my dear wife, Carolyn, at my side. Neither of us was happy. Neither of was hopeful. Outside our window, birds on bare limbs, leaves on the ground, and the sun filtered by a cloud.


“To hell with that poetry!


“I smiled at a devious thought and shared it: ‘Carolyn, what if I get the call from the Trump camp to the write the inaugural poem. Should I accept?’


“My wife slowly raised her face to mine — no, she was not about to pucker up with me. How dare I make light of such a tragedy!


“OK, it wasn’t funny and, anyhow, the call won’t come. There won’t be a voice that asks, ‘Is this Mr. Soto? The poet of many remaindered books?’


“I shared this additional silly thought, and my wife, not willing to play with me, stood up and moved away. The sun behind the cloud disappeared.


“None of it was funny, none of it made sense — how had Hillary lost? And now what do I do? Should I bother to write my Donald Trump poem, and let it go viral— whatever viral means to poets? For us, the small journal poets, viral is a magazine with a circulation of 600 copies.


“And what does the election result mean? It means that poets and essayists, playwrights and novelists, song writers and literary scholars, everyone who works with words … we’ve got to get really loud these next four years. We’ve to become nasty writers.”



Belle Boggs, author of The Art of Waiting


“I have lots to say about the I-suppose-it’s-happening (Is it really happening?) Trump-Pence administration. I’m working on a novel about for-profit education. I write about reproductive rights, and have been working on nonfiction about the futures of young transgender people living in North Carolina in the wake of HB2. I was a K-12 teacher in underserved public schools for years. I was born and raised in the rural South, and I’m trying to stay and make things better here. 


“But my students — my smart, questioning, scared, generous students, who are all vulnerable to decisions already promised by this administration — have so many important things to say too. I feel that my priority now is to teach and to be there for my students and the other young and vulnerable people in my life: to listen to them and help them get through this time with a sense of purpose and dignity. 


“’This will always be a place of tolerance and welcome. It will always be a safe space,’ my daughter’s preschool teacher told me Nov. 9. By the end of the day she’d turned to literature, writing a quote from Maya Angelou at the top of Bea’s daily report: ‘Just like moons and like suns / With the certainty of tides / Just like hopes springing high / Still I’ll rise.’”



Sara Nović, author of Girl at War


“Writing is always a political act, but I expect that will become even more explicit in light of the Trump administration-to-be’s well-documented animosity toward the academy and journalistic practice. Now, more than ever, writing and art is critical for its capacity to educate, transport, and forge bridges of empathy. But we are beyond business-as-usual, and art alone is not enough to induce the mass cultural and political change this country now needs. Writers must now use any public voice we have to push that change forward and be on the front lines in protecting and amplifying the voices of vulnerable populations. Elie Wiesel said it best, I think: ‘Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim ... Sometimes we must interfere.’”



Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Small Backs of Children


“I hope that we write ourselves back to life. I hope that we double down on what we mean when we say ‘writer,’ so that the definition explodes and reconstitutes around writing as a socially vital activity, not a market-driven dead zone. I hope that when we step into our writerly lives, we can only come alive by and through each other, by and through our beautiful differences. I hope that ‘hope’ doesn’t come from looking up ever again, but from looking each other in the eyes/I’s. I hope we stand up inside our various languages with ferocious love and courage and that we aim for what matters in the world, whether or not anyone remembers our names. Let it be true that we wrote the world and each other back to life. Let that be the new book.


“We didn’t get here by accident. This is not a new brutality, it is a very old one, and every time it circles back around in a new form, we have to look again in the mirror and stand up differently ― writing can yet invent new forms of resistance and resilience in the face of brutality.


“And the wonder of that.


“And how this is our present tense calling.”



Mohja Kahf, author of The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf


“If we old fogies mention decades of racism, xenophobia, and sexism we have experienced in this country, it’s not to tell young folks not to worry. It’s not to diminish the bizarreness of this election or the seriousness of the dangers ahead. It’s to call to mind the resources we developed and the strategies that produced bits of success, and to remember that we’re stronger now with that knowledge. It sucks that your generation has to fight this anew, but it’s not new. We say that to remind you that you have those strengths inside you, and you have them accumulated from previous generations. We fought it before with what felt like fewer resources, and look at all the resources you ― we ― have for the path now. You amaze me with your cutting edge tools for this work, your insta-snappa-whatcha ways of organizing. Your vision leaves me breathless. Heave to. We can do this.”


