Portside

Under the slick suits and high tension shootouts, America’s favorite thrillers are hiding something.

A fascinating and timely history of how science developed via the achievement of pursuing only observation and experiment (not politics).

The danger of a fascist-like regime consolidating its power has been averted. For now. But make no mistake: The issue of whether we will move forward or be dragged into an abyss has been postponed, not decided. Please help - Portside's annual appeal

Pixar's 'Soul' is a story about Black life that questions the meaning of all life on Earth

Though clearly African in origin, its inclusion in cookbooks like the Sarah Rutledge's Carolina Housewife indicates that even before the Civil War the dish was being eaten by black and white residents of all classes in the Lowcountry.

Typically in Regency-era shows or movies, people of color are all either erased or given traumatic backstories. Shonda Rhimes' 'Bridgerton' is excitingly different.

California poet John Field rejoices as the political seasons trade places.

The preeminent photographic record of the period excluded people of color from the nation’s self-image. This collective portrait contributed to the misbegotten idea, still current, that the soul of America, the real American type, is rural and white

Here is a fine tribute to di Prima, who died October 25. She was 86 years old. She was an outstanding figure in mid-to-late 20th Century rebel culture in the United States and was one of that culture's most important poets.

Adrian Miller is a food writer, James Beard Award winner, attorney, and certified barbecue judge. His third book, discussed here, is Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue.