Portside

Blue Beetle Review – Superhero Fun With Immigrant Survival Subtext

Florida would have students believe that enslaved Black people “benefited” by developing skills during slavery; the reality is that enslaved Africans contributed to the nation’s social, cultural and economic well-being using skills they had already.

Unlike many classic works of sci-fi, Star Trek offered an optimistic vision of humanity’s future — one where democracy triumphs, exploitation is ended, and everyone’s material needs are met.

Who is Jack Smith? asks the poet Carol Kanter. Cross your fingers. Is he the hero who shows that someone with a fancier name is not above the law? Look it up.

In this book, writes reviewer Sharma, the authors argue that despite supposed equality, women in all classes of society are economically disadvantaged with respect to their husbands, fathers, and brothers.

Marketing departments inject Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) with stories ranging from the banal (a cereal box cartoon character) and aspirational (health promises), to the manipulative such as ads picturing fast food eating as the center of family life

Isaac Asimov was a science fiction giant. But the Apple TV version of Foundation addresses one place the books fell short. Foundation is no longer just a boy’s club.

Arkansas poet Gerald Sloan reminds us that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was no “act” but often lost to history and found again.

These books offer two approaches to the life and work of Wheatley, who is a cornerstone figure of the U.S. and African American literary traditions.

"She was flawless, something had to be wrong. I wanted to heal her, but I also needed her sick. I wanted to become Barbie, and I wanted to destroy her. I wanted her perfection, but I also wanted to punish her for being more perfect than I’d ever be."