 



 


Karen Bender, author of Refund


“I was up all night on Tuesday, trembling with sorrow at the ignorance of this country, and wondering what to tell my Hollins students, who had asked me last week, “Is every election like this?” And how they were, a group of young, very bright, impassioned women, terrified of Trump. And I told them this: This is when you need to write. This election was, I believe, a profound failure of empathy. It was the triumph of the stereotype over the specific. It was the triumph of language manipulated to create fear instead of used to create reason, light. I told them to write. They must express themselves, create their poems, stories, essays, that will reveal their essential humanness to a world that needs to see it. For now is when we need the precision of language, the power of story, to show others who don’t want to see or believe it, that everyone is human. That everyone deserves a chance for the pursuit of happiness, for love. And that is what I will believe, every day.”



Kim Brooks, author of The Houseguest


“In anxious times ― September 11, the beginning of the Iraq War, nearly all of 2016 ― my go-to source of solace has been Hannah Arendt. As witness to and chronicler of the 20th century’s worst atrocities, her voice is both one of warning and of insight. She spoke with a moral gravity that I find immensely reassuring in ways that sometimes border on mystical and can offer guidance to writers in dark times.


“Take, for example the conclusions from her report on the banality of evil. Of Adolf Eichmann, she wrote that ‘he was genuinely incapable of uttering a single sentence that was not a cliché ... The longer one listened to him, the more obvious it became that his inability to speak was closely connected with an inability to think, namely to think from the standpoint of somebody else.’


“And later, she argues that the lesson of stories of resistance to Nazi atrocities is that ‘under conditions of terror, most people will comply but some people will not ... and no more is required ... for this planet to remain a place fit for human habitation.’ As writers, artists, thinkers and activists begin to take stock of our new fascistic landscape, it seems the most urgent and essential task is to model the empathy Trump and his followers disavow, to resist convenient and self-serving cliches of cheap rhetoric, to refuse to comply with or keep silent about policies that undermine our essential values and beliefs, to witness, to stay awake.”



William Keller, author of Democracy Betrayed: The Rise of the Surveillance Security State


“When Trump is president the public will know even less than it does today about national security and government surveillance. Obama was bad enough. He ordered hundreds of top secret drone assassinations and condoned all kinds of covert intelligence activity. Those who tried to write about it found themselves under aggressive legal attack. Just ask James Risen, who lived under the threat of imprisonment for seven years. Trump will be much worse.


“For starters, he won’t enforce the Freedom of Information Act. When it comes to classified materials, he doesn’t care about the truth. He transformed FBI Director Comey’s bungling attempt to influence the election into a torrent of unsubstantiated accusations about Clinton’s ‘criminal’ email account, and threatened to ‘lock her up.’ Life as a national security writer is about to get rough. The Trump Justice Department is very likely to prosecute anyone who writes critically about security, specifically, anyone who reveals classified or classifiable information from confidential sources. And if Rudy Giuliani — who still hopes to haul Hillary Clinton before a grand jury — succeeds in his campaign for attorney general, national security writers will have to batten down the hatches and pull their punches. A chill wind blows from the corridors of power in Washington into the nation’s news rooms and publishing houses.”

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Turkeys Who Literally Can't Even Right Now

0
0

It’s a dicey time for turkeys.


Slicey and dicey.


Political uncertainty and upcoming holiday dinners have left many of them with the inability to even. No matter how hard they try, these turkeys simply can’t even.


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Donald Trump's 'Locker Room Talk' Got Him Nominated For Bad Sex In Fiction Award

0
0

The Bad Sex in Fiction Award is easily the least sexy award one could hope to achieve. President-elect Donald Trump was a contender for it ... sort of.


Since 1993, the U.K.’s Literary Review has bestowed the Bad Sex in Fiction Award to an author who has produced “an outstandingly bad scene of sexual description in an otherwise good novel.” 


So, why was Donald Trump nominated to receive it? No, it wasn’t for the Trump Tower novel that almost bore his name on the cover.



The nod was a result of the polarizing president-elect’s offensive rhetoric and “pussy-grabbing” remarks from a leaked interview tape from 2005. These lewd comments, which Trump deemed “locker room talk,” led some readers of the publication to nominate him for the award.


Unfortunately, the judges are sticklers for the rules and discounted Trump’s nomination “on the grounds that the award only covers fiction.” Other submissions that did pass muster include Jonathan Safran Foer’s Here I Am and Leave Me by Gayle Forman, according to the Literary Review.


The true winner of this year’s award will be announced on Nov. 30. Regardless of the outcome, Trump gets the unsexy award in our book.


type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related... + articlesList=58261ee0e4b0c4b63b0c7f3f,582b33bce4b02d21bbcaa8cf,58263ddde4b060adb56e8137

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

First-Time Author Offers Kids A Splashy Tale Of Self-Acceptance

0
0

In his heartwarming new picture book, first-time author Aaron Clippinger takes his young readers under the sea for an environmentally conscious lesson about compassion and self-acceptance. 


