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food

Food Faiths & Diet Religions

HARRIET HALL, M.D Skeptic
This review of Alan Leinovitz's, The Gluten Lie, discusses how the author sees parallels between religious stories, fairy tales and nutrition myths.

tv

Rectify Is Still Television’s Quiet Triumph

David Sims The Atlantic
SundanceTV’s Southern Gothic drama is entering its third season of critical acclaim and low ratings, but its against-the-odds existence bodes well for the industry.

poetry

Outings, Stigmata

Francesca Bell Pank Magazine
The Marin County poet Francesca Bell approaches the abuse of children from their own perspective, as sacrilege, based on published testimonies.

books

Bigotry 101: Why Haters Gonna Hate

Michael Hirsch The Indypendent
Here is bigotry as a systematic, total mindset having a special affinity for right-wing movements. The author explores its appeal, the self-image it justifies, the interests it serves and its complex connection not so much to antiquity as modernity, shaping the conspiratorial and paranoid worldview of true believers, elitists and chauvinists. It enables their hiding behind mainstream conservative motifs to support policies disadvantaging the targets of their contempt.

books

Man of the World

Annette Gordon-Reed American Scholar
As Annette Gordon-Reed notes in this review, John Quincy Adams is probably best known through Steven Spielberg's portrayal of him, in the film Amistad, where he defends enslaved people who revolted aboard a slave ship. He was also a President of the United States and the son of a President. As we consider an election contest that might be one between two "dynastic" seekers of the office, this biography offers a look back at the first "dynastic" presidency.

film

Film Review: ‘Amy,’ an Intimate Diary of Amy Winehouse’s Rise and Destruction

Manohla Dargis The New York Times
This documentary lets nobody off the hook. Discomfort is crucial to the film's complexity and is why it works as somewhat of an ethical and intellectual provocation. Mr. Kapadia isn’t simply revisiting Ms. Winehouse’s life and death, but also — by pulling you in close to her, first pleasantly and then unpleasantly — telling the story of contemporary celebrity and, crucially, fandom’s cost.

tv

Sexing up Cornwall: But There’s More to Poldark Than Good Looks

Steven Fielding The Conversation
Ross Poldark was, then, one of literature’s classic figures on the fringe, a man of noble birth who identifies with the people rather than with his own class. Reflecting the character of Graham’s novels, the television series has Poldark lead the people’s struggle against monopoly capitalism, depicting miners’ strikes and bread riots as instances of righteous resistance against a corrupt establishment.

poetry

Flair

Elaine Feinstein Portraits
Louis Armstrong believed his birthday was July 4, 1900 (though a recent discovery suggests August 4, 1901 is correct). But Elaine Feinstein's portrait of that great trumpet player just starting out seems appropriate for this American holiday weekend.
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