As March Madness rolls on, so will the myths of Black athletic superiority

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1571 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Race and sportsUS sportsBlack sports stars have collectively achieved what they have because society presents them with few other options Not to toot my own horn, but growing up I was quite the athlete. When the time came to select teams for dodgeball or relay races, I was often among those picked first – myself, and many of my other Black friends. In most of the schools I attended throughout my childhood, my classmates tended to be a healthy mix of all races – but at every stop, I found that Black students consistently dominated the playground. [Read More]

I wish more people would read ... Damon Runyon's short stories

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  716 words  |  Kary Bruening

I wish more people would readFictionLook beyond Guys and Dolls – the Depression-era legend wrote some of the funniest short stories ever published, writes Sam Leith More lockdown reading Damon Runyon was a Depression-era New York newspaperman who wrote, I think, some of the funniest short stories ever published. Yet he’s been only patchily in print in the UK over the last few decades, and inasmuch as most people know his work it’ll be through a vague sense of him as the writer behind the musical Guys and Dolls. [Read More]

It was pretty scary: the Big Brother 'turkey slap' that rocked reality TV

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1293 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

Unforgettable Australian TVBig BrotherBig Brother Australia guaranteed heroes, villains and drama. It didn’t foresee a sexual assault On a grainy night-vision camera, half a dozen young adults can be seen lying in bed chatting. Two men, Michael “John” Bric and Michael “Ashley” Cox, beckon Camilla Severi over to their stretch of mattress. When she hops in, one holds her down while the other rubs his penis in her face. “I’ve been turkey slapped! [Read More]

Manitas de Plata obituary | Music

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  919 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

MusicObituaryManitas de Plata obituaryVirtuoso French Gypsy guitarist with a unique playing style and a celebrity followingWhen the guitarist Manitas de Plata, who has died aged 93, became an international star in the 1960s, his was the name most widely associated with flamenco. At the time, music was classified as either popular or classical: the term “world music” had not been coined and the wizardry of the Gypsy from the south of France was regarded as both high culture and light entertainment. [Read More]

Poem of the week: Sir Patrick Spens | Poetry

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  1048 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Carol Rumens's poem of the weekPoetryPoem of the week: Sir Patrick SpensThis time, a potent ancient ballad with a strange modernityIt's time for the redoubtable Anon to take the stage again, this time as a balladeer. The ballad is an evergreen form, originally sung, and, if the name is to be believed, accompanied by dancing. It twines its indestructible way through written literature and still attracts contemporary poets and musicians. There are dozens of magnificent old ballads that continue to be set and sung, and for whose survival we owe much to the first great collectors like Allan Ramsay, Thomas Percy and FW Child. [Read More]

South Park mocks PS4 v Xbox One sales war - video | Games

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  127 words  |  Kary Bruening

Games South Park mocks PS4 v Xbox One sales war - video You can always rely on South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker to prick the pomposity of hardcore gaming culture. The animated series' masterful World of Warcraft episode remains one of its finest moments – but this short sequence from a recent show gets quite close. The kids are live role-playing their way into the Black Friday sales, with the ultimate prize being a next-gen console. [Read More]

Tom Curry accuses South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi of using racial slur | Rugby World Cup 2023

 Posted on April 18, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  790 words  |  Kary Bruening

Rugby World Cup 2023 This article is more than 3 months oldTom Curry accuses South Africa hooker Bongi Mbonambi of using racial slurThis article is more than 3 months oldFlanker made claim to referee during semi-final loss in ParisSouth Africa promise to investigate ‘very serious’ allegationThe England flanker Tom Curry accused South Africa’s Bongi Mbonambi of calling him a “white cunt” during his side’s heartbreaking World Cup semi-final defeat on Saturday. [Read More]

Mad Men: season five finale, episode 13 The Phantom | Mad Men

 Posted on April 17, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1571 words  |  Aldo Pusey

TV and radio blogMad MenMad Men: season five finale, episode 13 – The PhantomMad Men's fifth season came to a close with Don Draper back on the Old Fashioneds. What did you make of the season finale and this series as a whole?SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for those who are watching season five of Mad Men on Sky Atlantic. Don't read on if you haven't seen episode 13 Paul MacInnes's episode 12 blog [Read More]

Mexicos lost generation of young girls robbed of innocence and education | Global development

 Posted on April 17, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  1017 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Women's rights and gender equalityGlobal developmentMexico’s lost generation of young girls robbed of innocence and educationStudy reveals rising number of Mexican girls in relationships and marriages with older men and casts fresh light on causes of child marriage in Latin America Hundreds of thousands of young girls across Mexico are being driven into relationships and marriages with older men, denying them a childhood and an education, new research reveals. Of the 320,000-plus Mexican girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who are cohabiting, nearly 70% are with a partner who is at least 11 years their senior, according to a report commissioned by the Ford Foundation. [Read More]

Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden review the poet's debut novel

 Posted on April 17, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  938 words  |  Aldo Pusey

Salena Godden Photograph: PRSalena Godden Photograph: PRFictionReviewDeath is personified as an overworked black woman in a modern-day Pilgrim’s Progress leavened with caustic wit In poet Salena Godden’s debut novel, death is personified as a series of black women: one minute she’s an old “homeless black beggar woman with knotty natty hair”, the next she’s a “kind black lady”, then she becomes a young, “shimmering” Nina Simone. This allows her to pass through the world incognito, because, as she points out, “there is no human more invisible, more easily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past” than a black woman. [Read More]