Released in July, A Different Dolphin follows a young dolphin who finds himself isolated from his peers for things he “cannot change or hide.” After questioning the value of his own life, the dolphin encounters some “ethereal” sea creatures, who lend him happiness and strength. Featuring illustrations by Mike Shea, the book concludes when the newly confident dolphin rescues a dolphin pod, some of which bullied him previously, from the grips of a menacing fisherman.  


Clippinger, 32, told The Huffington Post that he was inspired to write the book after viewing the Oscar-winning documentary, “The Cove,” which examined dolphin poaching practices in Japan. At first, he envisioned A Different Dolphin as a short poem specifically about the plight of hunted dolphins. Eventually, he found that there were “additional passions and feelings that I needed to express,” so he decided to expand the story while keeping the rhymes. 



“It became a medium for me to process my experience growing up as a boy who always felt different, but who had, later in his life, learned to accept and embrace his differences,” Clippinger, who is based in Queens, New York, said. “While the story still promotes saving dolphins from poachers, it became a larger story that expresses the pain that individuals can feel when they are left out of a group or are made to feel ashamed of their differences.”


The dolphin’s journey toward self-acceptance, he said, was largely based on his own experiences coming to terms with being gay.


“I knew I wanted to fit in and have friends, so I made more of a conscious effort to adopt behaviors and mannerisms that conformed to male gender norms,” he said. “Now that I’m older, I wish that I didn’t put myself through that grinding, conforming process. Instead, I wish I had the insight and level of self-compassion to realize that I was fantastic and lovable just as I naturally was.”



Ultimately, Clippinger hopes the message of A Different Dolphin resounds beyond young audiences who may identify as LGBTQ, and that all readers “feel empowered to practice more self-compassion” after reading it. 


“I believe that it’s this practice of self-compassion that will keep us afloat during life’s hardest times,” he said, “and it’s this same practice of self-compassion that will empower us to soar to our greatest heights during the best of times.”


You can read more about A Different Dolphin here


-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

La Borinqueña's Best Friend Is A Chinese-Dominican Badass

0
0

La Borinqueña’s universe is getting even more diverse. 


The Nuyorican heroine already stands out among other comic book superheroes thanks to her proud afro-Latina roots. Now her best friend Lauren “La La” Liu, who is Chinese-Dominican, is going a step further in showing the immense diversity of the Latino community.


Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez told The Huffington Post in May that he created La Borinqueña, whose real name is Marisol de la Luz, as a “symbol of hope” for the Puerto Rican diaspora. When the boricua isn’t flying off to a new adventure, she and her childhood best friend La La are studying earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. 



La La’s character came to life in part because the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American center commissioned Miranda-Rodriguez to create a bigger storyline for the Chinese-Dominican character. 


“As I’m independently publishing my comic book, I couldn’t afford to give La La Liu a bigger part in the first issue,” he told HuffPost on Thursday. “She was originally just a small character. However, with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center CTRL+ALT exhibition that debuted on November 12 and 13, I’ve seen the amazing response that she’s been getting from women in general who love her story, her look and her attitude. I look forward to making her a larger part of the La Borinqueña series should I have a strong enough response to help me work on a second issue.”


La La’s family immigrated from the Barrio Chino in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to New York City, according to Miranda-Rodriguez. And it was via the friendship La La’s mother formed with Marisol’s mother, Dr. Flor de la Luz Rojas, that the two girls became childhood friends. 


La La is particularly fond of her long board, which she is always riding down the hills of her neighborhood, and her favorite book is The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.


“Junot Díaz is an old friend of mine since we were young activists back in the 1990s,” Miranda-Rodriguez said, pointing to a detail in the illustration below. “The Oscar Wao graphic on the skateboard is a nod to our longtime friendship!”



La La may not be superhuman like her best friend, but Miranda-Rodriguez recently told Mitú the character has “the tenacity and cojones of a badass young woman from Washington Heights” despite having no special powers. 


The creator of La Borinqueña, whose worked with Marvel and DMC comics in the past, also feels personally connected with bringing an Asian-Latino character to life.


“The beauty of being Latino is how diverse we are as a people,” he told HuffPost recently. “As we celebrate our heritage, it’s important to also recognize the Asian diaspora. My wife is Korean-American and together we are raising a Korean/Puerto Rican son, or Koricua like I like to call him. My goddaughter is Chinese American raised by Filipino/Puerto Rican/Dominican parents. Asian Latinx are part of my own family as are Afro Latinx. Therefore, given the chance to tell my own stories, I wanted to create a character that many of us could relate to.”


Miranda-Rodriguez said he spoke to writer Carmen Rita Wong about her own Dominican-Chinese upbringing and other Asian Latinos in his life to create La La. 


La Borinqueña first full length issue is set to be released online on Dec. 22, the anniversary of the Puerto Rican flag. La La’s story will be reprinted as part of the debut. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them,' A Blockbuster About Persecution, Is Extra Timely

0
0


mid


You can be highbrow. You can be lowbrow. But can you ever just be brow? Welcome to Middlebrow, a weekly examination of pop culture.


