Tag: 02.19.19

L.A.’s Chicanx Lowrider Culture Caught On In Japan. Is That Cultural Appropriation?

New York Times reporter Walter Thompson-Hernández, a native of Southeast L.A.: “I heard a rumor that lowrider culture — a community with an affinity for cars, outfit with intricate designs, multicolored lights and heavily tinted windows that can be traced in Southern California to as far back as the 1940s — had traveled to Japan. … I knew I had to see it for myself, so I packed my bags for Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo.” (video) – The New York Times

Climate Change Should Be A Great Subject For Disaster Movies. So What’s With Hollywood’s Failure Of Imagination?

“In a storytelling culture obsessed with bigger stories and higher stakes, climate change should be irresistible. And yet when we try to tell the story — whether it’s motivated by politics or the genre intuition that climate change is horror at the grandest scale — we fail, invariably, to do it well. Why?” Probably, writes David Wallace-Wells, because the threat is too real. – Slate

Ex-Professor Sues ACT For Racial Discrimination

Stephen Buescher, former head of movement for the San Francisco theater’s MFA program and choreographer for several of its mainstage productions, says that he was underpaid for his work and denied access to the building on several occasions, along with other factors that “created a hostile, discriminatory work environment for him and for other employees and students of color.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Los Angeles Before It Was ‘West’

Carolina Miranda: “Before California was West, it was North and it was East: the uppermost periphery of the Mexican Empire, and the arrival point for Chinese immigrants making the perilous journey from Guangdong. It was part of different maps that co-exist, one on top of the other: layers of visions and lesser-known narratives, that are ongoing and still unfolding.” – Guernica

How I Reconcile Being A Committed Muslim And A Committed Dancer

Hala Shah: “Growing up, I never saw a problem with my dancing and neither did my Muslim-Egyptian dad or my non-Muslim, American mom. … When I married my Pakistani husband, who comes from a more conservative approach to Islam, I suddenly encountered perceptions of dance that made me question everything: Is it okay to expose a lot of skin? Is it wrong to dance with other men? Is dance inherently sexual? What guidelines come from our holy book, the Quran, and what are cultural views that have become entwined in Islam?” – Dance Magazine

DC Comics Cancels Series About Second Coming Of Jesus

The Second Coming, a series that was to be released next month under DC’s Vertigo imprint, depicted Jesus Christ’s not-entirely-triumphant return to earth. “Shocked to discover what has become of his gospel,” Jesus undertakes “a most holy mission from God,” learning from a super-hero called Sun-Man “what it takes to be the true messiah of mankind.” The comic was withdrawn following a petition, by conservative group CitizenGo, which calls The Second Coming “outrageous and blasphemous.” – The Guardian

‘Voice Of The Minnesota Orchestra’, Mary Ann Feldman, Dead At 85

“She was perhaps the best known and most prolific advocate for classical music the Twin Cities has ever known. … She wrote erudite and witty program notes for the Minnesota Orchestra for 33 years while serving as the orchestra’s principal speaker, which meant giving 60 speeches a year, some of them on radio and television but most of them in the form of pre-concert talks at Orchestra Hall, a format she pioneered.” – MinnPost (Minneapolis)