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The Real-Life Man Who Was, And Was Not, Uncle Tom

Harriet Beecher Stowe, in her 1853 book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, wrote that the autobiography of Josiah Henson was one of her main inspirations. And who was Henson? Someone with a life story as compelling as those of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. - MSN (The Atlantic)

Eavesdropping On Two Great Artists

Photographer and activist Carrie Mae Weems and George C. Wolfe, director and producer, discuss what the "responsibility to invade" institutions looks like, three years after the death of George Floyd. - The New York Times

Powerful Jazz And Classical Crossover Bassist Richard Davis Has Died

Davis, who played for Stravinsky and Bernstein, also appeared on more than 600 albums. - The New York Times

Ava DuVernay Was Told Not To Bother Applying To The Venice Film Fest

You won't get in, they told her - because a Black woman director never had. - Los Angeles Times

Naomi/Naomi: The People Who’ve Gone Off The Deep End

These are the people who over roughly the last five years have gone off the deep end, as it were. “Almost everyone I talk to tells me about people they have lost ‘down the rabbit hole,’” Klein reports, “parents, siblings, best friends, as well as formerly trusted intellectuals and commentators.” - The New Republic

A Visit With Charles Busch, “The Celebrated Male Actress”

Ben Brantley visits the "Chinese-red living room" and "blindingly white boudoir" of the award-winning performer-playwright. "It felt like the natural setting for someone who habitually shifts among different selves … the encyclopedic frame of reference, the conjuring of a sophisticated Manhattan, the summoning of a decades-spanning parade of actresses." - The New York Times

Four Years Later, The Boy Who Was Thrown From The Tate Modern’s Balcony Is Making Gradual Progress

"He is now able to bend down, squat, grab his toys and clothes with both hands from his closet without falling or dropping them," say his parents. "More importantly, he now only uses his wheelchair for long outings." He walks with a cane; he falls down sometimes, but less than before. - BBC

Composer Gloria Coates, 89

Known especially for the use of glissando, "(she) composed 17 symphonies, along with numerous works for small ensembles and voice, … pieces that were seldom performed in her home country, the United States, but found audiences in Europe, where she lived much of her professional life." - The New York Times

Edith Grossman, World-Renowned Literary Translator, Is Dead At 87

Best known for her English rendition of Don Quixote (considered the definitive version) and of Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (who called her "my voice in English"), she was among the first translators to insist that her name be on the book cover. - The New York Times

Norman Pfeiffer, An Architect Whose Work Helped Transform Downtown L.A., Is Dead At 82

He's responsible for some of the most important projects of the 1990s growth of central Los Angeles as a cultural and civic center, including the Anderson building at LACMA, the renovation/expansion of L.A. Central Library, and the Colburn School. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

How JD Salinger Used Copyright To Shield His Privacy

Salinger’s public legacy, a gnarled mess of copyright enforcement designs, First Amendment controversies, and the persistent desire to be left alone by the press, is one of America’s most unique. - LitHub

Naomi Klein’s New Book, “Doppelganger,” Isn’t Really About Being Mistaken For Naomi Wolf

"Wolf serves as Klein's entry into what she calls the 'mirror world' — where the anti-establishment critiques of the far left become co-opted by the far right, and where what once seemed like a yawning gulf between ostensible opposites has narrowed into a tenuous line." - The New York Times Magazine

Film Producer And Alleged $245 Million Fraudster Remington Chase Is Dead At 65

"Chase's death leaves a long trail of litigation, with numerous parties accusing him of defrauding them out of investment funds, real estate and loan proceeds … (as well as) using 'bundlers' to raise funds from groups of investors for non-existent movie projects." - Variety

Playwright Tina Howe, A Tony And Pulitzer Finalist, Is Dead At 85

Her breakthrough was 1981's Painting Churches, which won an Obie and, after its 1983 Broadway transfer, became a Pulitzer finalist. Also a Pulitzer finalist was the late-1990s production of Pride's Crossing at San Diego's Old Globe and Lincoln Center. In 1987, her Coastal Disturbances was nominated for three Tony Awards. - Deadline

Anna Wintour Is Raising Money To Offset Cuts To Arts Funding In London

Wintour, who organizes the annual Met Gala in New York, has planned an event called Vogue World for the start of London's Fashion Week next month. Her intent is to make up for money lost because of Arts Council England's decision to shift funds to organizations beyond the capital. - BBC

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