Tag Archives: culture

DeSantis signs Florida bill making it harder to 'weaponize' book bans in public schools

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Tuesday that will make it harder for some people to ban books in the state’s public schools. The new law, part of the wide-ranging education bill HB 1285, will cap the number of challenges on school materials that an individual can make per year, if they do not have a student …

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Some business owners upset at Biden for granting work permits to new migrants: 'It's offensive'

Some business owners were angered by President Biden’s decision to grant hundreds of thousands of work permits to illegal immigrants, according to a new report. Last September, The Biden administration announced that it would be offering hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants and thousands of Afghan nationals already in the U.S. – including those in the country illegally – work …

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Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, soon Superman: When characters enter the public domain, anything goes

The giant stuffed bear, its face a twisted smile, lumbers across the screen. Menacing music swells. Shadows mask unknown threats. Christopher Robin begs for his life. And is that a sledgehammer about to pulverize a minor character’s head? Thus unfolds the trailer for the 2023 movie “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,” a slasher-film riff on A.A. Milne’s beloved characters, …

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Morocco museum hosts one of Africa’s first exhibitions of Cuban art

When Morocco ‘s King Mohamed VI visited Havana in 2017, Cuban-American gallery owner Alberto Magnan impressed him with a “full immersion” in the Caribbean island’s art and culture, drawing a line between the cultural and historical themes tackled by Cuban artists and those from across Africa. Seven years after that encounter, one of the first exhibitions of Cuban art at …

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Tennessee educator named Teacher of the Year for creating curriculum that helps diverse students thrive

When Ali Aglan joined Missy Testerman’s 2nd grade class, his family had just moved from Egypt to rural East Tennessee, where his parents now run an Italian restaurant. Coming home from school one day in the town of Rogersville, he told his mother that no one would talk to him. “He said, ‘I have no friends there.’ He was crying. …

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Ariana DeBose to host Tony Awards for third consecutive year, this time at new location

It’s a new location but the same host for the Tony Awards: Ariana DeBose will make it three in a row as MC of theater’s most watched event, which this year moves uptown to Lincoln Center. The Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year for the show …

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Significance of Michelangelo’s 'David' statue is being diminished by souvenirs, Italian curators say

Michelangelo’s David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue’s religious and political significance is being diminished by the thousands of refrigerator magnets and other souvenirs sold around Florence focusing on David’s genitalia. The Galleria dell’Accademia’s director, Cecilie Hollberg, has positioned …

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New Orleans Jazz Fest to feature vibrant cultural showcase and culinary delights

The Fair Grounds Race Course, which plays host to the 2024 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, begins its annual transformation in earnest Tuesday as organizers prepare to take over the field this spring for two weekends of music, food and fun. “Jazz Fest is back starting today!,” exclaimed festival producer Quint Davis during its one-month-before news conference inside the …

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Richard Serra, renowned American sculptor, dies at 85

Famed American artist and sculptor Richard Serra, known for turning curving walls of rusting steel and other malleable materials into large-scale pieces of outdoor artwork that are now dotted across the world, died Tuesday at his home in Long Island, New York. He was 85. Considered one of his generation’s most preeminent sculptors, the San Francisco native originally studied painting …

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Beijing residents play fetch with migratory birds in ancient Chinese tradition

Passersby in Beijing during winter or early spring might happen upon groups of residents playing fetch with birds. The players blow plastic beads into the air through carbon tubes for the birds — often from the migratory wutong species — to catch and return, in exchange for a treat. It’s a Beijing tradition dating back to the Qing Dynasty, which …

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