Lupine Apologizes, Trump Overrides, and Five Breaking News Haikus

[bs-title]Lupita Nyong'o apologizes for saying her "Us" character's voice was inspired by a disorder[/bs-title][bs-content]Nyong'o worked with a therapist and ear, nose, and throat doctor to better craft the voice of her scary double in the hit move Us, based on the real-world condition of spasmodic dysphonia. But for people who live with similar conditions, having their voices associated with "terror" was upsetting. "Connecting disabilities to characters who are evil further marginalizes people with disabilities who also have significant abilities and want to contribute to their communities just like anyone else," says Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of the nonprofit advocacy group, RespectAbility. Nyong'o quickly apologized.[/bs-content][bs-link link="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lupita-nyong-o-apologizes-saying-us-character-was-inspired-disorder-n988811" source="NBC News"]

[bs-title]President Trump restores funding to the Special Olympics[/bs-title][bs-content]It's a reversal from the federal budget that's been proposed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and which he signed and sent to Congress. But after widespread criticism for the $17.6 million cut for the Special Olympics, the President abruptly announced he had changed his mind. "I have overridden my people. We're funding the Special Olympics." [/bs-content][bs-link link="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/28/president-trump-restoring-funding-special-olympics/3302983002/" source="USA Today"]

[bs-title]Science knowledge differs by race[/bs-title][bs-content]A new study from Pew Research finds an alarming disparity in the working knowledge of math and life and physical science concepts by race and ethnicity in the U.S. In an 11-question quiz, including questions testing numeracy, chart reading, and basic knowledge, about half of white respondents got at least nine of 11 questions correct, compared to 23 percent of Hispanics and nine percent of blacks respondents. Black and Hispanic students tend to score lower on standardized tests throughout their school years and are less likely than their white peers to express an interest in science.[/bs-content][bs-link link="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/28/science-knowledge-varies-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-u-s/" source="Pew Research"]

[bs-title]Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funds a new department on race at Tufts[/bs-title][bs-content]The foundation has awarded a $1.5 million grant to hire faculty for the new Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora (RCD), which aims to be an interdisciplinary department organized around the study of colonialism and race in shaping societies in the U.S. and around the world. At least four new faculty members will join the existing tenured professors who have worked to establish the RCD department from a consortium of the same theme in 2014. The RCD will debut in July 2019.[/bs-content][bs-link link="https://now.tufts.edu/articles/funding-professorships-new-department" source="Tufts"]

[bs-title]An executive turned curator aims to reframe white-centered narratives in Western art[/bs-title][bs-content]After a report that Manet's famous painting "Olympia" had temporarily been renamed "Laure" to center the black maid featured in the work turned out to be false, my rabbit hole led me back to Denise Murrell, a business executive turned curator who has made it her great second act to examine and recontextualize black figures in Western art. That the presence of Laure was ignored by her professor struck her as a problem when she went back to school as an adult, emblematic of the way art history maintains narratives of white supremacy. "A person of color who is standing right there before you, and being ignored, is something that is part of the condition of being [part of the African diaspora]," she told the New York Times.[/bs-content][bs-link link="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/arts/design/posing-modernity-curator-manet-olympia.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share" source="New York Times"]

[bs-title]Drexel University helps save a forgotten slice of Philadelphia funk history[/bs-title][bs-content]Nat Turner's Rebellion was a slave revolt, of course. But it was also the name of a groundbreaking funk-soul group from Philadelphia in the early '70s. Although they released their work as singles, they never put out an album. (Rebellion member Joseph Jefferson went on to write chart-topping hits for the Spinners including "One of a Kind Love Affair.") But this week, Drexel University's Music Industry program, along with the music subscription service Vinyl Me, Please and independent music company Reservoir jointly released Laugh to Keep From Crying, a collection of Jefferson's work with the long forgotten band. It's the product of years of work archiving a 7,000-tape collection donated by Philadelphia's famous Sigma Sound Studios. "It came unorganized, uncatalogued, kind of a mess," Toby Seay, the Project Director of the Drexel University Audio Archives told Rolling Stone. "The name just jumped out at me: Knowing about the slave revolt in 1831, and here's a tape of a band that named itself after that, it was very intriguing. So I played that one immediately [and] fell in love with it." Do yourself a favor and listen to "Tribute To A Slave," here and on Spotify.[/bs-content][bs-link link="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nat-turner-rebellion-drexel-university-812739/" source="Rolling Stone"]

[bs-title]What should we call people of more than one race?[/bs-title][bs-content]Leah Donella digs into history to assemble the dizzying array of terms used to describe people of more than one race around the world. She identifies a disturbing theme: Most are offensive. Her examination describes a poignant history of the failure of science, society and governments to describe people who were often seen as tragically split between two worlds, and rejected by both. So, what do we call ourselves?[/bs-content][bs-link link="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/08/25/455470334/all-mixed-up-what-do-we-call-people-of-multiple-backgrounds" source="NPR CodeSwitch"]

[bs-quote link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyjsGpb9H-4" author ="--Bruce Hawes, Charles Simmons, and Joseph B. Jefferson for The Spinners"]Some say that you're sure to find / True love and peace of mind / At the end of a rainbow / There's no sign in the sky to follow / 'Cause that's the way love goes / Baby, that's the way love goes / And so there's a rhyme / That says life will soon be fine / Love is just what you make it / Keep on lovin', you'll soon discover...a mighty love.[/bs-quote]