Mahogany Browne: “When Fanny Lou Hamer said”
"When Fanny Lou Hamer said” champions the assertion of the most basic human and civil rights through means sanctioned by our Constitution: peaceful assembly and protest, voting, running for office, and the everyday radical acts of poetry, hope, and prayer.
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Regina King’s Powerful Directorial Debut: ‘One Night in Miami’
'One Night in Miami' is based on the 2013 stage play by Kemp Powers. It imagines an evening with four iconic Black figures: Cassius Clay, Malcom X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke. Regina King has brilliantly brought it to the screen.
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Aracelis Girmay: “You Are Who I Love”
Today’s is a love poem for everyone and a model for how to love expansively and wholly. It embraces us and loves us for who we are and what we do, and its range allows each of us to feel seen and recognized.
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Viola Davis as ‘Ma Rainey’: Lady Sings the Blues
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Viola Davis turn in a less than extraordinary performance, and she gives her all once again as Ma Rainey.
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Amanda Gorman: “The Hill We Climb”
“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman is an example of an occasional poem that exceeded itself by happening to be the perfect message at the perfect time and place, delivered by the perfect messenger.
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Cicely Tyson:
Tremendous Talent, Transcendent Spirit
“Whatever good I have accomplished as an actress I believe came in direct proportion to my efforts to portray Black women who have made positive contributions to my heritage.” —Cicely Tyson
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Barbara Crooker:
“Poem with an Embedded Line by Susan Cohen”
It will help, the poem seems to suggest, if we focus on family and the world of nature rather than the world of the human. Some aspects of that world are just too unbearable right now for a sustained gaze.
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Netflix Review: ‘Pretend It’s a City’
Every conversation comes back again and again to New York, which — despite decades of change and her own growing vexation — Fran Lebowitz is obviously deeply in love with.
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Getting Women Workers the COVID Vaccine Could Pose a Complex Challenge, Experts Warn
Barriers such as paid time off, transportation and child care make frontline workers — who are disproportionately women — particularly tough to reach.
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Tara Betts: “What Bucks or Breaks”
Today’s featured poem, “What Bucks or Breaks” by Tara Betts, is a wonderful example of how a poem’s structure can enhance its meaning.
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Hollywood News: The (Relative) Upside of a Down Year
Women directors saw significant growth, helming 16% of the top 100 films, up from 12% in 2019 and a deplorable 4% in 2018. There was also steady improvement for women directing the top 250 films, with 18% in 2020, in contrast to 13% in 2019 and 8% in 2018.
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Marvin Bell Tribute
I wrote this poem to be included in a tribute volume for Marvin Bell, who died last month at 83. “Dead Woman Poem for Marvin Bell” honors him as an exceptional teacher of poetry and also purloins his invented form—what he called his Dead Man poems. —Susan Cohen
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Building a Brave New Life in ‘Herself’
Intimately and respectfully directed by Phyllida Lloyd, 'Herself' tells the story of Sandra, a working-class Irish woman who has two angelic daughters and a monster for a husband.
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Survey shows COVID-19 is disproportionately harming women’s mental health
About 57 percent of women said their mental health had been negatively affected, compared to 44 percent of men.
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Chloe Martinez: “In Delhi”
The poem is a love song both to my husband and to a city that I find endlessly fascinating and frustrating, and that I miss, especially in this travel-free year. —Chloe Martinez
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The Many Faces of Meryl: ‘Let Them All Talk’
and ‘The Prom’
If 'Let Them All Talk' forced Streep to meditate a bit on what it means to reach a pinnacle yet continue to strive for one’s art, 'The Prom' gave her permission to just have fun. She seems to be having a ball, and her voice has never sounded — or, I should say, “belted” — better.
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Naomi Shihab Nye: “Snow”
Because this poem invites us to read it as metaphor, it was a short leap to consider the poem’s application to our country’s current political crisis, neither side really talking to the other, grievances swamping us like a ‘snowpocalypse.’
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‘Bridgerton’: The Raunchy Regency Romp from Shonda Rhimes
'Bridgerton' is a sumptuous and utterly bingeable pleasure.
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Emily Dickinson: Winter Poems
Another source of solace has been poetry; reading, studying, and writing it has been the heartbeat of my days. With that in mind, this week’s column will present some poetry for you: a selection of winter poems by Emily Dickinson
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Have Yourself a Streaming Little Christmas
This year, with so many of us spending the season safe at home, it’s a great time to revisit childhood treasures, rewatch classic titles, or discover new ones.
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How the Pandemic is Affecting Senior Women
Older women tend to live longer and live alone. For some, a pandemic that encourages sheltering in place leaves them feeling “entrapped” and “like a hermit.”
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Myra Viola Wilds: “Thoughts”
“Thoughts” strikes me as a perfect poem to consider around the end of one year or the beginning of another as we take stock of what has come to pass, and make plans and resolutions for the future.
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‘Farewell Amor’: An Immigrant Family of Strangers’ Story
'Farewell Amor' begins at New York’s JFK airport. Walter is waiting for the arrival of his wife, Esther and teenaged daughter Sylvia. They’ve been apart for 17 years, since Sylvia was a baby. Other than phone calls, she doesn’t know her father. They all realize that they’ve become strangers.
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Amy M. Clark: “The Survival Kit”
In 2020, the survival kit metaphor takes on other dimensions as we come to the end of a year that has felt relentless and full of sorrow.
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