This post contains mild spoilers.


In “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” you will find a lot of fantastic beasts. These outlawed creatures scurry to and fro, stealing shiny things, rampaging through New York and invoking an “aw, shucks” charm. 


Like the rest of the “Harry Potter” franchise, which was always about death and the trials of uninvited heroism, the subtext buried in this prequel stretches far beyond its easy charisma. “Fantastic Beasts” is not really a movie about fantastic beasts at all. It’s a parable about persecution. Following the election of Donald Trump, a documented xenophobe who built his campaign on discriminatory rhetoric, that’s never been a timelier theme.


Set in 1926, “Fantastic Beasts” opens with British magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arriving at New York City customs carrying a suitcase of concealed critters. Unlike their British counterparts who remain largely oblivious to spells and potions, American Muggles ― called No-Majs ― have waged war against their wand-waving neighbors. It’s the Salem Witch Trials all over again. Crowds assemble to rally against wizards, inciting unrest and paranoia within both communities. If you’re not like us, you’re against us, these vicious activists say. No wonder the “Harry Potter” characters worked so hard to camouflage their powers ― history taught them what happens if they don’t.



This evangelical persecution manifests most strongly in Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton), a self-righteous zealot who steals children from the magical families she exposes and raises them as her puppets. Credence (Ezra Miller) is the most troubled member of her clan. Caught between a self-loathing that urges him to bury his true nature and an overwhelming desire to figure out what it means to be magical, Credence finds a mentor in Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), an imperious Auror who manipulates Credence into doing his oppressive bidding. 


The queer subtext is glaring. Like so many confused teenagers (and adults), Credence longs for someone to whom he can explain these unfamiliarities. Are his impulses indecent? Is there any hope for redemption? To draw a familiar comparison in an America that just elected a vice president with a deplorable track record on LGBTQ rights, can he, ahem, pray the magic away? Credence clings to Percival, literally ― the older wizard meets him in dark alleyways, where he grabs Credence’s face tenderly enough to seem alluring, but forcefully enough to impart fear. “We live in the shadows for too long,” Percival hisses. There’s a repression lurking in Percival, as well, or perhaps a predation. Whatever it is, he sees Credence as a plaything.



Making the persecution more pronounced, “Fantastic Beasts” introduces the Obscurus, a dark cloud that forms inside the soul of anyone who represses his or her magic. Credence is plagued by a pretty strong Obscurus. In theory, he can unleash or restrain it at his will. But repression breeds irrationality. Without a full sense of your identity, it’s hard to police your own responses. You hardly even know what’s right or wrong. Credence later realizes Percival was using him to fulfill a supposed prophecy. When Credence doesn’t produce results, Percival casts him aside, making him feel more worthless than he already did. Credence loses control of his Obscurus, unleashing havoc upon his surroundings. He is, after all, a teenager with an under-formed sense of the world, and it’s the only way people will pay him proper attention ― at least until Newt, our sheepish hero, helps to calm his nerves. 


In keeping, Credence’s mother becomes one of the movie’s key villains ― and that’s saying something, considering the supreme dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is on the loose. Mary Lou’s panic about the unfamiliar wizarding society turns into puritanical vengeance. It’s almost too easy to make Trumpian parallels regarding fear of the Other (see also, for example: racism and Islamaphobia), especially considering J.K. Rowling conceived the story well before the presidential election began. But the parallels are not a stretch: At a press conference in New York last week, Rowling said “Beasts” is “partly informed by a rise in populism around the world” ― arguably the same populism that elected Trump and Pence



This is, hopefully, only the first hint at a queer undercurrent within the five-part “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. The possibility that the subtext will soon become text seems likely. Rowling won’t confirm whether we’ll see Dumbledore as openly gay, but she did say the sequel will chronicle his troubled “formative” years.


Cinema need not be activism, but imagine the impact of surveying the honest sexuality of such a beloved hero. Blockbusters don’t allot space for candidly queer characters, but if they did, maybe one day there won’t be a need for narratives about repression yielding violence. (Until fairly recently, movies punished queers or portrayed them as deranged. Progress!) Alas, such persecution is all too relatable, as are the responses from adults around Credence, including the president (Carmen Ejogo) of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, who views his Obscurus as a threat. 


Discerning young viewers may pick up on these notes while watching “Fantastic Beasts,” just as some young readers processed the gravity of the “Harry Potter” books. At the risk of over-politicizing a children’s film, there has never been a more vital moment to see a tale about social oppression than now, when President-elect Trump and his supporters intimidate the stability of those who look different from them. Sure, dark wizards can present peril for Muggles and No-Majs, but most from the latter camp don’t even attempt to understand the sorcerers they mistreat. The movie even makes a case for inclusivity in Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), the No-Maj factory worker who gets wrapped up in the enchanted events and realizes he doesn’t want his memory wiped out after everything is over. Life is better when you know the wonders that others produce. “Aww, I wanna be a wizard,” he says. Shouldn’t we all?


