Bob Collins
There are two ways to look at today’s national controversy over the gaffe on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ backside: (1) How dare they says John Hancock signed the Constitution? or (2) Hey, Americans are reading the Constitution! Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Arts & Culture
Harvard Theological Review is reporting today that a text, written on Egyptian papyrus is likely real, including its reference to a married Jesus. Read more →
In The Atlantic’s and Marketplace’s partnership effort, James and Deb Fallows have been flying around the country, dropping down to see who lives there and what they do.
And therein lies today’s question — What Do You Do? — which they’ve found out has different meanings in different areas of the country. Read more →
What were you doing in the 8th grade?
Cole Willis, 14, has already selected his college. He wants to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and become an engineer. Now he’s moved on to figure out how to pay for it; it’ll cost about $59,000 a year in 2014 dollars. Read more →
An artist collective creates a large images to reach the hearts of distant drone operators. Read more →
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a New Mexico photographer who refused the job of photographing a same-sex commitment ceremony. You may recall in the Legislature’s debate about same-sex marriage, the mythical wedding photographer who would be forced to take pictures against her will was a common theme.
Elaine Huguenin is that photographer and her case is the first to reach the Supreme Court, which wanted nothing to do with it. It rejected the case without comment. Read more →
If you’re on social media, there’s a pretty good chance you saw this picture, which was captured by Cleveland attorney Peter Pattakos outside Friday’s Twins-Indians game in Cleveland. Read more →
A ban on dreadlocks and restrictions on cornrows leads to a White House petition that claims the regulations are culturally insensitive. Read more →
This is a good day to pay attention to Nickolas Butler, of Fall Creek, Wisconsin, near Eau Claire, who gets plenty of New York Times love today for his book, ‘Shotgun Lovesongs.’ Read more →
It leaked out today that David Letterman is retiring.
Read more →
If you do nothing else today, make a run to the NPR website that’s been set up in support of the network’s Morning Edition series from the U.S.-Mexico border. Read more →
It was hard to tell the other night when Stephen Colbert was in character and when he was just being the real Stephen Colbert when he declared ‘I’m not a racist.’
He was reacting to the protests that popped up after his writers tweeted a joke he made on the show without any of the context that was evident in his Comedy Channel show’s episode. That prompted Twitter to take to the ramparts to urge that his show be canceled. Read more →
At the heart of the kerfuffle that broke out this week between promoters of a hip-hop current and the artists is our inability to talk honestly and productively about race in the Twin Cities. Read more →
There appears to be no middle ground in the final episode of How I Met Your Mother: You either loved the ending or hated it, apparently. Read more →
A plan to highlight hip-hop artists in the Twin Cities has ran afoul of hip-hop artists.
MPR’s The Current and Twin Cities Public Television had planned the State of Hip Hop event at the Fitzgerald Theater for May, but a community meeting to plan the event highlighted deep divisions between artists and the media. Read more →