Tag Archives: culture-features

On October 18, 2018, film executive Franklin Leonard’s phone started vibrating and would not stop. His eyes grew wide as his screen filled up with Twitter alerts from strangers hurling vicious, baffling insults at him, hundreds of tweets at a time. He was a rent boy for billionaire Democratic donor …

I t’s a week before Christmas and the sons and daughters of Alabama miners are playing musical chairs in an old school at Tannehill Ironworks State Park, 30 miles south of Birmingham. A mom presses play, and the music starts. It’s Stevie Wonder. Someday at Christmas we’ll see a landWith …

Earlier this month, Ashley Leechin, a registered nurse, mom of two kids, and TikTok creator known for her uncanny resemblance to Taylor Swift, posted a Change.org petition on her page. “This petition shares me side [sic] & is to help stop cyber bullying, harassment & false defamation towards myself, Ashley …

Earlier this month, a train carrying hazardous materials — including vinyl chloride, a carcinogen — derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Residents were evacuated from the area as Norfolk Southern, the company responsible for operating the rail line, ordered a controlled burn of the substance to avoid a more dangerous explosion. …

When 16-year-old Rochelle heard that her friend, Brianna Ghey, had been dead-named in the U.K. press, she burst into tears. Why would the media disrespect Ghey by referring to her by a name that she had left behind when she came out as trans? She grabbed her phone to text …

Now that we’re past the era of influencers and celebrities flogging NFTs, we’re free to focus on a new hot topic in tech: artificial intelligence tools. It was the artistic possibilities that first captured our interest — using AI programs to generate hyper-stylized selfies, or create an ideal human form, …

There is an old adage about the things that don’t kill you making you stronger. I don’t believe that. I just think it makes you lucky. In my memoir, The Love You Save, I write about the sexual abuse and casual cruelty I endured as a young girl. I opened …

HIV testing and prevention in Tennessee may be more difficult to attain come this spring. Dozens of organizations across the state are bracing for the loss of significant federal funding for HIV prevention after the state declined nearly $9 million in government funds from the CDC. It’s a move that …

ON A RECENT “Weekend Update” segment for Saturday Night Live, Michael Che relayed the news that Ronna McDaniel had just won a close reelection as chair of the Republican National Committee. He then ran down the list of McDaniel’s failed challengers, including some real ones (MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell) and …

It should come as no surprise that character actor Tim Blake Nelson — who led the western anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and played the unforgettable Looking Glass in the HBO series Watchmen — has written a novel. After all, he’s always been the bookish one on set. …