Directed by David Yates and written by J.K. Rowling, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” opens in theaters Nov. 18.


Follow Matt Jacobs on Twitter: @tarantallegra

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The Usher Track From 'The Hamilton Mixtape' Is Finally Here

0
0

On certain blessed days, when the clock strikes midnight, “Hamilton” fans everywhere have been programmed to leap from their beds, reach for their Spotify-ready devices, and blast the latest track off “The Hamilton Mixtape.” 


Today is one of those days. And the newly available songs off the much anticipated record come from none other than Usher, Nas and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda himself.














Miranda has been teasing “Mixtape” drops all month. Early on Nov. 17, he told fans they could expect two new songs at midnight in their respective time zones. Those songs are “Wait for It,” performed by Usher, and “Wrote My Way Out,” performed by Nas, Dave East, Miranda and Aloe Blacc. And you can listen to them now:





You can also listen to Sia’s song from the mixtape (along with the track “Immigrants”) thanks to last week’s “New Years Day Drop,” as Miranda has been calling his carefully planned releases. Before that, he released Kelly Clarkson’s version of “It’s Quiet Uptown” and The Roots’ “My Shot” featuring Busta Rhymes (as well as Joell Ortiz and Nate Ruess).


But, dear ”Hamilton” fans, you’ll have to wait until Dec. 2 before you can officially listen to the mixtape album of your dreams in full. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


Kanye West Says He'd Have Voted For Donald Trump -- If He'd Cast A Ballot

0
0



Kanye West just endorsed Donald Trump.


The rapper didn’t comment on the president-elect during Trump’s campaign as GOP nominee. But he confessed on stage at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, on Thursday night that he would have voted for Trump if he had cast a ballot in the presidential election this month. 


West revealed all during what Billboard.com described as a “lengthy political speech” on his “Saint Pablo” tour, in which he also spoke about racism and his own plans to run for president in 2020.






“I said something that was kind of politically correct. I told y’all I didn’t vote, right?” West reportedly said. “What I didn’t tell you… but if I were to have voted, I would have voted on Trump.”






Unverified videos posted online show the crowd greeting his statement with a majority of boos and a spattering of cheers.


Twitter user @RaptorJesuss documented West’s extended address in real time. Here are a selection of the tweets, including an image of his ticket which he used to verify his attendance.














































Other audience members also posted their views on West’s comments to Twitter:


























type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=55e3c090e4b0b7a96339615b,57555b6be4b0ed593f14cb2e,55d64a6fe4b0f593f7f6d2fb

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

TSA Agent James Corden Can't Find Eddie Redmayne's Fantastic Beasts

0
0



Don’t bother asking James Corden for help in finding those fantastic beasts.


The Late Late Show” host portrayed an overzealous but ultimately hapless TSA agent who just couldn’t uncover the magical creatures inside British actor Eddie Redmayne’s baggage on Thursday.


As the star of the Harry Potter franchise spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” looked nervously on, Corden rifled through his bags. But he could only unearth another inappropriate, but sadly non-magical, item.


Check it out in the clip above.





type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related Coverage + articlesList=582c6cc0e4b01d8a014b7213,58217ee9e4b0aac62486c919,582db5aee4b030997bbd9f59

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

This Honeybun That Looks Like ET Is Struggling

0
0

Have you ever eaten a honey bun? They’re gooey and always sort of wet, but ― to some ― they’re quite delicious.


Danielle York, 37, of Manchester, NH is one of these individuals who enjoys honey buns. But when she bought one at Walmart last week, she was in for more of a treat than she expected.


The sweet snack she purchased looked exactly like E.T. the extraterrestrial. 


York then tweeted her bun because, well, look at it.






Since the tweet, the bun has gone viral.







“My friend Tom Puskarich posted it to Reddit,” York told The Huffington Post. “He was getting hundreds of messages/alerts about it.”


Despite the honey bun being called a “cinnamon roll” on Reddit, the site then did what it does best and ran with the alien-faced bun. 


There were edited photos. 














There were shirts.













There were dirty comments.









We’ll never look at those ancient honey buns in vending machines the same again.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

30 Beautiful Baby Names For Girls That Aren't Overdone

0
0

There are many ways to gauge a baby name’s popularity. Nameberry maintains the Nameberry Top 1000 Names list, based on the individual name pages that receive the most visitors. 


Our top 1000 list may resemble the U.S. Social Security Administration’s top 1000 names list ― everybody loves Charlotte ― but a number of the most popular names on Nameberry will surely surprise. Especially the ones that don’t even crack the U.S. top 1000.


What names do Nameberry fans love right now? Here are 30 examples for baby name inspiration:


1. Amara


Nameberry Rank: 57


U.S. Rank: 461 


Amara means “grace” in Igbo, though it also has meaning in Sanskrit, Mongolian, Italian, and even Esperanto. It’s a multicultural name that would wear well almost anywhere in the world. It’s catching on in the U.K.


2. Zara


Nameberry Rank: 74


U.S. Rank: 402


Zara feels like a just-add-Z twist on Sara, but it likely has Arabic roots, as well as ties to literature and a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. It’s a modern name that doesn’t stray too far from traditional picks like Emma and Clara.


3. Mabel


Nameberry Rank: 86


U.S. Rank: 578


The name just chosen by Russell Brand for his first child, Mabel is a vintage name enjoying a revival. It’s recently re-entered the U.S. top 1000 and shows no signs of slowing down.


4. Juliet


Nameberry Rank: 87


U.S. Rank: 240


In the U.S., Juliette is slightly more popular than the -et ending. And yet, Juliet is the top 100 favorite on Nameberry, comfortably ahead of both spellings on the U.S. charts.


5. Cecilia


Nameberry Rank: 91


U.S. Rank: 181


Parents often look for similar-but-different names to replace the most popular choices. Cecilia is poised to replace current chart-toppers like Sophia and Amelia. 


6. Freya


Nameberry Rank: 95


U.S. Rank: 417


This Norse goddess name has been big in the U.K. for years. Lately, it has crossed the Atlantic to catch on in the U.S, too.


7. Florence


Nameberry Rank: 96


U.S. Rank: unranked


Love traditional names, but worry that they’re too common? Florence is one of several classic names American parents completely overlook. The name is a favorite in England. 


8. Felicity


Nameberry Rank: 102


U.S. Rank: 360


With an uplifting meaning ― “luck” or “happiness” ― the name Felicity has appeared in popular culture through an early American Girl doll, a 90s television character, and rising actress Felicity Jones, set to star in the upcoming “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” No surprise it’s trending in the U.S.


9. Tallulah


Nameberry Rank: 104


U.S. Rank: unranked


We love ‘lu’ names like Lucy and Luna, and now Louisa is back in the U.S. top 1000. Why not Tallulah, made famous by show biz legend Tallulah Bankhead. Patrick Dempsey named his daughter Tallula in 2002.


10. Fiona


Nameberry Rank: 109


U.S. Rank: 219 


Scottish import Fiona shares sounds with stylish Sophia and Josephine, but remains less popular in the U.S. ― but not on Nameberry!


11. Amelie


Nameberry Rank: 111


U.S. Rank: 641


Cousin to Amelia and successor to Emily, Amelie was boosted by a 2001 French film by the name. Now it is sometimes heard in the U.S., and even more popular on Nameberry. 


12. Edith


Nameberry Rank: 113


U.S. Rank: 526


“Downton Abbey” names like Cora and Daisy have fared well. Could middle daughter Edith be next? With built-in nickname Edie and a nearly top 100 Nameberry rank, we say yes.


13. Calla


Nameberry Rank: 114


U.S. Rank: unranked


Take the flower power of Lily, factor in our affection for Ella, Stella, and Bella, and Calla ought to be catching on. For now, the Greek name meaning “beauty” remains rare.


14. Emmeline


Nameberry Rank: 116


U.S. Rank: 809


Emma and her fellow Em- names have had a great run in recent years. Emmeline, as in British suffragette Pankhurst, fits right in and yet feels distinctively different, too.


15. Millie


Nameberry Rank: 118


U.S. Rank: 477


Move over, Molly! The even more vintage Millie is catching on. Young actress Millie Bobby Brown, of “Stranger Things” fame, helps.


16. Louise


Nameberry rank: 119


U.S. ranked: unranked


After years of languishing in obscurity, Louisa is back in the U.S. top 1000. Can Louise be far behind? Worn by 1920s icon Louise Brooks, and BFF to Thelma in the 1991 movie classic, this name defines the “classic but seldom heard” category.


17. Anais


Nameberry rank: 129


U.S. rank: unranked


This French name can trip up some parents: it’s an-nah-EES, emphasis on the third syllable. With literary ties and classic roots, this could make a bold but wearable choice for a daughter in the U.S.


18. Adira


Nameberry rank: 133


U.S. rank: unranked


A Hebrew name meaning “strong,” Adira could substitute for more popular picks like Ariana and Adelaide. Sixty-one girls were given the name last year ― a new high.


19. Calliope


Nameberry rank: 134


U.S. rank: unranked


Take Zoe, Chloe, and Penelope, add in a dash of Cadence and Harmony, and you’ll have Calliope – beautiful voice. One of the nine muses in Greek mythology, the name later referred to a type of steam organ.


20. Saoirse


Nameberry rank: 144


U.S. rank: unranked


Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan helps make this Irish name more accessible. It means liberty, and in Ireland, it’s as ordinary as Grace is in the U.S.


21. Octavia


Nameberry rank: 146


U.S. rank: unranked 


Derived from the Latin word for the number eight, Octavia has long been a name nerd favorite. A possible substitute for Olivia, the name’s profile is raised by Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer.


22. Elaine


Nameberry rank: 148


U.S. rank: 648


The 1940s favorite Elaine seems like it might be stuck in style limbo ― except that it fits right in with current choices like Elena and Eloise, making it seem fresh and interesting sooner than you might expect.


23. Mavis


Nameberry rank: 152


U.S. rank: unranked


The name of the adorable teenage vampire from the “Hotel Transylvania” series, voiced by Selena Gomez, is just one reason this vintage name is on the rise. It also combines the sounds of Mae, Ava, and Alice and carries a great nature name meaning ― it’s a type of songbird.


24. Persephone


Nameberry rank: 155


U.S. rank: unranked


Persephone is a long-neglected Greek goddess name with ties to the seasons and the natural world. It’s no harder to wear than popular Penelope, and has gained in use in recent years, but remains outside the U.S. top 1000.


25. Cleo


Nameberry rank: 157


U.S. rank: unranked


Once in steady use in the U.S., vintage Cleo has become rare in the US. But if Willow, Margot, and Harlow are stylish, why not Cleo?


26. Hermione


Nameberry rank: 169


U.S. rank: unranked


Like Persephone and Calliope, Hermione is another Greek name seldom heard in recent years. And yet, this is also the name of whip-smart Harry Potter heroine, Hermione Granger. It’s every bit as wearable as fellow wizarding world name Luna, but much rarer.


27. Isadora


Nameberry rank: 170


U.S. rank: unranked


Isadora is often suggested as a substitute for Isabella. Famous bearer and legendary dancer Isadora Duncan gives the name an artistic vibe. It also fits right in with Nora and Cora, though for now, it’s seldom heard.


28. Lux


Nameberry rank: 170


U.S. rank: unranked


The Latin word for light makes a spare, straightforward – and surprising - choice for a child’s name. It would well for a son or a daughter, a first or a middle.


29. Edie


Nameberry rank: 188


U.S. rank: unranked


Maybe Edie will replace Sadie. Another vintage nickname name, Edie is short for rising favorite Edith, also on this list. It’s also the name of Keira Knightley’s baby daughter.


30. Aveline


Nameberry: 192


U.S. rank: unranked


Nameberry fans excel at discovering names that could be the next big thing. Aveline means “hazelnut” in French, though it actually has Germanic roots. Style-wise, Aveline gracefully mixes Ava and Adeline, with a touch of Evelyn, too.


type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=For more baby naming inspiration... + articlesList=5801156ce4b0162c043bc586,577c4fd5e4b0a629c1ab309e,57b31b30e4b0863b0284b1fb

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Saudi Arabian Artist Fights To Make Her Country Treat Women Like Adults

0
0

Women in Saudi Arabia are ramping up an online campaign against their country’s guardianship laws ― a repressive system that bars women from traveling abroad, marrying or leaving prison without permission from a male guardian.  


Saudi women have difficulty pursuing various tasks without their guardians’ permission, including renting apartments, studying abroad or filing legal claims. A damning Human Rights Watch report released in July described the system as “the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country.”


A woman’s father or husband is typically her guardian, but a brother or a son can also take the role.


Close to 15,000 people have now signed an online petition started in September calling for an end to the guardianship laws. Saudi women’s rights activists have also launched the hashtag #IAmMyOwnGuardian, which people are using to discuss and condemn the laws.


Saudi Arabia had agreed to end male guardianship in 2013, following a review by the United Nations Human Rights Council. But while it has recently implemented various reforms, including giving women voting rights, allowing them to run for municipal offices and pushing them into the labor market, the Saudi government has failed to deliver on its promises to abolish the guardianship system itself.


An image that has come to symbolize this campaign features a woman wearing the shemagh ― the headdress traditionally worn by Saudi men ― with a banner reading “I Am My Own Guardian” across the bottom half of her face.




The creator of the image is Ms Saffaa, a Sydney-based Saudi artist, researcher and cultural activist. (She chooses not to use her full name to protect her identity.) Ms Saffaa’s previous projects, exhibited predominantly in Australia, have tackled gender politics and celebrated female activism in Saudi Arabia. Her works featuring women wearing the shemagh, like the one now part of the #IAmMyOwnGuardian campaign, originally debuted at the Sydney College of Arts in 2012.


Ms Saffaa spoke to The WorldPost about her artwork, the campaign and her hopes for Saudi Arabia.


The image you created for the campaign is very striking. Can you tell us a little bit about the composition and the design?


I used the shemagh, or the male headdress, as a cultural icon and as a symbol of empowerment. When I was younger, I used to wear a thawb [a robe-like garment worn by men] and a shemagh around the house just for fun. There’s a little bit of innocent play in cross-dressing ― there’s nothing subversive about it when you do it when you’re younger. But once you start growing up and the division between what’s feminine and what’s masculine becomes really clear, and society tells you what to wear and what not to wear, confronting all that becomes subversive. 



A lot of people have been responding to my images by telling me how problematic they think the shemagh is. Because they think that if the shemagh is a symbol of power ― and the shemagh belongs to a man ― then doesn’t that mean that my power belongs to a man? And I say: in this country, it does belong to a man. So I’m just taking the power back and putting it on my head.


I’m quite excited that the work has created a lot of conversation about gender issues and the fluidity of gender. People don’t understand me when I say gender is quite fluid ― it’s not what you wear ― it’s who you are.


You recently told an interviewer “my art is my way of showing that I exist.” Can you elaborate on that?


My whole life has been a political statement. Just by leaving Saudi, and getting a scholarship to study art ― a scholarship I had to fight for. And when I was living in Australia without a guardian, and I was repeatedly asked [by Saudi authorities] to prove that I had a guardian present, that was a political statement on its own. My artwork is a way of asserting that I exist within a world that just wants to silence me or wants to basically erase my identity.


I have to fight for existence, I have to fight for my voice, I have to fight for just living. I can’t exist without fighting. My whole life has been one big fight.



Male guardianship laws make up the quintessential symbol of oppression.



Do you feel that your work, and the artwork being produced by other female Saudi artists, is taking back ownership of the representation of Saudi women?


That’s exactly why I make the art I make. If I don’t represent myself, if I don’t assert that I am here, people are going to always take it upon themselves to represent me. If I’m not making art about who I am, people will make art about me. I call people who make art about cultures that they don’t belong to and that the don’t have ties to, cultural opportunists. And Saudi women have always been the flavor of the month, every month, since 9/11 actually.


There’s been work coming from Saudi artists, particularly women, like Sarah Abu Abdallah or Manal Al Dowayen, about topics like women and driving or travel permits. Do you feel like artists are playing a role in trying to expand the rights of Saudi women?


Honestly, I have looked at a lot of work coming out of Saudi that is, in a way, feminist, but I find that a lot of female artists, with the exception of a couple, tip-toe around the issues, they don’t tackle them head-on.



I feel like the art is a little shy. It does tackle some feminist issues like travel permits and driving, but these are not central to the main issue. The main issue is guardianship laws. Because if [lawmakers] allow us to drive tomorrow, a lot of women are not going to drive because they have assholes for male guardians. So you have to tackle the big issue which is the male guardianship laws. 


I think this is part of the reason why this movement has been so successful ― arguably more successful than the driving campaign. Because male guardianship laws make up the quintessential symbol of oppression. That’s the real issue. Of course driving and freedom of travel is essential to women’s freedom, but it comes as a second step. 


You’re currently working on a mural in Melbourne connected to the campaign. Can you tell more about it?


It’s a 9-by-4.5-meter wall. I wasn’t too sure what to do with the wall, and then the movement happened, and everyone was sharing my work and sharing my stuff, the vision started coming to me. I’m collaborating with other artists, but I’m also collaborating with some women from the movement. I asked some women to write statements in Arabic, in their own handwriting, so I can screen-print them and stick them on the wall. I am actually taking a lot of the feedback and criticism about my use of the male headdress and I’m trying to work around it. I’m going to use some Arabic poetry as well, there’s going to be a lot of imagery, a lot of portraits.


It’s interesting how you’re using different mediums to express similar ideas for this one campaign.


I feel like it’s an ethical responsibility. I don’t only want to share only my own voice or my take on it, because that would be very selfish. We artists can be self-centered ― but I really wanted to include other voice of these brave women tweeting from inside of Saudi. I honestly don’t know if I would have done all this if I were based in Saudi.



I wanted to give back to these women who instigated the movement. I wanted to celebrate their bravery and shine some light on how dangerous what they’re doing is, and how awesome and brilliant and inspiring it is to do what they’re doing. It’s easy for me to sit here thousands and thousands of miles away from Saudi and criticize the system, but it’s the work of these women that needs to be celebrated.


What are your hopes for the campaign?


I really, really want male guardianship laws to be abolished. As law and as cultural practices. I wish Saudi men and women would realize that these are not Islamic laws: these are man-made laws. Saudi women’s rights activist Manal Al Sharif said something really interesting at Forum 2000 in Prague: “We’ve been taught that god assigned us a guardian, and it takes courage to question that.” 


This interview has been edited for clarity. 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Viewing all 18483 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images